A Quicker Way to Vent a Sanke Keg (no manual PR valve)

Earlier I posted here that it was a PITA to vent the Sanke keg (in order to stabilize an overcarbed beer). In particular, a Sanke coupler without manual PR Valve. If your Sanke Coupler does have a manual PR valve, as I’m told most do, then this post is two minutes you’re never getting back.

Here’s the old PITA method.

• Turn Off the Gas at the Bottle
• Remove the Coupler
• Unscrew the Gas In Hose Clamp at the Coupler, and Disconnect the Hose
• Remove the Check Valve on Gas In at the Coupler
• Reinsert and Press Down the Coupler (HISS!!)
• Remove the Coupler Again
• Replace the Check Valve on Gas In
• Reattach the Gas In Hose and Clamp
• Replace the Coupler
• Turn On the Gas Again

However, There Is (as The Crystal Method asserted back in 1996) Hope.

The first time you vent your 30PSI beer, you’ll have to use the old PITA method, I have been informed, in order to avoid a beer shower. (I haven't risked it myself.)

Once you know the pressure’s already low, (reading – say – 10PSI from the regulator), but the beer’s still coming out like angry ice-cream, you can simply do the following:

1. Twist the outlet on your gas bottle to closed.
2. Twist toward the open position the nut circled in red (mine’s actually a finger-grip type rather than the spanner / wrench type pictured) until you hear it hiss.
3. Leave it for 10 mins
4. Tighten it up, turn the gas back on to serving pressure, and pour a pint to see if it’s changed into lovely beer, gratefully giving you appropriate head (it won’t have changed the first time, BTW).
5. Repeat until it has changed to your desired carbonation
6. RDWHAHB (albeit in various stages of carbonation)

You can do all these steps 1-6 without messing about with hose-clamps and check valves, and of course the coupler, so it saves time and hassle, particularly over multiple iterations.

My first iterations were 2 mins, then 10 mins, then 20 mins. I'm just about to do 40 mins. So far, I've gone from this:



...to this:



Finally, my regulator seems to be (touch wood, fingers crossed) reading the correct pressure much more quickly. Any comments on managing regulator readings much appreciated.

There Is Hope.

My 40-minute interval turned into a one hour interval, and not much difference. I'm going to try it again before I go to bed, and if it's still furious, I'll leave it overnight and try it again tomorrow.

Any comments?

If you're trying to decrease the carb in the keg you shouldn't keep hooking the gas back up every time you vent. You are venting the CO2 in the headspace but the beer itself is still overcabonated. Leave the gas disconnected then vent repeatedly over a couple days - you need a little time between each vent to let more CO2 come out of solution into the headspace. Don't start adding back gas until the carb level is where you want it. Also, what temp and serving pressure are you planning to use and how long are your lines?

FWIW there's another method that will remove most of the carbonation almost immediately, but it does involve messing with hoses and check valves. Depressurize the keg completely, remove both check valves from the coupler, remove both lines, and then connect the gas line to the beer out. Reconnect the coupler and turn the gas on just a couple psi, and the gas bubbling up from the bottom of the keg will knock most of the carbonation out of solution, which will then vent out of the gas in port. If the keg is severely overcarbed it can produce enough foam in the keg that it will come out and make a little mess. Same principal can be applied to corny kegs, and I think there's even a sticky detailing the steps at the top of this forum section.

You can get a sanke coupler these days with a valve release for like $20-$25 on amazon. This sounds like a ton of effort to save a few dollars.

Hopefully you don't take this comment as negative - I just hate seeing someone spinning wheels when there is an easy fix.

Hi All and thanks for replying.

chickypad:
You're right: No point venting and then immediately recarbing. Stoopid. I think I did that a couple of times before I realized. I posted the PITA method back in the earlier thread, and pasted it into here without changing it. Me Culpa.

JuanMoore:
I'm a fan of your posts. Thanks for contributing to this thread. I've read about that method of decarbing before. From memory, I thought you had to reverse the connections (gas in --> beer out) so that the gas is going in through the bottom of the spear. Is that not right? [EDIT: err, you said this already. Sorry, It's late here...]

bondra76:
Thanks for the response. Here in China, Amazon has been pretty sketchy in the past, in terms of delivery. Maybe I should try them again. We use www.taobao.com. Getting hold of basic kit you guys in the US and UK take for granted is not always easy/possible. And all the descriptions (plus payment gateways etc.) are in Chinese.

In the end, I got the beer stabilized by venting out over a few hours, and then re-carbing to serving pressure (9PSI) over a few days while I left town.


(Frosted plastic glass, not chill haze; a couple of swigs already (hic!) taken.)

Shortly afterwards, the beer ran out.