Stuck Keg

I've had problems getting my cornies really cold (below 40) without freezing. This week I decided to drop the temp of my kegerator again (to about 35) and now I'm running into problems where pulling the tap draws no beer. I've inspected the lines and checked the pressures and everything looks ok but I have to vigorously beat the beer lines to get anything moving. Even then it doesn't always help.

One keg is stuck is near empty and I opened it up there is ice in it but theres still liquid too....can't figure out why i cant draw off of it. I know I've had colder beer before but my homebrew wont get that cold.

Any ideas?

Beer shouldn't freeze until it gets below 32 degrees due to the alcohol. You might have another issue like a plugged poppit valve or liquid return tube.

What part of your kegerator are you taking your temperatures from? Unless you have a fan distributing the air you are going to have a thermocline. If this is true, then the bottom of your kegs will be significanly colder than the top.

Sounds like either your temp probe is wrong our your readings are taken in a stratified temp zone.

GRHunter said:

What part of your kegerator are you taking your temperatures from? Unless you have a fan distributing the air you are going to have a thermocline. If this is true, then the bottom of your kegs will be significanly colder than the top.

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I think this is the case because only the kegs with less content have the problems. The fuller kegs do not display this behavior. There is a fan in this kegerator, its a Bev Air and it runs almost non-stop. The thermometer is on top of the keg though since there's room up there. With 4 kegs in there there's not alot of room at the bottom.

I know what I'm seeing I just don't understand what it means.

Scut_Monkey said:

Sounds like either your temp probe is wrong our your readings are taken in a stratified temp zone.

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Maybe, but I've had really cold beer on tap before and I know what feels like. I've been just above the freezing point before and it doesn't "appear" as cold as bottle that's pulled out of the fridge.