Regulator Questions

I am getting ready to finally keg my first two batches Saturday. A month old red ale in one and a young, two week old cherry wheat in the other.

I have my CO2 bottle filled and am playing with the gauges. I had two bad low pressure gauges that the vendor replaced. How tight do they have to be? I don't have the gauges super tight right now. I want them to be readable from the front, but that might not be doable, tightness matters more, I guess. Does the connection to the bottle need teflon tape?

Should the pressure leak down fairly fast if you don't have kegs attached? I am assuming that there is a valve in the keg connectors since the pressure didn't just blow out immediately. 30 PSI has leaked down to about 10 PSI in 15 minutes.

Once I get it all hooked up to the kegs in the morning, I will use soap or starsan to check all the connections. I want the leaks taken care of before I start racking.

A nip with a spanner or adjustable wrench should be sufficient, just ensure that you have the rubber washer in the female end of the reg connector. You shouldn't lose any pressure at all in the line, even if not connected to a keg. I had this problem and it was purely down to me only hand-tightening the John Guest fittings. Give these a nip with a spanner too, no need to go overboard.

It's far better to sort this now than when it's on the keg as the leak then becomes harder to trace. Also, there should be no need for PTFE tape whatsoever. Just ensure all connectors are nipped up, no need for super-human strength like tightening.

Parva said:

A nip with a spanner or adjustable wrench should be sufficient, just ensure that you have the rubber washer in the female end of the reg connector. You shouldn't lose any pressure at all in the line, even if not connected to a keg. I had this problem and it was purely down to me only hand-tightening the John Guest fittings. Give these a nip with a spanner too, no need to go overboard.

It's far better to sort this now than when it's on the keg as the leak then becomes harder to trace. Also, there should be no need for PTFE tape whatsoever. Just ensure all connectors are nipped up, no need for super-human strength like tightening.

Click to expand...

So THAT'S what that washer is for!

My 10yo said he could hear a leak there.

Thanks!

Cpt_Kirks said:

So THAT'S what that washer is for!

My 10yo said he could hear a leak there.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Hehe, I only mentioned the rubber washer as I've seen someone else do EXACTLY the same thing and did wonder. Better to fix it now than lose a whole bottle of gas.

Don't forget teflon tape! Major plus in any gas setup/connection (except main regulator to tank-just plastic washer thing there).

Absolutely no need whatsoever for teflon tape when using the typical John Guest set up. I have no PTFE tape anywhere in my system and the pressure holds rock solid.

I got it tightened up. No apparent leaks, and I dumped starsan water all over it.

I just used it to keg two batches, and it seems to be working fine.

Thanks.