New to Kegs... No Pressure

[Brettzky85]

I went to a couple towns over and bought a kegerator from a guy who said basically all you gotta do is plug it in when you get home and drink beer. I tried that, but the beer came bursting out and all I got was foam. I looked at the regulator and it read 20. I thought you used a screwdriver to adjust the regulator, but it did nothing when I was moving it. As such, I tried pulling the pin off the top of the kegs, which drastically dropped the reading to about 10. Later on, it read 5. By the end of the night, it was coming out of the tap very slowly. This morning I went to draw a beer from it to see if it still was dribbling out and I got nothing at all. I know the guy told me next time I was in town that I should stop in, give him the regulator he sold me and he'd switch it for a new one because he didn't care for that one, but it'd get me by.

I don't know if this helps, but here's what's going on inside:

I thought to carbonate, you just used a screwdriver to adjust the regulator and it'd go, but this doesn't seem to do anything when I try. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Pratzie]

There is still pressure showing on the regulator?

 

[Brettzky85]

There is still pressure showing on the regulator?

Yes, it looks to be at about 5. If I pull the pin, it lets off pressure, too. But, I'm obviously pretty new at this. I just thought you put the locks on the in and out and turned the regulator with a screwdriver and you were in business. There's a red thing on the regulator that also lets off some sort of pressure, but I'm not sure what that does.

 

[Pratzie]

Yes, it looks to be at about 5. If I pull the pin, it lets off pressure, too. But, I'm obviously pretty new at this. I just thought you put the locks on the in and out and turned the regulator with a screwdriver and you were in business. There's a red thing on the regulator that also lets off some sort of pressure, but I'm not sure what that does.

U didn't dry hop in the corney did ya? It almost sounds like the liquid out tube might be blocked with something.

 

[ghosthef]

When I increase the pressure to the keg my psi goes up slowly. Given that when u pull the relief valve on top of the keg you hear co2 coming out...your line is not block. The regulator may be bad though.

 

[Brettzky85]

U didn't dry hop in the corney did ya? It almost sounds like the liquid out tube might be blocked with something.

Nope, the homebrew store I bought it from made the beer for me, it was all done and I took it home. He said to carb it, I'll have to turn it up to about 40 and he turned it down to about 2 for serving. But when I got home, the regulator said 20. I messed around turning it with the screwdriver, which did nothing, then I pulled the pin and it took the pressure down.

 

[Bobby_M]

So the local homebrew shop is selling beer these days.. hmm, that's pretty amazing. I bet the ATF would love to know about it.

Turning the regulator pressure down will not always auto vent the head space because most regulators have a one way valve on them. Turn the screw counterclockwise, then vent the keg. If it's too low then, turn the screw clockwise UP to the pressure you want. Set the pressure to about 12 psi and wait 2 weeks.

 

[Brettzky85]

So the local homebrew shop is selling beer these days.. hmm, that's pretty amazing. I bet the ATF would love to know about it.

Turning the regulator pressure down will not always auto vent the head space because most regulators have a one way valve on them. Turn the screw counterclockwise, then vent the keg. If it's too low then, turn the screw clockwise UP to the pressure you want. Set the pressure to about 12 psi and wait 2 weeks.

I think it's legal in Canada, is it not? I have heard of a lot of places here that let you brew the stuff yourself in their store, I just assumed he could. He said he had some government papers I needed to sign, but he never did show me them.

Thank you for that tip, that's what I was struggling to figure out. I didn't know you had to pull the release before messing with the regulator. Thanks to you, I'm drinking beer tonight!

A couple quick questions for anyone who might be able to answer them; will the beer pour if the CO2 is turned off when it's already carbonated? If I turn the CO2 off during weekdays and turn it on when I go to pour my first beer of the weekend, will it be good to go?

