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NCGrayson · 11-11-2012, 06:52 PM

Here's the scoop. Brewed a 5 gallon batch of black IPA about 6 weeks ago, dry-hopped in Secondary with 1oz of pellet hops, filtered beer from secondary to keg with a muslin bag over the end of the auto-siphon, threw into keezer. Kept on 30psi for ~60 hours. Turned down gas to ~10 psi for serving, and......senior citizens move faster. if i had the patience to test, it would probably take about 6 minutes to pour a full pint. it's definitely carbed, theres no question about that, but it barely flows out of the tap. I thought my out side of the keg might be clogged, so i took apart the post, picnic-tap faucet, poppets, dip tube, and cleaned them all. Dip tube was shiny clean, no hop residue. The same goes for all the other parts on the out side of the keg. crystal clear. I can pull the pressure relief valve and smell deliciousness with the blast of beer-air, so I know the gas in side is working like it should, it just won't pour.

Since i've taken everything apart the only two conclusions i'm having are this.

1) beer is entirely too over-carbed, and this is resulting in only foam being pushed up the dip tube causing foam to restrict the flow and take forever.

2) or, there is more hop sediment that has formed a tight cake in the bottom of my keg and the dip-tube is deep into that cake, and the cake itself is causing a horrible flow.

Anybody have any ideas?

carltjones · 11-11-2012, 06:59 PM

Do you have others kegs currently connected to the regulator that pour normally? What is your beer line size?

NCGrayson · 11-11-2012, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carltjones

Do you have others kegs currently connected to the regulator that pour normally? What is your beer line size?

All other kegs pour normally. I have a two gauge regulator. The first gauge has the said black ipa hooked up to it. The second gauge, the one farthest from the co2 tank feeds a 4 way manifold. All beers attached to the manifold pour just fine. I've swapped out hoses and disconnects an the whole lot and still barely any flow. Beer line size is standard diameter, 6 feet. It's weird because no matter what liquid hose/disconnect I use, they're all deathly slow.

NCGrayson · 11-12-2012, 12:55 PM

Aghhhh this is so frustrating! Should I transfer to another keg and see if that helps anything?!?! I'm relatively new to kegging...am I not using the dual gauge regulator correctly? Right now the beer in question is on the gauge nearest to the co2. Should I move the gas line to the manifold connecte to the second gauge? I just want to drink my delicious blackIPA!!

**Bobby_M** · 11-12-2012, 02:41 PM

Try a different liquid disconnect. It's possible that the spring is weak on the QD but strong on the poppet and is not opening very well.

Mainebrew · 11-12-2012, 02:47 PM

Sounds like your liquid connector or your faucet is hanging up, try a different one and also before i would do that pull that picnic tap off and take all pressure off the keg then put your liquid line connector on and start putting a little gas through it. This will tell you if the connector is junk or the tap is junk.

NCGrayson · 11-12-2012, 08:51 PM

i have already done that Bobby and Mainebrew, I have swapped out liquid connections and picnic taps from other kegs, they flow just as slow. put them back on their respective kegs and they flow normally. should I swap out the posts?

NCGrayson · 11-12-2012, 08:59 PM

one thing i've noticed, is that this keg came with a universal poppet for the out post. seen here:

that being said, the top of the poppet sticks out slightly over the top of the post. is it possible the spring on the poppet is so strong that all of my liquid disconnects cant depress it but ever so ever so EVER so slightly?

im starting to think that could be the case more and more now....i don't have an extra post/poppet to swap out and see so i'll need to head to the LHBS to get a spare, but I remember now that every time I try to screw on the post with the poppet in place, I have to press down super hard to get the first bit of threads started. the spring is so stiff that it's prohibiting the post from screwing on without some force.

I guess I could remove the poppet completely, attach a disconnect and a faucet, turn on the gas, and see what happens then?

day_trippr · 11-13-2012, 03:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NCGrayson

[...]I guess I could remove the poppet completely, attach a disconnect and a faucet, turn on the gas, and see what happens then?

Certainly. But carefully, lest you bathe in your brew

Cheers!

**JuanMoore** · 11-13-2012, 04:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NCGrayson

one thing i've noticed, is that this keg came with a universal poppet for the out post. seen here:

that being said, the top of the poppet sticks out slightly over the top of the post. is it possible the spring on the poppet is so strong that all of my liquid disconnects cant depress it but ever so ever so EVER so slightly?

im starting to think that could be the case more and more now....i don't have an extra post/poppet to swap out and see so i'll need to head to the LHBS to get a spare, but I remember now that every time I try to screw on the post with the poppet in place, I have to press down super hard to get the first bit of threads started. the spring is so stiff that it's prohibiting the post from screwing on without some force.

I guess I could remove the poppet completely, attach a disconnect and a faucet, turn on the gas, and see what happens then?

Yep, the springs on some of the universal poppets are made extra long so that they'll work with the older John Wood and Firestone kegs that have the nylon inserts. When used with certain shorter post types it creates way too much spring pressure, and the spring has to be trimmed shorter in order for it work properly. One of the reasons I'm not a fan of "universal" poppets. I would try trimming the spring before I tried using the keg without a poppet, but that's just me.