Simple question: Bleeding Pressure and keg Pressure

I went ahead and filled kegs with brew (after cleaning and sanitizing of course). Went ahead and bled off pressure to release any oxygen and the regulator went immediately to zero. I waited a day thinking the pressure would build up again...it did not. I attempted to pour and nothing came out as was expected. I messed around with the pressure thingy you turn with a screwdriver and the pressure shot up again. I poured a beer and the pressure went down about 2lbs on the gauge. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong? Will the pressure build up to 12lbs? Thanks!

-By the way the beer has only been in the kegs for two days

OK, I'll try to figure out what's wrong...let me know if I go off base...

When you first apply pressure to the keg you released the pressure to purge air out of it, correct?

What pressure setting did you have on the gage, 12?

Then you poured a beer and it dropped to 2, right?

Then you should have put the gage back up to 12.


Incidentally, at what point did you try to carbonate the beer? What psi, temperature and time period did you use?

There are many, many ways this could have been done, but most commonly is either the "shaking" method or the "set it and forget it" method.

The "shaking" method is just that. First you purge the air out then set the gage for anywhere between 20 and 40 spi then start shaking the bejesus out of it to get the CO2 absorbed by the liquid. I prefer to roll mine on my lap or on the table/counter top...inlet side down. You use more CO2 when the beer is warmer/room temp than if it's already cold.

With the "set it and forget it" method you place the keg in the fridge to get (and keep) cold and set the gage for 12 psi for about a week.


Have you figured out where you went wrong yet?

-Correct. I purged air out of the kegs
-This is the first time I've kegged so, I dialed the pressure in to read 12
-When I poured the beer it dropped 2lbs (I'm assuming the gauge is reading pounds of pressure) to 10lbs overall
-Does this mean I need to dial in the pressure everytime I pour?

I'm not sure what you mean when you ask when I tried to carbonate the beer (I'm brand new to this) so I'll assume you mean when the beer is done fermenting. After that I figured I would just put the beer in the keg, adjust the pressure and set it and forget it...a week later beer is magically carbonated. I have the temp. at 38 and the psi at 12lbs.

I don't plan on force carbing the beer but I have 2 kegs and might try it with one.

Thanks!