Regulator problem?

[JMV]

I built a Keezer this summer and I made 3 batches of ale to keep on tap. Last night I had an issue that was kinda strange. I poured a glass of ale and the keg wouldn’t give any more. I pulled the prv and n pressure in the keg. Guage on regulator still at set point of 10 pounds. All valves open. I raised the pressure to 12 pounds and I could hear the regulator chirp and pressure the keg. I have had no issues before. I didn’t opt for a cheap Amazon regulator. I have a mid level Taprite. I keep the temp at 36 degrees in the Keezer and the co2 bottle is in the Keezer. Do regulators stick or freeze? I would want to lower the pressures to 8 to 10 pounds because at 12 I get a bit more head on the pour than I prefer.

 

[Broken Crow]

My first thought is something plugging the beer line...How long have you been using the keezer? Does it accommodate for temp-stratification and recirculate the air?..could any area have frozen?

 

[JMV]

My first thought is something plugging the beer line...How long have you been using the keezer? Does it accommodate for temp-stratification and recirculate the air?..could any area have frozen?

I have been using for a month or so. The beer line does not look like it was frozen. It was almost like it had blown dry. I have a small fan on the bottom of the Keezer blowing up. I taped my ink bird probe to the bottom 1/3 of the middle keg. Temp is mostly steady +- 2 degrees.

 

[sibelman]

I pulled the prv and n pressure in the keg.

Does this mean "...no pressure in the keg"?

If so, my first thought was a gas leak -- but when you cranked it a bit CO2 then flowed, so CO2 was not all gone. Somehow CO2 stopped flowing into the keg at some point (your "stuck" regulator theory). I haven't encountered that. (If your typo hides that there was still pressure in the keg, then a temporary beer-side clog (as @Broken Crow suggests) makes sense.)

Back to "no pressure": I'd turn it back down to your desired pressure and burp it, then see what happens. Maybe this was a fluke. A young Tap-Rite shouldn't need to be rebuilt unless it was abused in some way. Kind of mysterious. Good luck, @JMV

 

[Broken Crow]

Was there CO2 coming out the tap? Even a keg at low pressure should still dispense liquid even if only a trickle unless there is a plug or; if CO2 and no beer comes out, it's probably a bad o-ring on the diptube, or if floating diptube, the tip is above the liquid.

 

[JMV]

Thanks for the reply. The keg had no pressure. I should have explained better but didn’t want to write a mini novel. I have a cream ale, a Dortmunder and a nut brown ale. The cream ale and Dortmunder poured fine but the nut brown was a bit foamy when poured at 12 pounds. I reduced the co2 to 10 pounds and all was well for a few days to a week. Last night was nut brown night so I pulled the first glass and then when I went for # 2 I closed the co2 to the keg and burped the excess Co2. I couldn’t get anything. I turned the gas back on and nothing happened Until I bumped the regulator pressure to 12 pounds. Regulator hasn’t been abused or even dropped. I will check tonight and see if the issue was just an anomaly or what. I am really enjoying this Keezer. After 40+ years of washing bottles.

 

[JMV]

No gas no liquid. Once I increased the co2 pressure to 12 pounds the regulator started chirping and I got beer flow. I started with rebuilt kegs. I replaced all o rings and have checked for leaks several times. I fixed all I found. New build and I am trying to get it right. I just don’t have any keg/ Keezer experience, yet!

 

[Broken Crow]

OK.. I'm stumped, but I have brain damage and too often I tend to miss what should be obvious
There's nothing wrong with writing a novella for a question here...My favourite posts are those full of details, as often the answer to someone's problem lies in a detail they didn't realize was important being left out of the original question. That said, I looked at your other posts to try and help form a better picture and though I'm still stumped I can see that you made something yourself that you're happy with so: Please post some pics...especially showing the critical points such as where all your bits connect.
Oh, ..just an unlikely thought; you're not using an old rear-sealing tap that could have jammed?
I hope a better mind than mine can weigh in here.

 

[JMV]

I carved two tap handles and waiting on a cypress knee for the third. I looked at several videos online and this is what I came up with. Not sure about the rear sealing tap. The offender was the far left black plastic handle.

