No beer, only CO2 out of the tap?

I admit, I'm a bad beer drinker. I haven't had a keg since college, a long time ago. I just got a True TDD-2 kegerator, and got it up and running today. So, I did what any other man would do and immediately got my CO2 bottle filled and a fresh keg of Highland Gaelic Ale. If this goes well, I'll start kegging using Sanke kegs for the homebrew.

I cleaned and sanitized everything. I filled a sanke keg with sanitizer and ran it through the lines without a problem.

I disconnected the micromatic connector and threw it on the keg of goodness. Now all I'm getting is CO2. No foam, nothing going into the line. Straight CO2 coming out of the spout.

I've played with the pressure, running it from 2 to 20 psi, no change. What am I missing here?

Hooked up backwards?

Do you have the liquid and co2 lines going to the correct spot?

On sankeys the liquid gold comes out the top center and gas is on the side.

Yes, everything is correct. I ran sanitizer through first, and merely moved the micromatic over to the new keg right afterwards.

And the keg has been steady in the kegerator for about four hours now. It definitely should have settled...even though I hauled it home in the sidecar.

The sanitizer flowed but not the brew? hmm. Is the lever engaged?

(Edit) gave it a nice ride home I see.

Yes, sanitizer flows but not beer. I just hooked up the second tap to the sanitizer, and it flowed too, made a huge mess. I thought that keg was empty and that hooking it up might seal a leak, but it turns out it just sent sanitizer up the other tower and onto my head.

The beer is on the brand new tower. It worked for sanitizer too. The old tower is crap, and doesn't like to turn off, as noted by the sanitizer incident above.

Here is how I'm connected. The top is indeed going to the tower, and the CO2 is connected at the side. The ports are clearly labeled on the other side, but I didn't want to slosh the keg around to show that.



Here is what the CO2 regulator looks like. I've run the gauntlet from 2-20 psi. I've settled on 5-10 because that is what I recall being normal.



And here is the whole setup. I'm running this to the tower on the left. It is brand new and successfully ran sanitizer. Nothing is hooked up to the tower on the right.

My guess is that someone at the brewery screwed up when cleaning and filling the keg and either didn't install the spear, or installed it incorrectly.

Possible, but is that likely? This is a store-bought keg, not a homebrew.

It's worth a shot to vent the keg and swap the spears since you have a spare one for the sanitizer.

How do you explain this to the keg shop? they will probably look at you like you're crazy.

Holy **** batman, after the fiasco I had putting the sanitizing keg back together, I'm terrified to tear one apart that is actually full of liquid gold.

Well there is a possibility of danger if you keep it. It is carbed and full...

Take it back and say hey this ain't right. Tell them to throw a hand pump on to show it is all air.

Is the spear on a 1/4 keg the same size as one on a 1/6 keg?

RidingDonkeys said:

Is the spear on a 1/4 keg the same size as one on a 1/6 keg?

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Sankeys spears are all the same...unless it is the short quarter barrels. They're just shorter.

OK, so let me get this right in my head. I have a full keg, fully carbed. On an empty, I'd depress the ball lock and depressurize it before removing the retaining pin and then the spear. However, on a full keg I'm going to shoot beer everywhere if I do this, right?

To swap the spears without injuring yourself you need to work fast so the co2 doesn't build up again.
Turn the gas off at the tank or a valve if you have it.
Pull the little vent ring...multiple times until the co2is out and not building up.
Pry out the retaining ring...allow to vent before turning for safety.
Install other spear.

Don't hurt yourself or you won't be able to enjoy the liquid gold.

OK, I'll attempt this tomorrow. Right now, it's bedtime. Waking up at 4am sucks.

I'm pulling for ya...we're all in this together.

brewingmeister said:

I'm pulling for ya...we're all in this together.

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Love the Red Green quote.

TrainSafe said:

Love the Red Green quote.

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Suddenly I find myself Googling Red Green.

RidingDonkeys said:

Suddenly I find myself Googling Red Green.

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Outstanding show. Haven't seen it since I was a kid though!

The spear is there. However, the spear from the other keg is too long to do a swap. I reassembled it and I'm still getting the same issue, but now a couple of squirts of foam. I opened the line and let it run for a couple of minutes, no change in status. I really just want a beer...

RidingDonkeys said:

The spear is there. However, the spear from the other keg is too long to do a swap. I reassembled it and I'm still getting the same issue, but now a couple of squirts of foam. I opened the line and let it run for a couple of minutes, no change in status. I really just want a beer...

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This doesn't make any sense if your beer dispensing line is hooked up to the same place as the dip tube (top and bottom, respectively). There is no way to get only air from it unless it has a big hole/leak in it or the connection.

No, it doesn't make sense. That is why I'm so freaking confused. I posted a video. Unfortunately the audio got killed by YouTube, but you'll see the rough order of things. The first keg is my new one. The second keg is full of sanitizer. It took a second to get the psi right on the second keg, but I got water in no time.



For some reason I can't embed on this forum.

Looks like Photobucket kept the audio.

http://static.photobucket.com/playe...lbums/e151/jmo308/2012-03-20_17-24-43_105.mp4

Great video. That pretty much proves that the keg is the problem. Take it back and get a replacement.

This keg just wanted another cycle ride!

