Kegging Newbie

[mls1970]

Looking for input regarding kegging, just kegged my first homebrew and the beer is slowly getting carbonated but it seems my co2 tank is emptying faster then I expected. I set my regulator to the desired setting and just left everything open. I'm wondering if maybe I should just pressurize keg then close the valves? I checked system for leaks with soapy water and seems OK. I do smell an odd oder inside keezer though. I am going to check ball lock fitting at the keg to see if maybe it's faulty. Cheers.

 

[Damian13]

If you are storing the tank inside your keezer the gauge fullness level will be off and show lower.

 

[mls1970]

Yes, the tank is in my keezer.

 

[CU_tony]

Having the tank in the freezer will make the gauge inaccurate. If you have tested your system for leaks already, RDWHAHB.
If you still feel something is amiss, spray all the things with star-san and when you dont find any bubbles, proceed to RDWHAHB

Other than that, its not a good idea to pressurize a keg and disconnect it, or shut off the valve... if you want it to carbonate that is!
As the keg carbonates, the CO2 will dissolve into the solution requiring more CO2 from the tank to maintain your setting. After a few days to a week you could disconnect and not loose pressure, but youll need a CO2 connection when you want to serve.

 

[mls1970]

Thanks, I thought the same thing regarding leaving the system open so it would keep the pressure as Co2 is absorbed. But the gage for the volume of Co2 remaining was dropping I second guessed. Cheers!