My kegged beer isn't properly carbonating!!

Let me preface this by saying this is the first beer I've kegged and its all very new to me. The keg has been sitting in the refrigerator and hooked up to the gas for just about 4 weeks now. I'm using a 5lb tank, dual regulator, and a cobra tap with about 5 ft of line.

After I kegged the beer, I did as my LHBS instructed and cranked up the psi to 25 for a couple days, purged and turned down the psi to about 12. For two weeks I'd pull a pint to see how it was coming but it was still a little flat so I pulled out the keg and rolled it around (I read somewhere that sometimes the keg needs to be shaken a little to dissolve the CO2) and put it back in the fridge waited patiently. For the past week I've been sampling some more and it foams up when I pour and there isn't much CO2 bubbles in solution. So I turned the psi down to 6-8 psi and the beer has less foam but still doesn't have much CO2 in solution. So now I'm thinking either the CO2 isn't dissolved into the beer or it's coming out of solution when I pour but I can't which, why, and how to fix it!

Now I think I've messed with the regulator and keg so much that I don't what to do and all I want is carbonated beer!

I brought a growler to a brew day this past weekend that I filled with a bottling wand inserted into the cobra tap at 2 or 3psi. The beer was only lightly carbonated but its the best I've gotten so far and it had minimal foaming when I filled it. Unfortunately the remaining 1/3 of the growler ended up flat later that night. I tried filling a couple bottles using BMBF I got the same results.

Last night I tightened up everything from the regulator to hose clamps and I sprayed star stan on all the posts and keg lid to see if there were any leaks but I couldn't find any. I cranked it up to 30 psi, I don't even know why but nothing else seems to be working so I figured I'd let it sit like that for a bit.

Please help me carb my beer! I at least want to be able to pour one proper pint before this keg is kicked.

Thanks in advance.

My first thought might lean me toward you having a pesky leak. But, it has also been a while since I balanced a system and am also leaning toward the issue being your line. Could be both.

Check all your connections, I mean everything everywhere. Use StarSan or a thin water/soap. Check the bell housing on your reg. If you don;t find a leak study into this;

http://www.micromatic.com/Templates/static/images/1751/Balancing a Direct Draw Draft Beer System.pdf

You might have undercarbonated it. I'd suggest turning the CO2 back up for awhile or even doing the "rocking on your knees" approach. The Homebrew Wiki seems to indicate that the beer should be left at the desired temperature/pressure for a week to achieve the proper CO2 content.

Here is the link I give people for carbonation....

Force Carbonation & Carb Table

It has an excel file for temp/carb volumes

Basically, just find your target volumes of CO2 and the temperature of your fridge/kegerator/keezer and then set to the indicated pressure and forget about it. This is the best way to do it IMHO because by the time the beer is ready to drink and properly carbonated, the carbonic bite will have dissipated and you will have perfect beer.

Good luck!

GilaMinumBeer said:

Check all your connections, I mean everything everywhere. Use StarSan or a thin water/soap. Check the bell housing on your reg.

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I checked all my gas connections last night but I'll do it again this afternoon just to be sure. I tightened things up and used Star San to check for leaks. Some fittings were able to tighten up so more so maybe that will help. What is the bell housing on a regulator? Is that the part that connects to the CO2 tank? Or maybe the part that has the threaded screw sticking out of it to adjust the psi?

Try a 10' beer line, you may be knocking the carbonation out as you pour. You should be able to control a pour such that you don't have any head (if you wanted), I tend to tip the glass up at the end of the pour to get a little foam.

GearBeer said:

You might have undercarbonated it. I'd suggest turning the CO2 back up for awhile or even doing the "rocking on your knees" approach. The Homebrew Wiki seems to indicate that the beer should be left at the desired temperature/pressure for a week to achieve the proper CO2 content.

