I'm stumped. Completely.

[derekcw83]

I made a blueberry wheat beer. Everything went normal as usual. Kegged it 2 weeks ago and still....nearly no carbonation at all. Kegged another batch a few days following and its already fully carbed and was a week after. Only thing different on this blueberry beer that is different than all my other beers is I used a flavor concentrate in it at kegging. When I pull the PRV I get same pressure coming out at all my other kegs in keezer. I also hear gas filling in after. Just like all my other kegs. There is no evidence of a leak, and it's been on 12 psi for over 2 weeks now.

Can additives such as the flavor concentrate I used, cause a beer to not absorb co2?

If I know there is co2 on this beer, what could possibly cause it to not carbonate?

Thanks for any advice guys.

 

[uncleben113]

That is weird. What about your beer lines? Is the line for the blueberry wheat longer than the other one? Are the beer lines the same diameter? Are the faucets similar?

I don't know how extract affects the solubility of CO2 but I imagine it doesn't affect it at all.

 

[doug293cz]

Any chance you "over filled" the keg? CO2 absorption rate is proportional to the surface area of the beer exposed to the headspace. If you over fill to where the top starts to curve in, the surface area decreases rapidly, and this can slow down carbonation.

Another possibility is forgetting to purge the headspace multiple times. If this happens, then the CO2 pressure in the headspace is less than what the gauge indicates, because some of the pressure comes from the remaining air. This will result in slower carbonation, as well as a lower final level of carbonation.

Brew on

 

[Brewsader1]

How much beer have you pulled out to test?

 

[Revvy]

The only thing that can "prevent" force carbing is a leak... you can carb gasoline, even something really thick, given enough time- it's called "force carbing" for a reason because you're jamming a vessel with a liquid full of co2 and pummeling it until the liquid is saturated, it doesn't matter what the liquid is.

In my experience you cant really find a leak unless you crank the PSI up to 30 or 40 and spray everything with soapy water. I've had it happen, where I checked everything at service psi and couldn't find anything wrong then raised it and there it was. I would boost everything and check again, especially the oh ring. It could be such a small leak that it's not enough to drain the tank, but enough not to let pressure build up in keg,

 

[derekcw83]

Keg was filled to 4.75 gallons so not a headspace issue. I've pulled off a few ounces every day for the last week, only very few little bubbles, I mean nearly flat. Every time I pull some out I also check the PRV to make sure it's still holding pressure and it is. I'll crank pressure to check for a leak.

So it's clearly not the flavor concentrate?

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

I've used various flavor extracts and have never had an issue carbing the keg.

 

[jschein]

I've used various flavor extracts and have never had an issue carbing the keg.

Me too

 

[Braufessor]

Did you try switching lines from one of your kegs that is carbing to this one? I agree that it basically has to be a leak somewhere..... It almost has to be the line or the keg. Switching lines would possibly rule out that as the problem.

 

[TheMadKing]

How are you determining that it's not carbonated? By feel? Or by amount of head?

It may be that it's carbonated but not holding any head.

If there's headspace and pressure, there's no reason for it not to carbonate

 

[derekcw83]

Did you try switching lines from one of your kegs that is carbing to this one? I agree that it basically has to be a leak somewhere..... It almost has to be the line or the keg. Switching lines would possibly rule out that as the problem.

Yup, a week ago.

 

[derekcw83]

How are you determining that it's not carbonated? By feel? Or by amount of head?

It may be that it's carbonated but not holding any head.

If there's headspace and pressure, there's no reason for it not to carbonate

Mouthfeel, appearance, everything. It's nearly completely flat.

I decided this morning to set this one at 30psi for a couple days to see what happens. If I still don't have carbonation and it still holds pressure, something else is going on.

 

[derekcw83]

The only thing that can "prevent" force carbing is a leak... you can carb gasoline, even something really thick, given enough time- it's called "force carbing" for a reason because you're jamming a vessel with a liquid full of co2 and pummeling it until the liquid is saturated, it doesn't matter what the liquid is.

