keg dispensing question

[puckjer]

this is my first time kegging a homebrew so bear with me. i got it all kegged up a week ago and checked for leaks. no leaks on any connections and the keg seems to be holding pressure nicely. my setup is as follows...38 degrees in the kegerator, i set the pressure to 12 psi, 5 ft of beer line. the pressure has been at 12 psi for a week now. i know it should take about 2 weeks to fully carb the beer at that pressure. the question if have is this. when i open the faucet the beer just trickles out barely forming a thin stream. now i know its not carbed yet but at 12 psi i would think that would be enough to push the beer through the lines and produce a normal pour. i have a dual body regulator and on the other line i am pushing a commercial keg at 10 psi and it pours perfectly. am i missing something? does the beer have to be fully carbed before it will push out of the keg at that pressure? there is no air in the beer line so i dont know what else it could be. i guess it is possible that the dip tube is clogged but this keg came straight from keg connection cleaned up and ready to sanitize. this beer was in my secondary for 3 weeks and it was very clear when i kegged it so i doubt there is really any sediment at the bottome that is getting sucked up the line. the little bit of beer that is coming out of the faucet is very clear as well so that makes me think its something else. any ideas on what i should do?

 

[RogerMcAllen]

The beer does not have to be carbed pour, it sounds like something else is wrong.

Might be a stupid question, but are you sure your regulator is set at 12 psi? If I don't get the set nut tight enough mine has a nasty habit of working it's way down.

Are you sure the keg is pressurized? When the pull the relief valve does it vent, and then can you hear the keg repressurizing?

Another silly question, but are you sure you have the ins and outs correct?

 

[celticcolorado]

I agree with Roger and think there is something wrong with the amount of pressure going into the keg. That is really the only thing I can think of. I have basically the same setup and if I leave it at 12 psi, it is almost too much pressure when pouring.

 

[puckjer]

there is definitely pressure in the keg. when i pull the relief valve it lets out a good bit of gas. i am wondering if it could be my faucet. when i bought the kit i bought 2 perlicks. i have not tried out this particular faucet until now. i may just switch this beer line to the faucet i have running my commercial keg cause i know for sure it works. if it pours fine then it has to be the faucet. any idea what could possibly be causing that on the perlick? i assembled both of them exactly the same.

 

[Yooper]

there is definitely pressure in the keg. when i pull the relief valve it lets out a good bit of gas. i am wondering if it could be my faucet. when i bought the kit i bought 2 perlicks. i have not tried out this particular faucet until now. i may just switch this beer line to the faucet i have running my commercial keg cause i know for sure it works. if it pours fine then it has to be the faucet. any idea what could possibly be causing that on the perlick? i assembled both of them exactly the same.

No. I wonder if you've got a clogged "out" line or poppit. Try it on the other faucet and see if it works. If it does, the problem is in the faucet. If it doesn't, the problem is in the "out" connection on the keg.

 

[puckjer]

i am going to swap the faucets tonight and see what happens. if that isnt the case i am going to be pissed. i guess i could syphon the beer from this keg to the other corny i have (that is also new and untested) and see if it works. man this frustrating. the little bit of beer that is coming out tastes damn good too.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Once you find where it is it should be an easy fix. All of these components are very easily disassembled and cleaned. Perlicks can be torn down very far for cleaning and relubing. Do you have any keg lube? Is if switching the faucet doesn't help, pull the OUT post off and pull the dip tube out. Run water through it to check that it flows freely. Pull the poppet from the post and clean it and relube it.

 

[puckjer]

can someone walk me through taking off the out post and pulling the dip tube out as i have never done this. is it as simple as using a deep socket to unscrew the outpost and then just pulling it out? can this be done with beer in the keg or do i need to syphon out first. i have keg lube so that is not a problem. what exactly is the "poppet" and how do you pull it from the post? sorry for all the newb questions. pictures of these parts would be great also.

 

[hal2814]

Make sure to unload pressure before unscrewing the post.

Yeah, all there is to it is unscrewing it with a deep socket or plain old wrench. You can leave the beer in the keg. If you look at the post, you'll see that it's solid with a small circle in the middle. That circle in the middle is the poppet. It's spring loaded to seal when you remove the ball lock connector. When you unscrew the post, you can just poke the poppet out. It'll make sense when you see it disassembled.

Right underneath the post should be a long metal dip tube you can pull out. I'd start by making sure that tube is clear by running some water through it. Every time I've had a clogged keg, that was the culprit.