Kegging: Solid pour, good head, No Carb??

Hey guys, another "new to kegging" thread......
My set up is a 4 tap keezer. Bought my kit from Keg Connection, Taprite gauge with 4-way manifold.....I believe they supply 5' or 6' serving lines.
I kegged my beer, purged O2, pressurized it to 30psi, disconnected gas and let it chill at 39* for a day. After chill time, purged, set reg to 12 psi and reconnected gas. It sat like this for 15 days in the keezer. I don't believe I have any leaks, tank pressure has not moved. Connected serving line and poured a few pints. I got a strong pour and a few inches of head....looked like a good beer. The foam went away after a few gulps, it was pretty much uncarbed beer.....only a very very small amount of bubbles coming up from the bottom of the glass. Beer is a pumpkin ale, a tad over 6% abv.
I'm guessing everyone will say to give it more time, which I will....but most of the threads I've read have people getting good carb after 2 weeks?
Just curious to see if anyone has experieced this before??? Thanks!

 

I'm not familiar with this method. I simply purge O2 with 30PSI, a few pulls of the relief valve, leave gas connected and set to whatever pressure you want, depending on how fast you want to carb. All of this happens in the fridge and the beer stays cold the entire time. At 20-25 PSI I'm generally carbed in under a week.

If the pour is fast and furious, you might want to bump the serving pressure down as those are relatively short lines.

Leaks can be hard to detect. Use keg lube on the lid and posts and spritz everything with soapy water or star san, look for bubbles. Even the tiniest leak can affect carbonation.

 

Yeah, my discription was probably unclear. Keg is in the keezer staying cold the whole time, set at 12psi. waited 2 weeks and wasn't carbed yet. I did put a good coat of keg lube on everything.

 

Try backing off the serving pressure, pour off the first 4oz of beer (that was sitting in the line/dip-tube), then pour a half pint and try it. Try say, 6 PSI.

If that still isn't carbed, you probably have a leak. 2 weeks is plenty of time if the beer is sub-40 degrees the whole time.

 

Believe it or not, I was typing it at the same time! When I posted it, there was yours, too! See my post above yours where I mentioned his lines were short!

 

I agree. I have between 8-10' lines and I never have issues. I generally serve between 10-12 PSI and my beer stays at around 36*.

 

Okay guys....I will give that a try tonight and report back. Thanks!
It just bothers me that so many people on here use 5'-6' lines and never have a problem....and I assume Keg Connection knows what they're doing when they figure line length with their kits.

 

Not true... a lot of problems are traced back to short beer hoses.
The bottom line is, the beer needs a certain pressure to maintain the level of carbonation your looking for.
Depending on temp and style, it's usually in the 10 to 12 psi range.
Unless the gauge is wrong, the only other variable is the resistance between the keg and the faucet. the way to adjust the resistance is to lengthen (slow down the pour), or shorten (speed up the pour).
Your pour is too fast, causing a thick head, which is actually the Co2 coming out of solution.
The longer the hose, the more you can crank the pressure to get good carbonation.
Good luck!

 

Thanks guys.... Last night I bled the pressure & turned down to 4 psi.....beer had "some" carbonation, but not nearly enough. Tonight I will grab more line, increase my serving line length and check for leaks once again. It would make my day if that solves the problem!

 

Make sure to put the beer back on 12PSI or higher to keep/increase the carb. If you're pouring at that low pressure and still have no carb I'm wondering if there's a leak. The beer inside the keg should have carb if no leaks. Reducing the serving pressure that far should have eliminated the line-length issue.

You can also crank it up to 30 and leave it for a day, come back, crank it down, bleed, set at 4, try it then.