Kegging Help!

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.

mayday1019

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
86
Reaction score
0
Location
Weymouth, MA
Tonight I kegged for the first time. Sanitizing the keg, lines, etc went fine. Then I realized I have absolutely no idea how to control the pressure from the CO2 tank. I have a dual guage regulator and when I first pressurized the keg, the guage shot up to just over 20 psi. The beer & keg are at room temp.

Do I leave the main valve open all the time or should I keep it off? Also, there is another valve sticking out of the front of the regulator as well. do I leave that completely closed or loose?

I am hoping to have the beer ready to consume by Thanksgiving (5 days).

Everyone's help here is always very much appreciated!

Thanks!

Bob
 
The main calve to the tank should be poen all the time. The Valve coming out of the regulator is what you adjust to set the pressure you want. I be it was wide open when you turned it on. Turning counter clockwise should lower the pressure. All the way left will set it at zero.
 
If you are carbing at room temp, then you might want to set the pressure at 37 lbs. or so. If the keg is going into the fridge, set it at 12-14 lbs. CO2 dissolves better at colder temps, hence the difference between 37 and 12-14.
 
Thats great help, thank you. And when you mentioned the main valve should be left on, I am assuming you mean wide open right?

Thanks again!
 
Thank you for your help. I have just one more question. I just opened the main valve up and loosened the valve on the regulator a bit to get to 13 psi. There is CO2 leaking from the valve on the regulator. Is this normal or is the valve a bit loose? If it's normal, I would think alot of CO2 gets lost this way.

Thanks,

Bob
 
If there is CO2 coming out where you do not want it, yes that is bad. You will drain your tank very quickly. Where exactly is it coming out. If you are not sure take some soapy water (dish soap) and wipe it or better still spray with a mister all over any connections. A leak will bubble.
 
I think you have the screw too loose. Turn the screw to the right to tighten. This should make the pressure going to your keg increase though so watch your guage.

Does the leak stop ever or just keep going? For me when the pressure in the keg is high and I turn down my regulator (turn screw to the left) some CO2 is released through the screw and then stops.
 
It's probably coming out of the pressure relief. eg If the keg is holding 30 psi and the reg is set to 20 psi it will vent gas through there until it reaches 20psi, try venting the keg to see if that stops it.

Also you don't need to have the valve on the tank wide open, turn it until the high pressure gauge on the reg comes up and then a little more about, 1/3 of a turn in total should do it. That way if you have a problem with something you can shut it off quickly.
 
Back
Top