First time Kegging..help

I have never used a CO2 tank or regulator but i came across one for free so i decided i might as well keg some of my beer.
But i dont really understand how to read the regulator.I know that the 0-3000 psi guage is the pressure of the tank and I know that the 0-60 psi guage is the pressure of the keg but it does not move more than a few psi when i turn the gas on. There is a screw on the front of the regulator that moves this guage up or down when i turn it but i dont know what that is for. I used an online calculator that said i need 45-50 psi to carbonate my hefe warm but i cant seem to make the gaude move more than a few psi, i dont think there are any leaks. What am i doing wrong.

rokfreek said:

I have never used a CO2 tank or regulator but i came across one for free so i decided i might as well keg some of my beer.
But i dont really understand how to read the regulator.I know that the 0-3000 psi guage is the pressure of the tank and I know that the 0-60 psi guage is the pressure of the keg but it does not move more than a few psi when i turn the gas on. There is a screw on the front of the regulator that moves this guage up or down when i turn it but i dont know what that is for. I used an online calculator that said i need 45-50 psi to carbonate my hefe warm but i cant seem to make the gaude move more than a few psi, i dont think there are any leaks. What am i doing wrong.

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You need to use the screw to move the 0-60 gauge to 45-50 psi....to do this you need to make sure the lever below the 0-3000 gauge is first set to the left until the 0-60 gauge reflects this pressure setting. After it does so move it to the right all the way so it dispenses CO2 into the kegs. If you can't move it more then a few psi doing this then first check where the nut is....sometimes it needs to be unscrewed to the top of the head of the screw so you can continue to screw it down. If this is at the top of the head and u can't set the regulator past a few psi, you need more gas or your regulator was dropped (these can be very tempermental). Honestly I would try to avoid carbonating at room temperature as this will waste your CO2 trying to get the beer to hold carbonation as well as be almost impossible to pour a decent beer without wasting it as it will come out as 90-95% foam unless you release the pressure down past 5 psi to allow decent dispensing...then you need to put it back up to 45-50 psi so it can maintain the co2 in the beer as well as continue to carbonate....It is a headache I would prefer never to have to deal with again.

thanks a lot, ill go ahead and put it in the fridge before i try again to make it easier.

yes, colder beer accepts CO2 into solution more readily, and requires less CO2 and less pressure to carb the beer properly.

What does the tank gauge read? should be about 800 if the tank is full.

rokfreek said:

thanks a lot, ill go ahead and put it in the fridge before i try again to make it easier.

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If there's anyway to post a picture of your regulator up close, it will be easier to see. My vote is the same as HemiPowered...there may be a locking nut that simply needs to be "unscrewed" to allow the control bolt to crew in further and increase your pressure.

I'll also echo this:

1) Never carb beer at room temp. Chill it.
B) Set your PSI at 11-12 and forget about it for 10 days. That’s a sure fire way to get good, consistent carbonation. If you’re in a hurry, set the PSI to (no more than) 30PSI for 3 days, close the valve and bleed the excess pressure off the keg and then turn the PSI down to 11 for a 3 more days. That should also get you there. 45PSI at room temp is just asking for gushers.

Drunkensatyr said:

What does the tank gauge read? should be about 800 if the tank is full.

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800-900psi at room temperature. if the CO2 cylinder is in a kegerator, expect 400-500psi for the tank pressure.

also, the pressure is always the same until the tank is completely empty of liquid CO2. then you drop from 800psi to 0psi in VERY short order.
the only way to tell how full a CO2 tank is, would be to take the empty tank weight (tare weight, usually stamped on the cylinder), and subtract it from the current weight.

An empty 5lb cylinder might weigh 7lbs, so if it weights 10lbs, you have 3lbs of liquid CO2 left, and 800psi. if it weighs 5.2 lbs, you have .2lbs left, and 800psi still.

Well i was still having problems so i took the guage apart and noticed that the face was bent so that the pointer was hitting it and not able to move past a certain point. I think I have everything going good now. Thanks for all the info.

malkore said:

yes, colder beer accepts CO2 into solution more readily, and requires less CO2 and less pressure to carb the beer properly.

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Just one correction, it doesn't use more Co2. If you're going for 2.5 volumes of carbonation, it uses EXACTLY 2.5 times the volume of beer you have. It will take a higher pressure as you said and you certainly wouldn't want to try dispensing warm.