Carb Problem

[asdtexas]

This is my first time to keg. I burped the keg three times and then increased the pressure to about 30 psi and shook it to get gas in for about 15 minutes. Unhooked and let it sit for a few days and then tapped. Everything went well.

However, I left the gas on at around 10 psi. It has been 2 weeks and I came home from a trip and the gas was around 70. I immediately used the relief valve and took the gas down to almost 0. However, it is all foam. I imagine it will be okay in a few hours, but what happend? How do you store it after it is carbonated - gas on or gas off?

thanks

 

[jcarson83]

70 psi!!! My guess is your going to have to off gas this for a few days. I would take it off the CO2 and let pressure off every few hours for the next few days.

 

[dontman]

This sounds extreme. Almost like there was some fermentation or other gas producing activity going on in that keg.

I definitely leave my keg on the gas to condition when I can.

When the pressure drifts upward like that generally the regulator was set higher than I thought and the pressure traveled up a few psi. But never that much.

Also it could take more than a few hours to get back down to 2 volumes of absorbed co2 . I would be prepared to either wait a day or two for that to drop or encourage the off gassing by shaking and bleeding steadily for an hour or two.

 

[david_42]

Either left-over fermentables in the beer or there is something wrong with your regulator. I'd compare the current gravity to the kegging gravity.

 

[chuggs]

Yepper,

A good tool to have for this is a Pressure Gauge/Bleed Valve...

It's a GAS Disconnect, a Pressure Gauge, and a bleed valve...

You hook it up...rock the keg...read the pressure. If it's above the pressure you want for the temperature of the contents (reference a Volumes of CO2 chart)...bleed off the excess pressure...and repeat. Try to do it slowly enough that foam doesn't back up through the gas disconnect.

NOW for the problem...

It could be fermentation was going on... could have been a bottle bomb if you bottled.

I've never seen a regulator creep that much...but it's not unusual for regs to creep. It's common when you take a room temperature regulator and set it...then to put it in the fridge for the pressure to creep. But like I say, I've never seen that kind of creep.

When you set a regulator...it's important to unscrew the set screw to 0 psi...then slowly dail it up to set point. You'll hear gas humming through the regulator and hissing into the keg. When this gas movement is occuring your pressure gauge isn't really reading the set point. It's reading lower than set point. You'll have to wait for the gas to quit flowing to see what set point you've actually got. I hope that's all it was...

Set your regulator this way...and if it ever creeps up from 10psi to 70psi again...I'd be checking for high side leakage coupled with weep port blockage in the regulator.

Couple of questions...

Did your overpressure relief vavle kick in that you know of? My Cornelius vents at 65 psi...so I supposedly can't get 70 psi out of it...but your's could be a regulator with a safety valve set for 100+, or 160+ psi...

What brand regulator is this, BTW??

Does it have a check vavle? If your check vavle was working...then it would rule out the fermentation because pressure that forms inside the KEG should NOT back up into the regulator, and be readable on the gauge. So, if you have a good check vavle...you can eliminate the idea of secondary fermentation building up that much pressure.

You've got an interesting puzzle there...