I strongly dislike my regulator right now

[Burgs]

I’m not understanding my CO2 regulator, apparently… and need a little help.

It's this Chudnow style regulator from Kegconnection:
http://stores.kegconnection.com/Detail.bok?no=56

I attempted to adjust my PSI from 9 to 12 and overshot it a little bit, the needle hits right at about 14. That’s a little higher serving pressure than I want (pints coming out awfully fast). How can I dial it back?

If I attempt to turn the adjustment screw the opposite way I turned it before, it just loosens to a point where it stops moving. Same with the nut on the screw.

Do I need to be shutting off the main valve at the tank when I do this? How about the check valve? Do I bleed the tank? Or the regulator?

How can I get from 14 psi down to 12?

 

[Gritsak]

I’m not understanding my CO2 regulator, apparently… and need a little help.

It's this Chudnow style regulator from Kegconnection:
http://stores.kegconnection.com/Detail.bok?no=56

I attempted to adjust my PSI from 9 to 12 and overshot it a little bit, the needle hits right at about 14. That’s a little higher serving pressure than I want (pints coming out awfully fast). How can I dial it back?

If I attempt to turn the adjustment screw the opposite way I turned it before, it just loosens to a point where it stops moving. Same with the nut on the screw.

Do I need to be shutting off the main valve at the tank when I do this? How about the check valve? Do I bleed the tank? Or the regulator?

How can I get from 14 psi down to 12?

Back out the screw a little bit, bleed some air from the keg, then readjust to desired psi.

 

[Burgs]

Readjust how? Clockwise or counterclockwise on the screw?

What if the screw is already backed out all the way?

 

[Bobby_M]

Are you venting the pressure at the keg? You can raise the pressure simply by turning the screw clockwise. However, to lower the pressure, you have to turn it counterclockwise a bit, vent the keg, repeat until you're down where you want it. It's sometimes easier to go down further than you want, then tweak it back up.

 

[Burgs]

Are you venting the pressure at the keg? You can raise the pressure simply by turning the screw clockwise. However, to lower the pressure, you have to turn it counterclockwise a bit, vent the keg, repeat until you're down where you want it. It's sometimes easier to go down further than you want, then tweak it back up.

Ok, I get that... that makes sense.

But now that I've probably got the screw backed out too far, should I tighten it back to how it was before (without raising the pressure any), and then make this adjustment?

 

[Burgs]

And the little nut that's at the base of the screw - I probably don't need to be messing with that at all, right?

 

[ksbrain]

That regulator has a relief valve on it. You can just burp it there rather than at the keg if you want. The nut is meant to hold the screw in place once you get it set right. I don't use it, myself.

 

[Burgs]

Are the regulators with knobs this much of a pain in the ass? This doesn't seem like what I would call precise control. It seems like f*cking with it until you accidentally hit the number you want. I'm sure a lot of that has to do with user error on my part but geez.

 

[twizted1]

No regulator under a few hundred dollars will be that precise (I know because I just spent $900 on 2 regulators for the lab at work), most standard regulators are not precision instruments, they'll get you close, but it takes some tweaking. Learning how to adjust a non-precision regulator with some precision takes time and practice. Anytime you overpressurize, you will have to bleed off some pressure to be able to reduce the system pressure. You can always increase pressure by turning up the regulator, but to reduce, you'll have to bleed off pressure.

 

[Burgs]

Thanks guys, at least I know what the little locking nut is for now and hopefully I can get my PSI corrected tonight. Don't know what I'd do without this place!

 

[samc]

When your beer is at the correct temp, turning the valve clockwise in slow increments and waiting a bit as it rises is a fairly simple process. If your not at temp you will have to constantly readjust.

 

[Burgs]

I like the temp it's at, I don't think I'll change anything there, I just overshot 12 psi last time I tried to make an adjustment and it took a little while to realize it.

I'd check it, it would be right at 12, then check a little later and it had crept up to 13-14. It doesn't go higher than that, but I want to get it locked down at 12 instead.

This might seem dumb but where I've got it at now, it just feels like it's coming out of the picnic tap really fast. Like holy sh-t the glass is full before I'm expecting it to be.

 

[ZWood15]

You get used to the "feel" of your regulator after a while. Im guessing that the reason your picnic tap is filling up glasses so fast is that the beer line from the keg is pretty short. I used around 5 ft. on my setup (with a shank and faucet) and have a good flow rate.

 

[Burgs]

I believe my line is 6 feet...

 

[user 40839]

I had the exact same problem with my Keg Connection regulator (I've got the dual body, since I wanted to have two different pressures) when I first used it. Setting it to 12psi, it would ALWAYS overshoot to 14. Just did what the folks here are suggesting, burp 'n' bleed.

Another annoyance I have with this regulator is the fact that my tank guage doesn't work at all. Looks like the metal face in there is bent, so the needle is permanently stuck at 9 o clock on "order gas"
I wish I'd spent the extra $15 and gotten the taprite version.