Dude, I don't think it's the keg. Your sanitizer keg isn't working either. As long as you had water above the bottom of the spear in your sanitizing keg, you should pretty much immediately have some water flow (after getting pressure up in the keg ~1-2 seconds). You shouldn't hear bubbling when the gas hits the keg. And even when you are pouring liquid, there shouldn't be any gas coming out with it. Something ain't right, and I don't think it's the keg.

Somehow you're blowing gas down the spear.

Sad thing is, I'm having a similar problem, except I'm always getting a mixture of gas and beer. Never just the gas.

RidingDonkeys said:

Suddenly I find myself Googling Red Green.

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You'll get there faster if you apply some duct tape.

If the swap didn't work I'm kinda at a loss. Taking it back might be the best bet. The sankey coupler is the correct one right? There are a few types of sankey couplers.
I'll look at the video and see if I can think of anything else.

Take the keg and depress the ball and see if beer shoots out. If it does, you know the keg is not the problem. If you depress the ball and get nothing but gas, you know the keg is the problem.

After watching the video I retract my earlier statement. The issue is definitely not with the keg, since as lombard pointed out, your sanitizer keg isn't working correctly either. There should only be sputtering and hissing from the faucet if the keg is empty, and there shouldn't be any bubbling sound when the gas is connected to the keg (well, unless the keg is upside down). I know you said earlier that you're sure you have the gas line connected to the port in the side of the coupler and the beer line connected to the top of the coupler, but are you absolutely positive? The reason I ask is that it looks and sounds from the video like you have them hooked up backwards. If you do indeed have them hooked up correctly, then the only explanation is an issue with your coupler. It could be broken, faulty, or the wrong type.

My coupler has engraved markings for each line, and I've checked them about fifty times now, so they are indeed correct.

I've checked for leaks in the system and haven't been able to find any. I originally had a leak in the tower, but I completely replaced that tower with a new one that came with the system.

I'm contemplating redoing all the lines in the kegerator just as a sanity check. this think came plumbed already, but the lines do show some wear. As far as materials go, I don't really know what "right" is. Anything I ought to know before I go shopping?

Just to clarify, the current configuration has a blue line going to a valve on the side of the kegerator. That has two outputs, one of which is currently closed. The other has one clear line that hits a "T" fitting and separates into two lines which are both connected to sanke couuplers.

Ultimately I would like to run four taps so I have a good selection come party time.

Are you sure you're using a type D coupler and not a type S? The highland keg should be a type D, and so should the miller keg you have sanitizer in. A type S coupler will fit on a D keg, but since the stem is longer and more narrow it won't function properly. When you bought the kegerator were there stickers or posters or bar mats branded with Heineken, Stella, St Pauli, Newcastle, Murphys, Youngs, Becks, or Amstel? That might be a clue that it's a type S coupler. If it is a type D, how do the seals look on the underside? If the rubber seals (particularly the inner one) are cracked, chipped, or deformed it can cause problems like this. It looks like a micromatic coupler, in which case replacement seals are cheap and easy to find. Do you have any other couplers you can try?

Edit: I just noticed what looks like a Newcastle tap handle in the pics. Did that come with the kegerator?

Without knowing which hose is connected to the CO2 tank, it is hard to confirm that the lines really are hooked up correctly. It sure sounds like they are backwards.

From your description and what I can see in the video, the blue line is running from your CO2 tank to a two way distrubutor. From one leg of the distributor, there is a line running to a T splitter, and both legs of the splitter, are connected to a couple of Sanke couplers. Is this correct?

Are you also saying that the line from the T splitter is connected to the Gas IN port (side connector)?

It would be hard to believe that both of your kegs are bad, but they would have to be in order to get the results that you are getting. It almost seems like your keg of sanitizer was simply foaming up enought due to the CO2 bubling through the liquid to get sucked through the gas tube.

Can you try bypassing all of the extra distributors & T connectors, and simply go straight from the CO2 regulator to the coupler, and from the coupler to a faucet? That will let you narrow down the problem as you slowly add back in the additional pieces.

Could it also be as simple as bad seals on the couplers? I don't really know that much about Sankey couplers to know how many seals are involved, and what sort of problems they can cause.

The only constant here is the coupler. It's most likely a ruptured seal/o ring inside. When you push the handle of the coupler down it not only let's the beer up but let's the co2 in. If the seal is broken the co2 is going right back out. You can buy all the o rings fir the coupler for a couple bucks. Or just get a new coupler. I have a few that I just replaced the seals on if you want one

JRems said:

The only constant here is the coupler. It's most likely a ruptured seal/o ring inside. When you push the handle of the coupler down it not only let's the beer up but let's the co2 in. If the seal is broken the co2 is going right back out. You can buy all the o rings fir the coupler for a couple bucks. Or just get a new coupler. I have a few that I just replaced the seals on if you want one

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BUZINGA!

That got me thinking. The first time I hooked the sanitizer keg up to that tap, it ran great. Then the new keg didn't work. Then the sanitizer keg worked on the other tower, but the spout was a little leaky.

So I made the video, and the sanitizer keg worked a little, but not great.

Then your post got me thinking, I never put the new keg on the other coupler. As soon as I disconnected the coupler from the new keg I saw the problem. Anybody see something wrong here?



Yep, I'm missing a seal. It was dry and fell out after I disconnected the first keg. It was sitting in the back of the kegerator. I just swapped out the couplers and now I'm drinking cold beer.

Thanks for all the help along the way. You guys rock!

Glad to help, you can get new seals from micromatic or chicompany. I would replace all the seals. They are all probably a little dryed out.