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After 2 weeks I pulled the keg out and rolled it around on the floor for a couple minutes. I waited a couple days before pulling a pint to let everything settle and I thought it worked because the beer seemed to be carbed correctly but that was short lived and the beer went back to being foamy with a lot of turbulence when poured and minimal CO2 left in solution afterwards.

conpewter said:

Try a 10' beer line, you may be knocking the carbonation out as you pour. You should be able to control a pour such that you don't have any head (if you wanted), I tend to tip the glass up at the end of the pour to get a little foam.

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I thought about that. But if other people could get buy with shorter lines then I could too.

I just went to go measure the tap line and it turns out its only 4 ft. I have another 5 ft of line on hand. Can I simply connect the 5 ft of line to the 4 ft of line or does it need to be one continuous piece?

DrinksWellWithOthers said:

I checked all my gas connections last night but I'll do it again this afternoon just to be sure. I tightened things up and used Star San to check for leaks. Some fittings were able to tighten up so more so maybe that will help. What is the bell housing on a regulator? Is that the part that connects to the CO2 tank? Or maybe the part that has the threaded screw sticking out of it to adjust the psi?

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Yes, the bell housing is the bit that has the screw coming out of it. It's a rare occurence but, sometimes if the bell has come loose, or isn't seated properly the bits inside don't mesh properly and a leak ensues.

I learned this from personal experience rushing through a reg re-build. Maybe it was a fluke but, it is worth a look.

btw, don't go unscrewing the bell completely to avoid some potential frustration. Depending on your reg certain parts have to fit a certain way or they don't work right. TMI perhaps, but I wanted to offer some warning before you venture off the beaten path accidentally.

Boerderij Kabouter said:

Here is the link I give people for carbonation....

Force Carbonation & Carb Table

It has an excel file for temp/carb volumes

Basically, just find your target volumes of CO2 and the temperature of your fridge/kegerator/keezer and then set to the indicated pressure and forget about it. This is the best way to do it IMHO because by the time the beer is ready to drink and properly carbonated, the carbonic bite will have dissipated and you will have perfect beer.

Good luck!

Click to expand...

I found that link the other night when I was looking for some answers to my kegging problems. I use Beersmith and it does the same thing. I kegged another beer last night because I refuse to admit defeat and was planning on just setting the psi and letting it sit rather than cranking it up for a short period, roll it around, and turn it back down.

If you lack carbonation then hit the keg with 40 psi
Then every day let the pressure down to 12 psi and take a pull on it. You can try 8 or less if you want.
put it back to 40 and wait another day. repeat until you get what you want

I have had luck roling a keg only when it is full. a half empty keg leaves me with all foam

I'll take over carbed beer any day (you only have to wait for the foam to go down)

As for leaks. put your keg to 40 psi. shut off the valve and disconnect the co2 connection. the next day put the connection back on and see what pressure is left. If it is 30-40 psi then you don't have a leak on that side of the system.

good luck

If the keg is at 12 PSI and you have 4 ft of 3/16" ID line you are going to get a lot of foam in your glass. You can either get a longer line (I'm not sure if splicing will work or not) or you can drop the pressure in the keg to "Serving pressure" down to around 3-5 PSI and then when you are done drinking you should bump it back up to 12 PSI to keep the carbonation.

Don't forget when dropping pressure to use the pressure relief valve to drop the 12 PSI in the keg, just changing the regulator won't work

OK I think I'm going to take Boar's advice and crank up the psi a little more and disconnect it and check it again tomorrow. I'm pretty sure I don't have any leaks but I like to positive about things.

And I think I'm going to pick up some longer line at the brew shop when I go there on Thursday. I'd rather have the longer line than having to constantly have to adjust the regulator when drinking.

Thanks a lot guys! I'll let you know how things work out this weekend.

Prefab cobra taps are always too short. People don't get away with it, they all have the problems you have. 10 feet of 3/16ths will cure your problem. Coil it and tie-wrap so it can sit on top of the keg without the tap falling on the floor. The only downside of a too long line is a slightly slower pour rate when you have low-carbonation beers. But, as you've surmised, that beats fiddling with the regulator and line lengths.