Noob kegging/carbing question: CO2 regulator pressure drop

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ebj5883

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So I have a brown ale kegged, and its been carbonating for roughly 5 days now. To match the desired volume, I have it set at 9 PSI (CO2 tank at room temp, beer at 35 degrees F) and now that day 5 has been reached (day 6 tomorrow), I've had a few cups of brew, which mind you, turned out delicious :) just a little low carbonation than I was expecting.

Anyway, the problem is this. Over the course of the 5 days, I've had to turn up the pressure on my regulator a few times. The first few nights it dropped to roughly 4-5 PSI, and I had to bring it back up to 9. I chalked this up to the CO2 being absorbed into the beer, but why is the pressure not automatically increasing to match the loss? Either way, overnight into today, it held 9 PSI just fine, so I took the liberty to enjoy a couple cups. As stated before, it was a little low carbed, but I noticed that after 2 cups, the pressure dropped to about 5 PSI. I'm a little confused. Is this how all CO2 systems work, or is this a telltale sign of something wrong with my setup?

Thanks in advance for the help and advice, should anyone have the input :)
 
Im by no means an expert but heres my $.02.

1. 5 days isnt long enough to carb from what Ive read, so thats why your beer is a little flat.

2. I dont think absorption will cause a drop in pressure unless you are running out of volume and have a leak. example-- if you pressurize a keg at 10 psi, take the gas off, and measure 1 week later, Im pretty sure itll still be at 10 psi. But, if you have a slow leak, and you dont have enough volume to feed the keg, your pressure will drop. Check if your on/off valve is all the way open.


It kinda sounds like the first drop was caused by creep, but im not sure that would explain your drop during serving.

this is a tough one..

edit: if your reg is like mine, you should have a little nut on your adjuster knob-- make sure after you make an adjustment you tighten that nut down to hold the adjustment.. maybe your reg adjuster is backing out--that would cause the drop (but its kind of a longshot).
 
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