 

[Burgs]

ubermick - You mean you're bleeding pressure from the release on the keg and on the regulator?

Another issue (maybe) - since I was afraid that after screwing with this last night, I might put more carbonation into the beer than I wanted, I shut the valve going to the keg before I left for work. By doing that, I shouldn't see any real loss of carbonation since I'm not serving from it and the vessel is sealed up, right?

 

[Shooter]

A few extra pounds of difference shouldn't cause it to shoot up in carbonation that much in one day. I have the Keg Connection regulator and I find the trick is to come in at least one, if not two, pounds under my target and leave it. I check it again in a few hours and it usually creaps up a pound or two to where I want it.

 

[Burgs]

A few extra pounds of difference shouldn't cause it to shoot up in carbonation that much in one day. I have the Keg Connection regulator and I find the trick is to come in at least one, if not two, pounds under my target and leave it. I check it again in a few hours and it usually creaps up a pound or two to where I want it.

That's exactly what I've noticed as well!

Problem being, I got it right where I wanted it and then noticed the creep up. Good to know that other people experience the same little quirks with this regulator (or all regulators like it, I guess).

Wish I was at home right now so I could have like 5 or 6 pints to make sure everything's ok...

 

[Burgs]

Got it adjusted!

It really helps to listen to the regulator too, I knew that when I could hear the gas hiss, the pressure was going to keep climbing, so I'd adjust the screw back. Got it set right on 12 psi, served a pint and it dropped a bit, so I notched it right back up and it's been holding steady!

I still gotta figure out the discrepancy between my ambient temp from the johnson controls probe and the actual temp of the beer... it's all over the place.

 

[user 40839]

ubermick - You mean you're bleeding pressure from the release on the keg and on the regulator?

What I've done (and this is probably not the best way of doing it) is to simply turn off the CO2 to the line, back the screw all the way out, then burp the kegs with their pressure relief valves. Just a couple of seconds each. Then flip the CO2 valve back on, and slowly start threading the screw back in until I get a reading. I'll leave it like that for a little bit (10 minutes or so) then come back and check it. Then adjust up to 12psi.

 

[DKershner]

You know...the more kegs you have hooked up...the less of a problem these adjustments are.

As if you needed any more reasons to get a bigger kegerator.

 

[Burgs]

What I've done (and this is probably not the best way of doing it) is to simply turn off the CO2 to the line, back the screw all the way out, then burp the kegs with their pressure relief valves. Just a couple of seconds each. Then flip the CO2 valve back on, and slowly start threading the screw back in until I get a reading. I'll leave it like that for a little bit (10 minutes or so) then come back and check it. Then adjust up to 12psi.

That's pretty much how I did it, seems good so far.

 

[Burgs]

You know...the more kegs you have hooked up...the less of a problem these adjustments are.

As if you needed any more reasons to get a bigger kegerator.

Why is that?

 

[DKershner]

Why is that?

The reason you see fluctuation at all has to do with a single keg cooling off, absorbing CO2, and generally giving your regulator a hard time. The more stable kegs you have just sitting there hooked up to the same regulator, the less fluctuation shows up on the regulator itself.

I see this through my 2 regulators, one of which controls 6 CO2 lines, and one that controls 2. I have to adjust the two one frequently, but I dont think I have touched the other since February.

 

[mh-brews]

take two: the first time it got lost.

what i did and it seemed to do OK was:
turn off co2 after regulator before Air Distributor. bleed all pressure from kegs.
turn off co2 tank and bleed pressure from regulator
turn on co2 and adjust up the pressure until about 3 psi below what you want. be sure to tap regulator to insure pressure is accurate.
turn on co2 to Air Distributor. it will take a while but it will re pressurize the kegs to about 3 psi above setting.

i am glad others have this issue because i have been fighting it for a while. i thought about upgrading regulators but haven't decided on that yet.

 

[Burgs]

take two: the first time it got lost.

what i did and it seemed to do OK was:
turn off co2 after regulator before Air Distributor. bleed all pressure from kegs.
turn off co2 tank and bleed pressure from regulator
turn on co2 and adjust up the pressure until about 3 psi below what you want. be sure to tap regulator to insure pressure is accurate.
turn on co2 to Air Distributor. it will take a while but it will re pressurize the kegs to about 3 psi above setting.

i am glad others have this issue because i have been fighting it for a while. i thought about upgrading regulators but haven't decided on that yet.

I appreciate your post mh-brews, mine actually crept back up to 13 after I left for dinner and came back... interesting. I think I need to shoot for about 3 psi lower too. And you have this same regulator on your tank, right?

 

[mh-brews]

yea it is the generic one from keg connection

 

[KhellendrosXS]

Whenever I put in a 'problem' keg or hook up a new bottle of CO2 I close the check valve going to all the kegs and burp the regulator and see where the needle settles. Then I open up all the check valves and come back after a few minutes to check to see where the needle is and make very very very tiny twists to that screw.

 

[Burgs]

It's been stable and pouring great all weekend - the problem now is that the keg is getting light...