need high pressure to dispense

ridd · 09-09-2009, 10:49 PM

So I've resolved a lot of my kegging issues so far, and this is the one that remains...

I have to set the pressure on my reg to about 20+ psi for any liquid to dispense, whether the temp of the liquid in the keg is 72F or 38F. 2 diff kegs, I have a dual-body reg so either gas line has the same problem. What gives?

edit: Well I figured it out. Apparently on the QD's, you have to pull up on the little rubber stopper around the outside while you're putting it on the posts. I did that and now it's flowing like a champ. 10 PSI is almost too much. My god, I mean I'm not a keg-genius, but I am good with my hands and I am really geeky so I research the hell out of things, and this would have been REALLY good to know before going through all this bs. Hope this helps a new kegger somewhere, somehow.

**beerthirty** · 09-09-2009, 11:03 PM

What temp do you serve? Could you have ice build up in your line?

ridd · 09-09-2009, 11:08 PM

Don't think so...I serve it around 40F. I took the liquid QD off, pushed the lever and the liquid left in the line won't come out. It should come out though shouldn't it?

ridd · 09-09-2009, 11:20 PM

Yeah I just took apart the QD and hit the lever on the liquid line and it came out fine...tried hooking up another picnic tap and I've got the same problem.

Does this have anything to do with balancing? The picnic taps are Kegconnection standard, 4 ft or so. The QD is really snug on the post too.

**beerthirty** · 09-10-2009, 12:11 AM

Its possible that the wrong poppits are installed in the posts. If they are too long, it will be a little difficult to install the QD and they wont open all the waycausing very slow pour. I had this problem on one of my kegs and was almost ready to throw the keg out before I figured it out. Remove the post and check the lenght of the poppit. if it is about 1" long then try the shorter popitts. IIRC northern brewer has all the different parts with pics so you can see the difference.

ridd · 09-10-2009, 12:32 AM

Well they're all about an inch long, but I think it's the right size because the bottom of the poppets have this 3-prong claw-looking thing that fits snugly against a groove inside the post, preventing it from coming out of the top of the post any further.

I'm guessing both of my picnic taps are faulty? Liquid does NOT flow easily through them when I just move it around with liquid inside them. I also tried putting a towel over the OUT post of my keg with it pressured around 8 PSI and sticking a screwdriver in the post and beer flowed out nicely.

**david_42** · 09-10-2009, 02:46 AM

Sounds like the taps, then. Maybe you've got the reverse of beerthirty's suggestion, with short posts in the QD or the QDs are defective.

ridd · 09-10-2009, 05:39 AM

I just looked at the northernbrewer site like beer suggested and saw this:
Keg Post Assembly Liquid Type A - Soda Keg Repair Parts - Soda Kegs & Disconnects - Kegging

that's what my liquid out posts look like. my gas in looks similar to the other 'Type A' on their site, except mine have the 12-point instead of hex.

all of my parts look exactly like the one seen here: Illustrated Beer Brewing Primer - Kegging and Conditioning

so I guess the issue is I have 'Type-A' posts and 'Type-B' poppets? it seems like beerthirty was on the right track.

tdavisii · 09-10-2009, 03:18 PM

If you have to serve at 20psi and its not coming out like a fire hose of foam something is wrong with the set up

ridd · 09-10-2009, 11:33 PM

I talked to the people at Kegconnection (Ben) and they had me find out what types of kegs they are by looking at the etching on the outside SS. The only common trend I see is that they all say "Cornelius Co." so I assume they're Cornelius-style kegs. If that's the case, the poppets are correct, but the posts are wrong. Getting more clarification tomorrow, KC is being really cool about it.