I cannot get my home brew to carbonate! :(

I have a kegerator setup. I bought a used kegerator and swapped out the domestic couples with a setup for cornys. It seemed to work great on my last batch (first time kegging).

For some reason, I CANNOT get this batch to carbonate!

I've mainly tried the impatient method (I don't have any home brew to drink right now ).

This consisted of me hooking the keg up to the gas line, cranking the pressure up to 30 psi, and rolling the keg on the floor for 10 minutes. You can hear bubbles entering the keg. I then turn off the gas line valve, lower the PSI (the keg pressure should still be high), and let it sit.

After a while I blow off the excess pressure so I don't get beer up my gas line, and turn on the gas line valve.

The beer comes out super foamy and when it finally settles, it's hardly carbonated to almost flat.

I did notice that when I cleaned this keg, that my gas post wasn't working properly. The poppet wasn't making a seal with the post. I figured if I kept the gas line hooked up, it'd keep it's pressure no problem. It doesn't seem to have any leaks when the gas line hooked up to the post as it.

Anyone have any advice? I've been sitting on this keg for almost a week now and haven't really been able to enjoy it.

I just received spare parts for my keg (new poppets, posts, and orings) so I might rebuild the gas post. Also my regulator kinda sucks. Not sure if that has anything to do with it. It's a single gauge meant for dispensing pre-carbonated kegs rather than force carbing. Maybe I need to replace that (I plan to anyway since I have a 2 tap tower ready to replace the single I have now).

Please help. I'm thirsty and impatient! (And no I cannot Relax Sit Down, and Have a Home Brew because I don't have any Home Brew!)

If it's super foamy then there is carbonation.

You're probably trying to serve it at too high a pressure, or your serving line is too short.

What other details can you give us?

what pressure and for how long do you force carbonate?

Patience.

My fast method is 58 PSI, unhook from gas and chill.

3 days later, perfectly carbed.

JKoravos said:

If it's super foamy then there is carbonation.

You're probably trying to serve it at too high a pressure, or your serving line is too short.

What other details can you give us?

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I've tried serving at something low like 5-10 PSI and I still get foam. My line is 6 feet long I think.

I'm starting to think I over carbonated it.

Maybe I'll just release the pressure and rack it into some glasses. LOL.

turn the pressure completely off, or low enough to get a tiny trickle from the line. if it's still foamy it's over carbed.

The beer is cold, though, right?

Yes beer is definitely cold. Been in there for almost a week. Was in there for over 24 hours before even trying to carb. I cold crashed it for 24 hours before that also.

If it is super foamy when the past beer was fine on the same setup I would say you have overcarb'd (easy to do with the shake and bake method).
You probably need to leave the keg in the fridge, bleed the pressure down, leave overnight, bleed again and repeat untill the pressure stops rising back up over your serving pressure.
Good luck.

mattd2 said:

If it is super foamy when the past beer was fine on the same setup I would say you have overcarb'd (easy to do with the shake and bake method).
You probably need to leave the keg in the fridge, bleed the pressure down, leave overnight, bleed again and repeat untill the pressure stops rising back up over your serving pressure.
Good luck.

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Do I adjust the regulator back up if I bleed off too much?

More questions... so I think my beer was very over-carbonated like was suggested.

It's slowly getting better. I've left it at a set PSI (about 13) and have been bleeding it every day.

I think there may be another contributing factor. I think I had my fridge set to too cold. I just noticed that one of my bev lines had started to freeze. Can having a beer too cold cause over carb?

The temp of the beer will affect how much pressure you need to use. If you're getting freezing, it's probably running 30F or colder. In that case, 13psi is for over 3 volumes of CO2. It's not unheard of for wheat beers and fruit lambics, but I'd back off to about 10 psi. Also, you'll purge the carb level down quite a bit faster if you leave the gas disconnected after purging the head pressure.

Bobby_M said:

The temp of the beer will affect how much pressure you need to use. If you're getting freezing, it's probably running 30F or colder. In that case, 13psi is for over 3 volumes of CO2. It's not unheard of for wheat beers and fruit lambics, but I'd back off to about 10 psi. Also, you'll purge the carb level down quite a bit faster if you leave the gas disconnected after purging the head pressure.

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+1 Purging a keg with gas pressure still on it - even if it's just serving pressure - is kinda counterproductive - not to mention expensive...

Cheers!

UPDATE: I seem to have pretty good carbonation now. Maybe a little too much that disperses pretty quick but it's still pretty good.

Now I cannot get my tap from foaming!

I have 5' perlick bev lines. Temp is cold. PSI is set to around 10. I also have 2 swizzle sticks in the dip tube.

I notice that when not pouring, my bev line is half foam, half liquid. Obviously when I do pour, it turns to all liquid.

From the spout end, it starts out as all foam. Then it'll go to liquid and sometimes back to foam. It's really annoying. I can only pour a 1/3 liquid 2/3rds foam beer (pint glass).

Any more tips?

Still having issues.

Help!

It sounds like your beer lines might be getting too warm. Is there a fan in your kegerator to circulate the cold air?

blackbear219 said:

It sounds like your beer lines might be getting too warm. Is there a fan in your kegerator to circulate the cold air?

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No. Problem is that even after multiple glasses (or a pitcher), you'd think the liquid flowing through the lines would be cold enough since it's coming from the keg and not sitting in the lines.

Also I had issues with my lines freezing!

Daedalus said:

UPDATE: I seem to have pretty good carbonation now. Maybe a little too much that disperses pretty quick but it's still pretty good.

Now I cannot get my tap from foaming!

I have 5' perlick bev lines. Temp is cold. PSI is set to around 10. I also have 2 swizzle sticks in the dip tube.

I notice that when not pouring, my bev line is half foam, half liquid. Obviously when I do pour, it turns to all liquid.

From the spout end, it starts out as all foam. Then it'll go to liquid and sometimes back to foam. It's really annoying. I can only pour a 1/3 liquid 2/3rds foam beer (pint glass).

Any more tips?

Click to expand...

The line filling with gas when it's not in use suggests that it's still slightly overcarbed. Since you had an issue with frozen lines, that could be the problem also. A spot in the lines where the beer is partially frozen could cause a restriction and knock the co2 out of solution. If there are litle chunks of frozen beer in the system they could get lodged and cause a restriction as well. Other culprits could be a dirty faucet, small blockage in the faucet/shank/tailpiece, a bend/kink in the beverage line, or even improperly cleaned glassware. Maybe try bleeding a little more gas, and raising the temp a little or installing a fan to circulate air and prevent freezing.

I think every one was right about the over carbonation. It's slowly getting better as i drink it and as I burp it daily.

Thanks for all the help!