Kegerator Debacle

Please someone help me. I'm at my wits end.
About 9 years ago I bought a kit to turn a refrigerator into a Kegerator and it sat in a box in my closet until I finally got around to it a few weeks ago. This was to be the first step in my homebrewing journey.
Anyhow, following several issues that I had unrelated to the CO2 system (the company that made my coupler - Banner - never threaded the beer line connection on manufacture), I finally got the keg in place (it was actually sitting in the fridge almost a week before I got to tap it) and the whole thing up and running... or so it seemed. When I put my tank in - I believe it's a 10 lb tank, which I had filled at a local welding supply place - the regulator failed to register pressure on the high side - bottle pressure I believe - but it registered 30 lbs on the line side. I manipulated the valve on the regulator such that I dropped the pressure to about 10lbs. The thing operated fine the rest of that day with a minor tweak here and there. By late in the week, I'd noticed that my pressure had dropped off and couldn't be maintained - this all first began on a Saturday. By Thursday night, the pressure on the line side read 0 and like I said, there'd never been a pressure indication on the tank side. I uncoupled from the keg and unhooked the bottle. The bottle was empty. I took it to the welding store the next day, had it filled - AGAIN - and went back. I inspected all the fittings and found I'd missed a washer on the regulator/bottle coupler. I inserted the washer. I put the whole thing together again and again, no pressure indication on the bottle side, 30-40 lbs on the line side. I adjusted the regulator and got it to around 10 lbs. By late that evening, the pressure had dropped to around 6 lbs. I readjusted it up to around 10, but it settled at 12 lbs. The beer drew fairly flat at first and then as the weekend wore on it drew nicely and finally got fast... I attempted to regulate the pressure down, but the pressure wouldn't budge. Last night, I drew off a few pints and it still seemed to be coming out a bit fast and was showing 12 lbs... I attempted to adjust it down again to no avail. By this morning, pressure had dropped off to 5 or 6 lbs and it wouldn't adjust at all. I uncoupled the keg in disgust. I don't know what is going wrong. I feel like this shouldn't be so complicated and I'm at my wits end here. Do you have any advice?

 

Holy crap man use the enter key a bit more!

I did wade through it though and it sounds like you are having balancing issues combined with a bad gauge on your tank. I don't think your lack of understanding of how it all works helps either (not intended as an insult or slight, just an observation).

That said... when you first hook up a keg of homebrew you have to carb it unless you primed it and carbed it naturally or force carbed it a head of time. If you don't it will be flat until you CO2 has time to work its magic.

If you let it carb for a week then tried to lower the pressure now the CO2 is coming back out of solution which will cause the pressure to rise, even if you turn down (or off) the tank. The only way to reduce this is to purge the tank or pour enough beer to reduce the pressure in it.

I wouldn't do that though. It sounds like you have it carbed up and things are good to go. If I had to guess your beer lines aren't long enough. How long are the lines going from the keg to the tap?

Tom

 

Thanks, Tom...

Sorry about the paragraph length.

I haven't even started the homebrewing process yet. That was to be my next step.

I bought a half barrel of Newcastle to test the system out, make sure it would all work, etc, and it's already a complete mess. That's the issue I'm having.

As far as the length of the lines... It's all pretty short. 3 or 4 feet tops.

Scott

 

If you set the regulator to 10PSI, that's where it should be staying, if it's moving all over the place without you touching it, there's a problem with it, or somewhere in your system.

To set a regulator you're going to shutoff the gas going to the keg (there should be a valve attached to the regulator, if not disconnect the gas going to the keg). Leave the tank of CO2 attached and the tank open, adjust your PSI to zero, then slowly dial it up until you hit 10PSI (or wherever you want it), then turn the gas to the keg back on (or reconnect the gas line to the keg).

When you do this, your gauge might jump up, this is fine, this gauge is measuring the actual pressure inside your keg. You might also hear a fair amount of hissing gas inside the keg, this is normal if the pressure inside is a lot lower than the 10PSI you set it for.

You will also want to check the entire system from CO2 tank to keg for leaks, you can do this with a spray bottle of starsan, and spritz it a few times at each connection point. If there's a lot of bubbling at the joint, you'll want to tighten the clamps until the leak is sealed. Check the keg itself for leaks too, spray around the posts and the lid to see if there are any leaks there.

 

First is to make sure your system is sealed up properly. Make a spray bottle of starsan solution and spray it all over each of your connections from the tank to the keg looking for bubbles.

Also, if you bought a commercial keg it shouldn't have been flat when you cracked it.

As for line length it varies but I would bet that is too short. Average seems to be around ten feet and depends on temp, PSI, line size, etc.

 

Tom, thanks. The keg wasn't flat when I bought it, but following the initial mess, it seemed to flatten out some. That's my fault - poorly written initial post.

Big Rob,
what are the chances that my regulator is just shot? I haven't been able to find any leaks and in just now attempting to adjust the pressure as you recommended using your method, it's still stuck at six. I can't adjust it up or down at all with the regulator valve.

 

If it won't adjust, and you've got a faulty high pressure gauge, I think there's a good chance something is mucked up. If you've got a brewing supply shop nearby it might be worth bringing the regulator in to see if it is indeed broken, or if it's just something simple that is fixable.

If you stored this in a garage or something for 9 years is there any way spiders or something could have gotten inside?

 

@Big Rob - God, I hope not.
I've uncoupled the keg and I'll try a new regulator. I'm concerned that I may have a leak in the Bourdon Tube or something.
Thanks Tom and BigRob.
I appreciate your time in responding.

 

Another thing worth doing (if it's not TOO much trouble) might be to take your connections and dip them in water with the pressure on.

I had a problem where I kept kicking CO2 bottles when I first hooked up my keezer; everything would be fine for a few days, until I ran out of gas. It turns out I had a slooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwww leak that I didn't notice by checking the normal way of putting a Star San or soapy water solution on the connections; the leak was just too small and slow to bubble up a lot. But when I put it in water, there was the tiniest stream of little bubbles from one connection. Once I re-tightened the clamp at this connection, I haven't had a problem since.

Or you could just have a wonky regulator. Good luck; I remember how frustrating it was the first two weeks or so that I had the gas hooked up with my keezer.

 

Your lines will definitely be too short and you will have foaming issues.