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CollinsBrew

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I just kegged for the first time and if you saw any of my pictures, I have the 6-way manifold from MoreBeer. I thought that each valve had a check valve on it..?? I also thought that this would prevent backflow of beer into the other lines..?? I guess I was wrong because I opened up the other valves to the empty kegs and beer flowed straight out into the other gas lines...what a freakin' mess!!

I don't feel like dealing with it tonight so tomorrow I'm going to have some lines to clean...suck suck suck! What are the check valves for anyway???
 
That sucks! Did you get beer to the regulator? If not it sounds like they just have one check valve on the line to the regulator.

Edit: The check valve prevents back-flow up the lines.
 
I have a feeling that's what it is because no beer went to the regulator. I won't make this mistake again that's for sure...Here's to learnin' the hard way!!
 
Below is an excerpt of the manifold description on morebeer.com. It's definitely supposed to have individual check valves. :(

"Each ball valve contains a check valve that ensures no beer or gas can flow between the two kegs. "

Gas Manifold - 6 Way

Well, at least you don't have to teardown and clean your regulator.
 
I am a bit pissed about it. The only reason I opened up the other valves is because I thought this wasn't supposed to happen. I'll be giving them a call tomorow.
 
On a side note, did you have the gas lines connected to the beer out post? The gas dip tubes on my kegs are only about an inch long, they don't even touch the beer in the keg. Maybe you are also over-filling? This of course doesn't change the fact that your manifold was shipped incomplete, just trying to help you cover all the bases.
 
I have three ball-lock and three pin-lock kegs. I filled a pin-lock keg and pressurized it, and because you can't put the wrong connectors on there due to one having three pins and the other having two I could only assume they are connected correctly. My ball-locks were empty when I opened up the valve to put a little pressure to them. The beer flowed immediately out of the gas line, through the manifold and into the other keg through the gas line. I could have overfilled a little bit but it still should not have done that.

On another note, I currently have the newly filled keg pressurized at 30 psi. I had just turned the refrigerator on when I put it in so the temps weren't down. Now that everything is cold in there, can I turn down the pressure for the beer to carbonate? It should only take a couple of days right? Also, because I don't want to waste CO2 in the event of a small leak, I have been pressurizing the keg every few hours and then shutting off the gas. I don't think I have a leak since I can't really hear the gas flowing in when I try turn it back on. Will this work out alright?
 
If you want to force carbonate in the fridge, the best thing to do is set it at serving pressure (usually 11-13 PSI) and just leave it. You do need to leave the gas on however because the liquid will absorb the CO2. Check for leaks with soapy water if you're worried about it.

It should take about a week to carbonate I believe. I currently carbonate at room temperature myself, don't have a kegerator yet. But I also like to bulk condition for a month in the keg so I've never bothered to check to see how the carbonation is progressing.
 
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