Keg pouring extremely slowly

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

eatmorefrogs

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2011
Messages
183
Reaction score
46
Location
Cave Creek
I have a four tap brewlogic keg system. I'm on my 6th keg and I can't get the thing to pour at the rate at which you'd expect beer to come out of a tap. It always just comes out extremely slowly. Tastes fine, carbonation is fine, but it probably takes 45 seconds to fill a pint glass. I tried increasing the pressured, leaving it in the secondary extra long, and being extra careful not to siphon sediment. Still slow.

The kegs and lines all pour at a good speed for water and sanitizer. It's just beer giving me trouble.

I've got to be missing something basic. If it's not pressure or sediment, what else could be causing my beer to pour at a slow rate? Maybe there's a trick to preventing sediment from clogging the dip tube?

Maybe I'm just looking for a sanity check here, but could it be bad poppets? (They're all "reconditioned" ball lock kegs, but maybe reconditioning isn't as reconditioned as I'd hope?)

Sorry for not googling, most of the search terms I tried came up with irrelevant results. Slow pouring beer keg, etc. is too generic.
 
What psi do you serve at? I serve at 9-10 and get a decent pour. It's not a rocket engine shooting out, but it fills a pint faster than 45 seconds.
 
Sounds like your psi is a tad low. Like john said around 10psi seems to be the norm.

He tried increasing the pressure already. But there is no "norm," it depends on your temperature and desired volumes of CO2. Increasing the pressure to change the flow rate is a horrible way of going about things, instead adjust your line length to properly balance the system without compromising beer quality by losing your desired carb level.

I'd check to see if the dip tube / poppet is clogged, there's a clog in the faucet, or maybe the beer/line is freezing somewhere? All of these things are possible.

I'd start with switching beverage lines and faucets with one of the other kegs, that'll just take a second. If the problem is still there I'd unscrew the "out" post and check out the dip tube and poppet.
 
That's why I suggested switching bev lines and faucet with another keg. That will narrow down if the problem is with the keg (poppet or dip tube) or with the line (frozen beer in the line, clogged faucet, etc.)
 
In case it's helpful to anyone coming across this thread at a later date, I the answer to my question was poor circulation in the keezer. Upon replacing the thermometer at the bottom of my keezer, it was 22F. The top was more like 35F.

The sanitizer poured fine because, as you might guess, I'd pour it as soon as I kegged it. Kegs never poured because when I put them in there to get cold and carb, they'd freeze (or partially freeze) before they were poured.


Kind of a mind blowing temperature difference. I must have a collar on it that leaks like crazy.
 
Thanks for the update. I'm glad we were able to help a bit, and I'm glad you solved the problem!

Your collar might not be that leaky, it just sounds like poor circulation. I'd suggest mounting a cheap DC muffin fan on the inside of the collar. It'll circulate the air and keep everything at the same temp. You can buy a fan for maybe $5, or use one from an old computer. Use a ~5-10V DC power supply "wall wart" (look in your junk drawer for one from an old cell phone, cordless phone, etc.) to power it, and you'll just need to twist a couple wires together and screw some L-brackets into the collar and you're done.

I do highly recommend a) insulating the collar with and b) making sure you caulk the crap out of all your seams. That'll save energy and really cut down on the condensation.
 
Back
Top