Beer line connected while force carbing?

[rdkopp0153]

I successfully force carbonated two kegs last week by cranking to 20 psi and letting them sit for 3 days with the beer line disconnected. Then connected beer lines and set to 12 psi to serve. Worked pretty well.
The next two kegs in line, I decided to up to 30 psi and connected the beer lines while force carbonating. Now all of the sudden my CO2 tank is dropping pressure like a rock. Tested for leaks with tons of soapy water, nothing. At a higher pressure, can I lose CO2 out the beer line? Are they only rated for near serving pressures at 10-12 psi?

 

[brettg20]

I don't see how you would lose CO2 from the beer line if there aren't any leaks. The only place for the gas to go would be out of the tap but then beer would be everywhere. What temp are you carbing at?

 

[rdkopp0153]

Temperature is about 36F.

 

[thadius856]

Now all of the sudden my CO2 tank is dropping pressure like a rock.

This is very unclear. What do you mean by this?

 

[Xpertskir]

This isnt a leak issue.

Im betting you keep your C02 tank in your keezer(I do too) and the low temp basically makes the fullness gauge useless. It will read full until its not, and then drop like a rock.


Also, if you are worried about leaks, submerging the system in water and looking for bubbles is the best way to know for sure.

 

[LLBeanJ]

You've already force carbed and (I presume) served two prior kegs. Any chance you were about out of CO2 when you started carbonating this keg? The high pressure gage on the regulator will begin to drop pretty fast once the tank is amost empty.

 

[brettg20]

How do you know the tank is dropping in pressure? The gauge doesn't give a correct reading at lower temps...

 

[prandlesc]

I successfully force carbonated two kegs last week by cranking to 20 psi and letting them sit for 3 days with the beer line disconnected. Then connected beer lines and set to 12 psi to serve. Worked pretty well.
The next two kegs in line, I decided to up to 30 psi and connected the beer lines while force carbonating. Now all of the sudden my CO2 tank is dropping pressure like a rock. Tested for leaks with tons of soapy water, nothing. At a higher pressure, can I lose CO2 out the beer line? Are they only rated for near serving pressures at 10-12 psi?

You wouldn't be losing CO2 from your beer out line, you'd be losing beer if there was a leak.

 

[zachattack]

Im betting you keep your C02 tank in your keezer(I do too) and the low temp basically makes the fullness gauge useless.

How do you know the tank is dropping in pressure? The gauge doesn't give a correct reading at lower temps...

No, no, no. I see so many posts like this, and it's just wrong.

Assuming it's not broken, the gauge does give a correct reading at low temperature. Whether at 30 degrees or 100 degrees, the gauge shows the vapor pressure in the tank. The vapor pressure is a function of temperature, but whether you're at 30 degrees or 100 degrees, the vapor pressure in the tank is not related to how much CO2 you have left in there. Once you run out of liquid CO2 and you're "running on fumes", the tank pressure will drop rapidly as OP is describing.

The only way to know how much CO2 you have left is to remove the regulator and weigh the tank.

OP, leaving the beverage line connected is fine, though some people have reported problems with picnic taps leaking at higher pressures. If you were only able to serve two kegs from this tank (is it a 5 lb tank?) you most likely have a leak. It's unrelated to the beer line, as prandlesc pointed out you'd be losing liquid on the liquid side, not gas.

 

[Xpertskir]

No, no, no. I see so many posts like this, and it's just wrong.

Assuming it's not broken, the gauge does give a correct reading at low temperature. Whether at 30 degrees or 100 degrees, the gauge shows the vapor pressure in the tank. The vapor pressure is a function of temperature, but whether you're at 30 degrees or 100 degrees, the vapor pressure in the tank is not related to how much CO2 you have left in there. Once you run out of liquid CO2 and you're "running on fumes", the tank pressure will drop rapidly as OP is describing.

The only way to know how much CO2 you have left is to remove the regulator and weigh the tank.

LOL...seems as though we are in agreement and the gauge is useless.

But thanks for the know it all tone.

 

[zachattack]

LOL...seems as though we are in agreement and the gauge is useless.

But thanks for the know it all tone.

I didn't intend to sound like a know it all, sorry if it came off that way. But this is something that gets posted a lot, and it's flat out wrong.

We are in agreement that the gauge is generally useless, I was just correcting the inaccurate statement that both of you made: that the gauge is only useless because the CO2 is stored in the keezer. My point is that it's useless at any temperature.

 

[rdkopp0153]

Thanks for all the responses. The CO2 tank is 2 weeks old, 20lbs, and carbed 2 kegs. Plus the two kegs I'm currently trying to carb and losing CO2 tank pressure. It doesn't seem like I would be on fumes quite yet. Unless of course the gas dudes only filled up my 20lb tank with 1lb, then I might be on fumes.
The tank is outside my fridge. When carbing the first two kegs, the guage seemed to hold very steady, maybe dropping slightly, which would be expected.
So how do you know when your CO2 tanks is running low? Just wait until beer doesn't come out, then go to the store? That sure could put an end to a good party real fast.
I still think there must be a leak that's not being detected by the bubble test.

 

[rdkopp0153]

I've tried the bubble test with the gas and beer lines connected and disconnected, all the connections coming into and out of the manifold, on the keg lid, on the purge pulley. and on the regulator itself. Am I missing anything?

 

[rdkopp0153]

Also, when initially turning on the CO2 tank to pressurize kegs, I can hear gas being pushed out to the kegs through the regulator. That sounds slowly fades when the set pressure is reached. Then it finally fades and doesn't sound like the regulator/tank are still supplying pressure to the kegs.
So maybe I just got an underfilled tank, the guage read "full" until all of the liquid was gone and now it's consuming the vapors?

 

[Yellowirenut]

the gauge does give a correct reading at low temperature. Whether at 30 degrees or 100 degrees, the gauge shows the vapor pressure in the tank. The vapor pressure is a function of temperature, but whether you're at 30 degrees or 100 degrees, the vapor pressure in the tank is not related to how much CO2 you have left in there. Once you run out of liquid CO2 and you're "running on fumes", the tank pressure will drop rapidly as OP is describing.

The only way to know how much CO2 you have left is to remove the regulator and weigh the tank.

X2

gas pressures relate to its temperature.