Weird Kegging / Flat Beer Problem

First off - I think its been months since my last post here. Too much work and a new policy that they don't like beer related things on my work computer will do that. Anywho.....


I've got a keg of Amber that just never got carbed up. It was forced carbed at about 12 psi at 43 degrees for 30 days, if not longer. I've got 10' long, 3/16" ID beer lines. Out of 30 or so kegs, this has happened twice. For all I know its the same keg, not sure.

Basically it just never really seemed to absorb the CO2. I did a 10G batch, and 1 keg of it was great. The other keg of the same batch tastes less well being flat and all. It pours a little flat, and I can up the CO2 to make it seem like it has carbonation but that is a cheat and doesn't solve the problem.

I assume I have a leak I can't find? But if it is a leak, wouldn't my CO2 tank have emptied after 30 days? Its a 15lbs tank that has been in use and not re-filled for 15-16 months.

As an aside, I've had this hooked up to a second 5 lbs CO2 tank at room temp for a couple of weeks as well, same problem.

Can a keg leak, causing the CO2 not to dissolve - but in a way not to drain my CO2 tank?

Did I stumble into some sort of paradox where liquid will not absorb CO2? (For all I know that is actually possible, I'm no chemist)

For some keg viewing pleasure - an old pic of mine. It has been since upgraded to 4 taps and many more stickers. Not as classy as others, but it does the job.

Has anyone seen a keg have a CO2 leak, preventing carbonation but not draining the CO2 tank itself?

luke2080 said:

Has anyone seen a keg have a CO2 leak, preventing carbonation but not draining the CO2 tank itself?

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No, never. If it's even a small leak, the co2 should be gone from the tank also.

Are your separate kegs charged from separate regulators?
If so, you may have a reg reading low (bad gauge).

acidrain said:

Are your separate kegs charged from separate regulators?
If so, you may have a reg reading low (bad gauge).

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Hmm, thats possible. I've to 2 regulators, both with a splitter on them (4 lines out from the tank) 1 line of each going into the keezer where the line is split. So - I would think I'd have seen that on more kegs. I'll keep a closer eye on that though. That makes the most sense at this point. Thanks.

When you connect the gas line, do you get that WHOOSH sound inside the keg? When you pull the bleed off valve does it purge gas??

Maybe a bad post, where the gas is never getting inside the keg in the first place? Are you 100% sure the check valve on that line isn't closed?

If the gas is getting into the keg, and the keg is holding pressure, it WILL carbonate, and there are only a 1/2 dozen or so other things that could be wrong, so it should be pretty simple to systematically troubleshoot this issue.

I'd start by closing all of the other lines, jacking the PSI up to 40-50, and spraying everything with starsan to see if you have bubbles = a leak somewhere along the line.

What kind of beer is it?