In my experience you cant really find a leak unless you crank the PSI up to 30 or 40 and spray everything with soapy water. I've had it happen, where I checked everything at service psi and couldn't find anything wrong then raised it and there it was. I would boost everything and check again, especially the oh ring. It could be such a small leak that it's not enough to drain the tank, but enough not to let pressure build up in keg,

Increased pressure and still no leak. I'm baffled.

 

[TheMadKing]

Have you checked to make sure the tube in your keg isn't blocked? Or that your manifold isn't clogged?

 

[derekcw83]

Have you checked to make sure the tube in your keg isn't blocked? Or that your manifold isn't clogged?

I would consider those as possibilities but I hear gas filling the keg after I release the pressure. Then after it fills I pull it again and it's just as pressurized as it was prior.

 

[day_trippr]

I wonder what if any effect a pellicle would have on force-carbonating a keg...

 

[TheMadKing]

Well this pretty much leaves the only alternative as: one of your assumptions must be incorrect.

Either you don't have pressure in your keg, you don't have any headspace in your keg, your gas is not CO2 (and therefore has a different soluability constant), or your beer is boiling and cannot readily absorb gas (obviously not true).

 

[ad103458]

Have you made sure that keg isn't partially frozen? I had this small problem last month. Sure enough my temp probe fell off the can it was attached to and my keg was partial frozen. Once I replaced the probe and thawed out the keg it carbonated normally. Just a thought.

 

[Braufessor]

One other possible strategy. Change out your CO2 white/grey disconnect and replace it with a black liquid disconnect. release the pressure on your keg. Then set your pressure at 15-20 psi and hook it up to the liquid out side of your keg..... this will let the CO2 bubble up from the bottom through the beer...... this might allow the CO2 to be absorbed better and it might also eliminate the possibility that there was some sort of film the surface that was preventing CO2 absorption (not sure why or what could cause that - but this method would eliminate that possibility.

**Gotta be a little careful doing this method so you don't shoot beer back up your CO2 line if your keg is pressurized at a level higher than the gas going in.

 

[derekcw83]

Have you made sure that keg isn't partially frozen? I had this small problem last month. Sure enough my temp probe fell off the can it was attached to and my keg was partial frozen. Once I replaced the probe and thawed out the keg it carbonated normally. Just a thought.

I suppose this could be another possibility. But I haven't had a single keg freeze at all since I've been kegging. And I have 4 others flowing perfectly right now.

 

[derekcw83]

I thought I'd checked everything, but as I was taking gas QD off I noticed that the post was twisting easy. It was loose by at least a half turn, I think I may have just twisted on by hand and forgot to tighten with my wrench. It's on 30psi now to quick carb so we will see in a couple days or less if that was the issue. The odd thing is that I would think that a bad enough leak to cause no carbonation would have drained my tank in a short time, right?

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

You would think. But stranger things have happened.

 

[beernutz]

Can you transfer it to another keg? I also think it has to be a leak and if it carbed ok in another keg you'd know for sure. Some keg leaks are insidious particularly those in the pressure relief valves as they continue even when lines are not connected to the keg.

 

[derekcw83]

Can you transfer it to another keg? I also think it has to be a leak and if it carbed ok in another keg you'd know for sure. Some keg leaks are insidious particularly those in the pressure relief valves as they continue even when lines are not connected to the keg.

Unfortunately all my kegs are occupied atm

 

[beernutz]

Unfortunately all my kegs are occupied atm

Can you ever have too many kegs?

 

[Clef051]

Unfortunately all my kegs are occupied atm

that sounds like a good problem as long as you get this one pouring right

 

[derekcw83]

So I decided on dunking the keg in a full bath to check for leaks...sure enough had 2 more leaks out of the PRV and poppet of the gas post. Disassembled and lubed like crazy, we'll see...

 

[derekcw83]

Carbed now lol

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

Nice. Glad to hear you got it figured out.

 

[NickTheGreat]

Excellent! :