Kegged beer taste issue

[abndrew82]

Last couple beers I have brewed seemed to taste like they have seemed flat, not getting great head and have flat taste. These were force carbonated in keezer, the last one I did, I also bottled a couple bottles with sugar when kegging. When tasting the bottled versions a couple weeks later they tasted significantly better than what I get from keg. So this round I decided to use sugar for the whole keg, added the Sugar, sealed put co2 on for a short burst and then purged. Now 2 weeks later decided to hook up the beer line and try it and it again tastes like it is flat and gave almost pretty much no head.

The beer lines are these - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E6BCXQ8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

And length from Keg to Shank is about 6 ft, going to fully measure tomorrow.

CO2 is set at about 6 PSI Currently for pushing beer out, currently doing some research on best setting for that

But looking for other ideas and things to try and troubleshoot what could be going wrong. For now I have removed the CO2 back off the keg and have it sitting figure try it again in another day as maybe its just not carbonated fully yet.

Thanks for any info.

 

[mattdee1]

When you put the sugar in the keg, did you let it carbonate at room temperature? If it gets too cold, it goes really slowly.

Did you check the keg for leaks? After you seal the lid, spray the top and fittings with Star San and look for bubbles. If there are leaks, the carbonation won't work right.

If these 2 items check out, then if I were you I'd go right back to basics and do a "low and slow" carbonation process. Put the keg in the keezer, put it on the gas at the pressure corresponding to your desired volumes of CO2, and let it sit for at least 1-2 weeks.

Also, 6psi is pretty low for achieving and maintaining a nice carbonation level. If you need to use a pressure that low to prevent foaming during pouring, then look into making your lines longer.

 

[abndrew82]

Not sure why I didn't make that connection, but number 1 is most likely the issue. When I did the bottles I had put them on top of a cabinet to sit at room temp for 2 weeks. But with the Keg I put it into my Keezer so it has been cold 36 degrees or so for the last 2 weeks. Would the best option at this point be to just leave it in there for longer or remove it and let it sit at room temp now. Figuring probably better to not raise the temp but want to ensure, have no issue letting it sit longer.

Thanks

 

[mattdee1]

You're not going to harm it by taking it out and putting it in a room temperature environment for a week or 2. Thing is, after sitting at fridge temperatures for a while, the yeast have probably gone to sleep at the bottom of the keg, so you might want to give the keg a shake after it warms up a bit. The shake probably isn't even necessary but it sure won't hurt.

 

[chickypad]

As above if you're going to naturally carb with sugar you need to let the yeast do it's thing at room temp. Otherwise if force carbing 6 psi sounds really low, in my keezer at 42 deg that would only be 1.85 vols of CO2. You should use a carb chart like below to figure the pressure you need. Most commercial beers are in the 2.5-2.6 range.

http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php