HuggerOrange
Well-Known Member
OK, so I got myself a keg set-up a little while back and brewed a simple Pale Ale with the purpose of it being my first keg beer. The other day I transfered the beer to the keg, purged the oxygen out with CO2 and tested the seals with soapy water. All seemed to be good so I put it in the fridge to chill and yesterday morning hooked up the CO2 tank to carbonate. I set the tank at 30 psi, shook for about 5 minutes, put it back in the fridge and went out for the 4th. I checked on it last night and all seemed to be good. I did notice the tank pressure had dropped from about 850 psi to 650, but figured that was normal. I had actually read that the tank pressure can take sudden jumps so I wasn't wooried. Well this morning I got up figuring by this evening I could sample and see how everything was and saw that the tank pressure was at 0 !!!!! I pulled everything out and checked the seals again, but nothing. I did notice that for some reason the pressure going into the keg had jumped to about 40 psi, and I don't understand why - but would that jump drain the tank? Is the jump because I put the CO2 in the fridge and it cooled, causing some sort of reaction with the gas? I pulled a pint or two off and they're all foam. Is this normal for the frist few pints? It seems like there's still enough pressure in the tank to dispense so I knocked it down to about 10 psi. Where did I go wrong?
BTW I sampled and it's great. I may never go back to bottle conditioning if I can get it right.
BTW I sampled and it's great. I may never go back to bottle conditioning if I can get it right.