Help!!! My brewery-bought keg is pouring undercarbed!!!

[Cheapo]

So I know this isn't necessarily homebrew, but I'm really stuck on the pressure of this keg I bought from a very well-known local brewery.

I bought the keg of pilsner, and brought it home. I hooked it up and realized my tank was basically dead/empty after a few pours. The regulator read at 15 psi, but quickly began falling so I stopped pouring. I went and got a tank swap for a new, full 20# tank. I hooked it up, and I've slowly adjusted it up in pressure to now 18-19 psi and it's not "flat flat", but it's definitely undercarbed.

Do I need to wait for it to re-carb? Is it possible I sucked all the carb out with those few beers and now I have to force carb it? Is this on the brewery's end? (the first few pours weren't all that carbed to begin with)

TIA for any and all suggestions!

 

[HB2 HughBHomeBrew]

Weird that it was flat from the start. If it's now holding at 18-19 PSI should get carbonated in a few days. I'm assuming it's cold so 18-19 should be plenty. But this whole story also sounds like "leak somewhere." Check everything for leaks and if not, should be good (in a few days our so).

 

[day_trippr]

I would ask the OP: when you pour from this keg, how many fingers of foam is there in a ~12 ounce pour?
Excessive foam exhausts the CO2 dissolved in the beer, leaving it appreciably flatter...

Cheers!

 

[wsmith1625]

18-19# seems awfully high for a pilsner. I think your beer is under carbed and by turning up the pressure on your regulator, you're getting foamy pours of flat beer.

Turn up the regulator to 25# and shake the keg up really good until you stop hearing co2 filling the keg. Leave it sit at 25# for 24 hours. Then drop the pressure to 8-10# and purge the co2 in the keg to drop the head space to your new regular setting. Now you should get better pours of carbed beer.

 

[Cheapo]

Weird that it was flat from the start. If it's now holding at 18-19 PSI should get carbonated in a few days. I'm assuming it's cold so 18-19 should be plenty. But this whole story also sounds like "leak somewhere." Check everything for leaks and if not, should be good (in a few days our so).

Thank you! I've checked all the connections, made sure everything was tight and there were no gas sounds coming from anywhere. I'm also noticing now that it's coming out more carbed than before, after turning the pressure down to ~12 psi. Less foam and more carbonation!

 

[Cheapo]

I would ask the OP: when you pour from this keg, how many fingers of foam is there in a ~12 ounce pour?
Excessive foam exhausts the CO2 dissolved in the beer, leaving it appreciably flatter...

Cheers!

It was about 3 fingers of foam in a 355 mL pour. I've since turned it down to about ~12 psi and I'm getting less foam, more carbed beer!

 

[Cheapo]

18-19# seems awfully high for a pilsner. I think your beer is under carbed and by turning up the pressure on your regulator, you're getting foamy pours of flat beer.

Turn up the regulator to 25# and shake the keg up really good until you stop hearing co2 filling the keg. Leave it sit at 25# for 24 hours. Then drop the pressure to 8-10# and purge the co2 in the keg to drop the head space to your new regular setting. Now you should get better pours of carbed beer.

I've since turned it down to ~12 psi and gotten some results! Thanks everyone for your suggestions

 

[day_trippr]

Excellent