Kegging disaster?

[Tindel]

So, I've had a heffeweizen on tap for a few weeks now, but I'm having a party this weekend for all of my friends and I noticed that my carbonation seems to have been going down the last week or so naturally, I wanted to try to up the carbonation... so this is what I've done over the course of the last month with this beer.

Naturally carbonated to ~4.5 units of CO2
Serving at about 5 psi.
Tasted great!
2 weeks pass, started to be a little flat.
Turned up the pressure last night to ~25psi at ~65 degrees
Went back to bed.
Went down stairs this morning and found about 1 gallon of beer on my (thankfully) concrete basement floor.

One of two things happened...
1. The outlet poppet was bad and leaked after so many psi.
2. I left the beer out quick-connect connected, and just having the beer out connected weakend the poppet connection at that pressure...

So I purged my system and removed my poppets to inspect... one poppet o-ring was a little out of round, and I figured that was my problem. I then started to put everything back together and get my beer on CO2 when I realized I had also drained my 5# tank. Doh...

I made an emergency trip to the LHBS and the CO2 shop to get more CO2 ($8 each for 2 tanks... score!) and another poppet ($6.50! yikes!). And I got a speeding ticket on the way ($55). So this one batch of beer is about $100 or so now! Thankfully it's pretty damn good!

What a rollercoaster of a day!

And it continues... now I have part of my regulator leaking... what could be causing this to leak through some holes on the black part? Did I damage the regulator with everything that's happened with my kegs in the last 24 hours?

 

[IffyG]

When you are done drinking for the night, do you turn the pressure up to a level that will maintain 4.5 volumes of CO2?

 

[Tindel]

A little more information:

The regulator on the left seems to be working okay... the one on the right doesn't vent from the holes in the black area until I turn up the pressure then it starts to vent... all testing is without any kegs connected.

Very frustrating.

 

[Tindel]

When you are done drinking for the night, do you turn the pressure up to a level that will maintain 4.5 volumes of CO2?

No... should I?

 

[Yooper]

No... should I?

Well, as you found out turning it down to 5 psi means the beer will gradually go flat................

I don't turn up and down. I go by this carb table:
http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

There really isn't such a thing as "serving pressure" and "carbing pressure". Balance the system properly, and you'll never have to turn the gas up or down.

anyway, for now the problem seems like your regulator is shot. You can take it a part and clean it up and see if that helps.

 

[cuttsjp]

When you are done drinking for the night, do you turn the pressure up to a level that will maintain 4.5 volumes of CO2?

+1

That's why it went flat(ish) in the first place. 5 psi is LOW for a beer that is carbonated to 4.5 volumes, and one must up the psi back to the 4.5 vol level to maintain the carb in the beer.

Don't fret, I lost an ENTIRE batch of mild to a faulty tap connection.

 

[KarlCBL]

If you don't maintain a pressure that correlates to your co2 volume you're going to lose carbonation as the system balances. Micromatic has a lot of information on kegging and dispensing which you'll find very useful. Also 4.5 volumes of co2 is extremely high, running at 5psi is probably the only way you're going to get that beer out without a foam storm, but 5 psi of pressure is not ideal. Most micro's run co2 volumes between 2.5-2.8 and maybe slightly higher for a hefe.

 

[Tindel]

So... how do I take this regulator apart? I've put a little pressure on it with a crescent wrench to no avail... but I'm afraid I'll break the brass if I put too much pressure on it... and the middle area doesn't have anywhere grab on to even make it a dual gauge regulator.

 

[Tindel]

Anyone know how to take the regulator apart to clean it? What should I clean it with? detergent? My guess is that somehow I got beer in it... but it has a check valve, so I'm not sure how that could happen.

Also, if I was to set it to 4.5 volumes or so of CO2 and served at the same pressure, I'd get a bath, so I don't understand having a 'balanced system' as yooper pointed out.

 

[Kaz]

Have you tried calling Keg Connection...it looks like one of their regulators, they could probably help you out.

 

[RensBerserker]

Also, if I was to set it to 4.5 volumes or so of CO2 and served at the same pressure, I'd get a bath, so I don't understand having a 'balanced system' as yooper pointed out.

It's all about equilibrium... If you carb up to 4.5 vols, but turn down the pressure to 5psi for serving, you will end up with a higher partial CO2 pressure inside the beer itself than in the headspace above the beer, so CO2 will come out of solution in order to reach equilibrium between the beer and headspace.

When Yooper refers to a 'balanced system,' it is in reference to balancing line resistance to CO2 pressure. Basically, if there is not enough line resistance, then CO2 will come out of solution violently once the beer leaves the faucet/tap/beer line, leading to excessive foaming. If there is too much resistance, your pours will be dreadfully slow, and you won't get much of a head of foam. Balance means finding the right line length for a given 'serving' pressure.

Remember that serving pressure should be the same as carbing pressure, unless of course you're impatient and put it under high pressure/shaking for carbonation. For example, I have heard that it can take up to 30 feet of beverage line to balance a keg of soda served (and carbonated) at 30psi.