poppet making beer flat?

[eagle83]

Okay. Need advice. I have a beer that I know is carbed, and I know is not overcarbed, but it's coming out flat. No head, just flat.

I have two kegs currently in my keezer attached to the same gas line at ~12 psi. My black IPA is carbed perfectly, my maibock is coming out flat.

Been investigating. Switched liquid lines. Did not help, so it's not that. I then bled the pressure and dipped some beer out of the keg. It is carbed perfectly. So my problem is somewhere between the beer and the pin lock connection.

I'm guessing there is some gunk in the poppet and it is somehow causing the CO2 to be released from the beer on the way out.

Anyone else ever had this problem?

My plan is to try to dremel a spark plug socket to fit my post. Bleed pressure off, and try to take it off to have a look.

Never taken a post off (I'm lazy and have been kegging for 3 years... I know I know I was asking for trouble.) so I am hoping to find someone who has had this problem before to reassure me this will work before going through the trouble.

 

[b-boy]

When you say flat are you talking about lack of head, or lack of CO2 in solution. I've had beers that were fully carbed, but had no head to speak of. I could still see a lot of bubbles coming out of solution after a pour.

I'd think if you had a poppet issue that was causing CO2 release you'd see a lot of foaming. If there was a leak somewhere else I'd think you'd have an empty CO2 tank by now.

Do you see bubbles in the beer after it's been poured? Are you getting foaming when you pour?

 

[eagle83]

When you say flat are you talking about lack of head, or lack of CO2 in solution. I've had beers that were fully carbed, but had no head to speak of. I could still see a lot of bubbles coming out of solution after a pour.

I'd think if you had a poppet issue that was causing CO2 release you'd see a lot of foaming. If there was a leak somewhere else I'd think you'd have an empty CO2 tank by now.

Do you see bubbles in the beer after it's been poured? Are you getting foaming when you pour?

No bubbles. It's flat. You can feel a very very slight carbonation. I'd say equivalent to putting the keg on 5 or 6 psi. But when I dipped some out of the keg it had nice carbonation. Also both kegs are hooked to the same regulator. It's really weird.

This beer has been lagering for around 6 weeks, and I've been stealing samples from time to time. At first it was carbonated fine, but had some gunk floating around it. I just chalked it up to proteins or something coming out of suspension from the lagering. My only guess is one of those boogers has gotten caught in the poppet.

It doesn't seem like enough to cause it to lose so much carbonation, but I'm down to my last resort here.

 

[zachattack]

I don't have any ideas, but I agree that if all the CO2 was leaving the beer as it flowed past the poppet, you would have nothing but a glass of foam.

 

[b-boy]

Any chance that you have a CO2 manifold and one line is turned off?

I did this once and I was able to pour my beer, but it came out super slow and with no head.

I thought my tap was blocked. I actually finished the keg, and then noticed that I had closed a valve when I cleaned my beer lines and never reopened it. The CO2 in the beer kept repressurizing it so I could pour.

 

[eagle83]

No both are open. Plus the beer inside is carbonated.

 

[chickypad]

You've never taken a post off?!?
I wonder if you could get gunk in the diptube not enough to block flow but enough to knock CO2 out of solution and not see it in the line. At any rate I think you need to get a socket wrench so you can clean those babies properly.

Do you take your disconnects apart for cleaning ever? If not, I highly suggest that too. I almost gagged the first time I learned they came apart and saw the slime collected in there.

 

[OzMobrew]

Do you get a foamy pour?
I don't think it could be the poppet that is somehow bleeding the c02 in the second that it takes the beer to travel from the keg to the faucet.

You could try swapping out parts from your working keg to eliminate the poppet. By the way. I just use a pair of pliers to remove my fittings.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[eagle83]

I wonder if you could get gunk in the diptube not enough to block flow but enough to knock CO2 out of solution and not see it in the line.

I wondered the same thing. I have a 2 year old and a 4 year old, so I don't get much time to worry about my kegs. I got a spark plug socket out of my tool box to make a post socket from, but it wasn't big enough. Maybe I'll have time to try some other stuff this weekend. Maybe I'll clean my connectors too.

 

[eagle83]

Okay swapped popetts and dip tube with a spare keg. Didn't help. I got no other ideas... only thing that went wrong with this beer is my thermostat failed while I was out of town and froze the beer, but I don't see how that could change anything. I let it thaw completely and recarbed it. Could the top of the keg be carbed and not the bottom? I wouldn't think so but I'm out of ideas.

Again it's been hooked to co2 since late January when I thawed the frozen keg. I've dipped from the top and its carbed my other keg connected to the same gas line is carbed. No foam no head. Nothing.

Here is the beer next to the same beer dipped from the keg and another of the flat beer next to the beer from the other keg.

 

[hunter306]

Both of those look rather flat to me... I'd check the C02 bottle and make sure you've still got gas and the reg is set correctly.

 

[monkeybox]

only thing that went wrong with this beer is my thermostat failed while I was out of town and froze the beer, but I don't see how that could change anything. I let it thaw completely and recarbed it. Could the top of the keg be carbed and not the bottom? I wouldn't think so but I'm out of ideas.

Nothing will instantly decarbonate your beer. It just doesn't happen. It's really difficult to take gas out of solution, so if you've found something that does it, there are lots of scientists who would love to investigate.

When something rapidly decarbonates your beer, you end up with a lot of foam. That's not happening, so you're not rapidly decarbonating. It must already be flat.

But you've opened the keg, and the beer from the surface is carbonated. In my mind, the only remaining option is that there is a barrier of some sort between the carbonated beer and the flat beer.

 

[barnaclebob]

Is it possible for the beer on top to be more carbonated than the bottom due to low pressure or something like that? The only way to lose carbonation downstream of the dip tube is to create foaming.

My guess is to check your CO2 system. Are both kegs at the same temperature? That could also cause a difference between carbonation levels.

 

[tracer]

You may have ice slush in the bottom of the keg.