Some newbie kegging questions...

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h4rdluck

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So i am very new to kegging. Just got the setup. I have a single dial regulator.

So I don't have a fridge yet. I thought I would be able to carbonate my keg at room temperature, and now I find out this is difficult.

Do I really need to get my beer chilled before attempting to carbonate? If It is at room temp ~74F and I leave it at 10-12 psi is going to carbonate?

I just tried to dial my regulator up to 30 psi...but I can't get it past 8 or so. I turn the screw and start to hear a squeling sound. I've tried the soapy water trick but can't find any bubbling or leaks anywhere.. I'm not sure why I hear a sqeal as I screw the pressure screw in but the PSI isn't going up.... So there must be a leak somewhere?

Heres a big question. If I force carb a keg at chilled temperature at like 30. Can i disconnect the line and hook it up to another keg and force carb that keg at 30 also? And then switch the line between the two kegs at serving pressure? I don't quite understand the need for constantly having the CO2 on to a tank 24/7. If I am not serving from the tank and its already carbonated...then I would think I don't need to keep the tank on.....

Anyway thanks for answering my questions....
 
1. You don't need to chill your beer to carb it up, but it takes less pressure to do so if you do chill it. CO2 absorption depends on temp, and the colder the liquid, the easier it can absorb CO2. If you do carb up warm, then you have to adjust your pressure settings settings when it does get chilled to make up for the new temp and beer line length, etc., so most people just let the keg chill and set it to the proper pressure and forget about it.

2. Not sure on the leaky regulator, but that doesn't sound right. Is the noise coming from the regulator itself or somewhere else in the setup?

3. Once you carb up your keg you can pull the gas line and as long as there aren't any leaks in your keg it will hold pressure and allow you to hook the gas up to another keg and carb that one up. But once you start serving from a keg you will need to eventually hook it back up to gas. At first there is enough pressure to serve a few pints without being hooked up, but eventually that excess pressure is gone and most of the CO2 is absorbed in the beer. Without the gas applying pressure to the keg there won't be enough pressure to force the beer out of the tap.

So, you can pull the gas from the tank once it's carbed, but if you're going to be serving from it you'll want to hook it back up to get a consistent pour.
 
I dunno. When I first turned everything on the PSI was like 2-3. Then I screwed the screw on the regulator in and it went to 7 after 2-3 full turns. But then after turning it in more the PSI on the regulator wouldn't go up anymore, and with every 2-3 full turn afterward the regulator squeals. I wonder if there is something wrong with the setup. Its an old regulator that hasn't been used in a while but still I thought these peices of equipment were rather sturdy...by maybe not this one?

I got the tank and regulator for free from a friend who had used it before...My home brew store has some fancy one for 80 dollars I was trying to avoid buying...
 
RE: regulator only going up to 8psi.....

Check the regulator gauge, the face of the dial maybe cardboard or some other material that shifted/bowed causing the dial to bind and not read above 8 psi.
 
You were turning the screw two or three times all the way around? Was this just on the initial setup, or are you turning it that much after the 7-8 psi mark?

Maybe all regulators are different, but on all of mine just a half a turn may take the psi from 5 to 10. I'd look into what k47k said. Something might be preventing the dial from moving when you are in fact opening the regulator so far that some safety pressure release is going on.
 
well k47k was absolutely correct... :| the dial was definately stuck. I have unstuck it now and it seems to be working properly....

Anyway so lets talk about possible damage done? I guess my keg got some rather high pressure CO2 at room temperature. I just fixed the regulator and hooked it up to the keg. On a positive note it sems the maximum pressure I can get from the can after fully turning the screw is 30-35psi.

But after disconecting the regulator, closing the tank, I flushed the valve by hand with a screw driver on the gas in valve...and pretty sure I got beer out :(

Think i have done any permanent damage? Is my beer going to be super foamy because I didn't realize I was blasting it with max PSI? Even at room temperature? I haven't bled the keg yet. I don't want to waste any possible carbonation but now i guess i have no idea whats going on in the system.
 
If you were applying high pressure at room temp, chances are you aren't too bad because it actually takes higher pressures to carb up a beer at room temp. Also, you shouldn't have to mess with the gas in post on the keg to release pressure. There should be a little release valve on the lid you can just lift or pull up.

As long as you released all of the pressure from the keg and then hook it back up to the gas at the correct pressure I wouldn't be concerned. Unless you had your keg sitting at like 60 psi for a week at room temp or something. But if you were just testing it and trying to get it to work over the past few days the beer wouldn't have absorbed all of that CO2 that fast.
 
well i tried to be informed before anyway I should be getting a fridge today or tomarow..... So what is the best course of action at this point. I have a warm keg I force carbed at probably ~30psi. I have yet to bleed any co2 off. Its been sitting with CO2 on it now for about 15-16 hours at 77F. I'll be heading out to get a fridge today i think. If I get the fridge and put the keg in there how should I proceed?

1 - Bleed all the co2 in there off now.. let keg chill. then attempt to re-force carb?

2 - Get the fridge. cool the keg as is and wait and see what happens in 2 days (Since I should have some decent carbonation at 30psi with force carbing?).

3 - your suggestions here :)

Thanks everyone. Learning alot in a short period of time!
 
Don't worry about it. At 77 degrees, 30 PSI is around 2.3 volumes - About right for a lot of beers. It's the same exact thing as 12 PSI at 44 degrees of you had a cooler. You can use the chart here to see about how much CO2 you are adding to the beer, at any given temperature
RDWHAHB :D

When you get a cooler and chill the beer, remember to dial the pressure down or you will over-carb.

Over carbonating (which you haven't done, BTW) is nothing more than a PITA - It's not going to hurt your beer, you just have to bleed pressure off the keg for a while to get it back to normal.

To answer your other question, No. If you intend to force carb your beer, you have to leave the CO2 hooked up. If you want to force carb 2 kegs at the same time you'll have to build a "Y" after your regulator to hook them both up. Most people here use manifolds for this, because you can shut off either line, and they have check valves built in to prevent backflow of CO2 (And beer!)

+1 to naturally carbonating in the keg - Since you're at room temp, you can carbonate a keg just like you would a bottle (Just takes less sugar)
Just hit it with 30 PSI or so to seal the lid, disconnect the gas, let it sit for a few weeks, and let the yeasties do the carbonating for you ;)
 
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