 

[Deadalus]

Sort of an off chance but look carefully at your low pressure dial and see if the face of the dial isn't "crooked". It could be catching the needle near 10 psi.

Also, you might be dialing the pressure down below 10 but there is sometimes residual pressure in the system. I have one regulator with a prv on the regulator and I have seen myself doing this. It might read say 5 psi but the regulator is off. If I release the pressure valve on the regulator it then drops to 0. Get the gauge to read zero then slowly dial the knob to just make the needle move. You actually may be used to turning it too quickly.

Turn the gas off on the other two kegs while diagnosing.

 

[Broken Crow]

Sweet looking unit! Love the taps.
I notice 2 things; Your brown ale keg doesn't look exactly round and has me wondering if the top got a bit deformed and maybe it leaks at the lid, so I looked at your high-side pressure guage, I can't help wonder if it was in the green when you first hooked it up. Your other posts tell me that you're the only user and you haven't been using it much longer than a month. That needle should drop very slowly for that level of use and unless you started with less than a full tank, I think it should probably still read more than just over 500psi. How was the carbonation level in the Brown and has it gotten flatter since this issue began?

 

[doug293cz]

Since you are running three kegs from a single regulator feeding a manifold, it is highly unlikely that a regulator problem would only affect one of the kegs - all three should be equally affected, as they all get the same CO2 pressure from the manifold. It could be that you have a sticky check valve in the manifold tap feeding the affected keg.

Brew on

 

[doug293cz]

Sweet looking unit! Love the taps.
I notice 2 things; Your brown ale keg doesn't look exactly round and has me wondering if the top got a bit deformed and maybe it leaks at the lid, so I looked at your high-side pressure guage, I can't help wonder if it was in the green when you first hooked it up. Your other posts tell me that you're the only user and you haven't been using it much longer than a month. That needle should drop very slowly for that level of use and unless you started with less than a full tank, I think it should probably still read more than just over 500psi. How was the carbonation level in the Brown and has it gotten flatter since this issue began?

At 36°F, the pressure in a CO2 cylinder, that still has any liquid CO2 left in it, should be 537 psi (interpolated from table in chart below.) Given that the high pressure gauge is not a precision grade, the reading just above 500 psi seems ok.

Brew on

 

[JMV]

When I filled the tank and hooked it up it read almost the same as it does now. I was under the impression that cold co2 would be more likely to show lower pressure than say room temperature co2. I didn’t worry about it. I have closed the tank valve and dumped the pressure on the manifold and lines. When the valve is reopened the regulator gauges return to the previous pressure. If it is a manifold problem can it be fixed by cleaning or how should I address the problem?

 

[sibelman]

Doug's point that this only affects one gas line seems to definitively exonerate the regulator, assuming the other beers keep pouring fine even when the trouble is happening.

You may want to troubleshoot by swapping the problematic gas line with one from another keg and seeing whether the problem moves or stays with the same beer.

 

[hottpeper13]

Nice set up, I had the same thing happen but my connections are all 1/4" MFL so I took the line off at the manifold valve and turned the valve on , nothing came out. With the valve on I poked it with an awl,and CO2 started to flow. Not sure if it was crud or the spring for the check valve,but it's been working since, maybe 5-4 kegs.

 

[JMV]

Nice set up, I had the same thing happen but my connections are all 1/4" MFL so I took the line off at the manifold valve and turned the valve on , nothing came out. With the valve on I poked it with an awl,and CO2 started to flow. Not sure if it was crud or the spring for the check valve,but it's been working since, maybe 5-4 kegs.

Thanks I will give this a try.

 

[Draft Master Flash]

This has happened to me before. What I did was removed the keg that wasn't pouring from the keezer and disconnected both the gas and liquid lines then vented out all the gas. I removed the liquid ball lock post from the keg and cleaned it. I then ran a brush through the stem like a plumbers snake.

Problem solved.

Sediment somehow managed to clog liquid stem. If your using floats this can also happen. After clearing the stem I hooked up gas line and purged about 5 times.

You should be good to go.

DMF