Kegging Question

Hello,
I'm new to kegging my homebrew. Last night I connected my gas line to the keg and started the carbonating process. When I connected the dispensing line and tried to pour some beer out (yes I know it's not carbonated yet, but wanted to test it), nothing came out. Is this usual??

Incogneato said:

Hello,
I'm new to kegging my homebrew. Last night I connected my gas line to the keg and started the carbonating process. When I connected the dispensing line and tried to pour some beer out (yes I know it's not carbonated yet, but wanted to test it), nothing came out. Is this usual??

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No, not at all. You should be able to dispense as long as the gas is "pushing" the beer out.

You had the gas hooked into the "in" post, with the small diptube inside and the beer line hooked up to the "out" post, with the long diptube? What kind of tap did you have hooked up to the beerline?

Yep, I have the gas hooked up to the side that says in. The tap is a standard picnic tap.

Incogneato said:

Yep, I have the gas hooked up to the side that says in. The tap is a standard picnic tap.

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Are the two diptubes intact?

I believe so. They seemed fine when I put the beer in.

Incogneato said:

I believe so. They seemed fine when I put the beer in.

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Do you hear gas going into the keg? Can you hear gas come out when you pull the pressure relief valve?

Yeah, there is definitely gas going into the keg (currently at 20 PSI, at 55 degrees).

Your big O ring may not have sealed well and let out all of your CO2. Try some keg lube.

Thanks for the help!! I will try the keg lube and see if that works!!

You should check all your seals with Star San. Put some in a spray bottle and spray all the areas. If it bubbles, you have a leak.

It could also be that your tap fitting isn't pressed down all the way on the keg before releasing the clamp, or even that your dip tube is clogged or damaged.

Is there a way to take out the dip tube without emptying the beer? That's probably a dumb question, but like I said I'm new to kegging.

all you have to do is pop the lid and yank it out, might get some beer on you (or some you in the beer) but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

I had this problem with an IPA. Someone suggested connecting the CO2 to the "out" valve. Thats the valve with the long dip tube and pull on the CO2 release on the top of the corney.

I put it up to like 20 psi connected it and pulled on the release valve. It pushed Co2 thru the dip tube and dislodged the cake at the bottom. After that I reconnected it normally and it worked like a charm.

Ok, so I just got home and tried a few things out. There is definitely gas going into the keg, and co2 in the keg I put the CO2 valve into the out valve and pushed co2 through it and it still doesn't work. If I take a screwdriver and unscrew part (on the part that hooks into the keg before it reaches the hose) of the picnic tap beer comes out of it.

This happened to me with an oatmeal raisin stout. I went straight from primary to keg so some bits of raisin came through. I tried to flush the dip tube but it still wasn't pouring. I ended up transferring it to another keg and had no more problems. Come to find out, when I was tightening the "out" fitting, the dip tube was rotating and pressing just right on the bottom of the keg to clog it up.

Incogneato said:

Ok, so I just got home and tried a few things out. There is definitely gas going into the keg, and co2 in the keg I put the CO2 valve into the out valve and pushed co2 through it and it still doesn't work. If I take a screwdriver and unscrew part (on the part that hooks into the keg before it reaches the hose) of the picnic tap beer comes out of it.

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Take off the beerline, and the black quick disconnect. Turn off the gas, and purge the keg by pulling the pressure relief valve. Take off the "out" post, and clean it out. It sounds like you've got some debris stuck in there. Pull out the diptube, and hold it up to the light and look through it to see if anything is stuck in there.

How long should I let it settle once I purge the keg (don't want to lose any beer).

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Incogneato said:

How long should I let it settle once I purge the keg (don't want to lose any beer).

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If I understand what you are doing correctly, you should be able to take it apart once you purge the keg. Just pop the lid open to be sure the gas is purged. Once you do that it shouldn't be able to push any beer out thru the line.

Ok... still no luck. Took everything apart and the dip tube is clean and liquid is able to come out of it. I'm thinking it's gotta be the actual tap (which is brand new from Austin Homebrew)

There is a slot on the disconnect that you can adjust with a screwdriver... when I open that up I can get beer out of the tap, but it also comes out of the top of the disconnect.