Sam Adams Oktoberfest AND homebrew keg problems

Hi everyone,

I'm having some problems with my kegging. I have an Edgestar dual tap kegerator that we just set up. We accidently forgot to put the washer the coupler on a sixtel of Sam Adams Oktoberfest so it slowly leaked for about 2 hours. By the time we realized, the beer was pretty much flat (expected). It's been about a week that we've been trying to recarbonate now. At first I had it at 30 psi for 2 days -- big head, but no carbonation to the beer. We've turned it up, we've rolled it and shook it for days now, and there's been very little change. Any thoughts? I've checked all the lines already, no leaks anywhere (brand new equipment. But I checked just to be sure and nothing). Not worried about the huge head- that's controllable. Worried that the beer itself won't carbonate.

On that note, I have a keg of what's supposed to be a fresh hop pale ale (homegrown hops), but it's taken so long that it's not so fresh anymore. I kegged two weeks ago. At first I did 12 psi for a week, nothing. Then I upped it to 30 psi for about 5 days, shaking it and rolling it every now and then, still nothing. Again, no leaks or anything.

Because it's two kegs, I feel like its me doing something wrong rather than equipment problems. Can anyone please help? I'd really appreciate it. Just FYI, fridge is at about 39 (a tad warm but it's as cold as it will get)- I know that's warmer the we'd like, but still at 30 psi, you'd think over a few days it would still absorb the CO2 eventually. Standard beer line, 5 ft. The Sam Adams is in a commercial keg (American D coupler, I believe), homebrew is in a homebrew keg.

Any questions about equipment that I didn't mention that is needed, let me know. ANY HELP WOULD BE SO MUCH APPRECIATED. Thanks a lot guys.

39 is a great temp! Most of us keep ours around 40. Assuming you're actually getting gas to the kegs (have you tried pulling the vent valve to make sure the corny's getting gas?) my initial take on the situation is that both beers are way overcarbed, and you're getting tons of foaming when you pour because the liquid lines aren't long enough. That's knocking too much CO2 out of solution = foamy beer = loss of carbonation. So the overcarbed beer pours foamy and undercarbed.

It sounds like this is pretty frustrating, but I'd take the "low and slow" approach to fix this since it'll eliminate a few variables. I'd unhook both kegs, vent every few hours for a few days, then set them at 12 psi and wait 2 weeks before you touch them again. While you're waiting, go out and get yourself new beer line, if you're using standard 3/16" ID vinyl tubing try 10 feet per line.

I think this is overcarbed beer + unbalanced system. Maybe someone else can provide another take?

Hmm interesting. Well, there's definitely gas getting in, there's a lot that shoots out when I purge. If it is in fact over carbonated now, wouldn't it have, at one point, been carbonated correctly? After a week at a lower psi (10-12ish) I lowered to 5ish to taste, and it was flat. It was only then that I up'd it. Just seems like I always monitored it and it was never right.

Now, I thought the big head was just from the 30 pounds of pressure that is built up in the keg. When I lower it now to 5-8ish psi, purge, the first pour comes out with a big head (remaining pressure, I assumed) but then the head starts to get smaller, but with the beer still feeling flat.

Still think its overcarbed? I trust you, so if you think this is it ill follow your steps to rehab it. Thanks a lot for the help, I really appreciate it

Let's see what a few other people have to say, I could be completely wrong!

In general I don't like the concept of lowering the pressure to serve. Too much messing around with regulators, purging, etc. and the chances of over/undercarbing go way up. Calculate the desired pressure based on temperature and how many volumes of CO2 you want, then leave it at that same pressure during carbing and serving. If you're getting fast foamy pours at 12 psi, you definitely need longer beer lines to balance things out.

Yeah, that makes sense. My kegerator is brand new..I that's the case then why did it come with such short lines? Anyway, I had a similar kegging problem with a summer ale this summer. Just never seemed to get there. So I put another beer in the kegerator and threw the summer in my spare fridge, forgot about it, and a few weeks later it was perfect.

But yeah, longer beer lines is easy enough. Well see if anyone else has any ideas, if not, I'll give your method a shot. Thanks again

So I'm sad to say that the Oktoberfest still has problem. Like you said, I reset it completely (warmed and purged until it was completely flat) and started all over again. Within a few days, the head was huge and the carbonation was non-existent. A week and a half later it's the same exact way.

Any ideas? I still have only a 5 ft beer line, but is that alone the entire problem? I feel like something else is going on here. I lowered PSI to 2 to serve, still entirely head.

Thanks again for any suggestions.
Chris