 

[mikescooling]

Your un-carbed keg of beer will absorb co2 (lots of co2), and it will hold it, and if the pressure drops the co2 will come out of the beer. What I'm saying here is the pressure on that gauge is only reading the pressure at that point in the system. If you add pressure to a new un-carbed keg, then turn the tank off, all the co2 will go into the beer and the gauge will read zero again the next day. So when you turn that adjustment screw don't take the reading or lack of movement as an indication of whats going on.

 

[Yoss]

A couple quick questions for anyone who might be able to answer them; will the beer pour if the CO2 is turned off when it's already carbonated?

Yes, for a while, but then it will stop because there is no pressure to push it out. If you let it sit for a while it will start to pour again but your beer will start to become flat. Leave your CO2 on.​

If I turn the CO2 off during weekdays and turn it on when I go to pour my first beer of the weekend, will it be good to go?

If you keep it at the same temperature, yes. That being said, there is really no reason to turn your CO2 off. If you aren't drinking any, and its already carbed its not going to use any of your CO2.​

Bottom line, leave your CO2 on all the time. It looks like your kegerator is pretty cold so I would go with something around 8-14 psi, but temperature is important. There is a chart here that will help you pick a pressure that is good for your kegerator's temperature. Remember to bleed the pressure off the keg before you adjust the regulator.

IMHO the guy who told you to set it at 40 then turn it down to 2 for serving gave you terrible advice. Next time you get a keg use the chart to pick the right pressure, then let it sit in the kegerator under that pressure for 2 or 3 weeks (I know its a long time, but its the easiest way), and it will be ready to drink.

 

[JDGator]

I think it's legal in Canada, is it not? I have heard of a lot of places here that let you brew the stuff yourself in their store, I just assumed he could. He said he had some government papers I needed to sign, but he never did show me them.

Thank you for that tip, that's what I was struggling to figure out. I didn't know you had to pull the release before messing with the regulator. Thanks to you, I'm drinking beer tonight!

A couple quick questions for anyone who might be able to answer them; will the beer pour if the CO2 is turned off when it's already carbonated? If I turn the CO2 off during weekdays and turn it on when I go to pour my first beer of the weekend, will it be good to go?

This is very common in Canada. my LHBS always has 40-50 Sanke kegs full and over 150 batches of wine ready for people to bottle. i believe you have to pitch the yeast and then bottle it to be legal here. i know that everyone bottles it anyways. cost is around $100 for a batch of wine and i believe that's 5gal.

 

[Brettzky85]

Your un-carbed keg of beer will absorb co2 (lots of co2), and it will hold it, and if the pressure drops the co2 will come out of the beer. What I'm saying here is the pressure on that gauge is only reading the pressure at that point in the system. If you add pressure to a new un-carbed keg, then turn the tank off, all the co2 will go into the beer and the gauge will read zero again the next day. So when you turn that adjustment screw don't take the reading or lack of movement as an indication of whats going on.

So basically the reading on the regulator is the amount of carbonation you're going to put into it over time, then it turns off? I'm probably mainly confused because I got the beer carbonated already, but it just came out in a wave when I got it and it was all head. I started messing around and eventually had no beer come out at all.

For instance, what I just did right now was unhook the gas lines, released all pressure from both of my kegs, turned off the CO2, adjusted it to about 8, reconnected the gas lines and hit the CO2 back on. By the time I had it all in my kegerator, the pressure had moved up over 10 anyways. The beer has carbonation, but I can't figure out how to maintain a consistent serving flow, or a flow at all. Last night, I thought everything was fine and after one pint, I couldn't draw anything from the keg.

I've tried watching videos, but I don't see too much mucking with the regulator like I seem to have to do.

 

[Yoss]

The reason it went from 8 to 10 is probably because your beer is over carbonated for 8 psi at your kegerators temperature. The CO2 in the beer is released into the head space and increases the pressure shown on the regulator. I also have read on this forum that when regulators are cold it can take up to 20 minutes for the regulator to stabilize and come up those last 1 or 2 psi.
Perhaps when the beer wasn't pouring you inadvertently had your regulator turned off, but when you set it, it appeared to have pressure because you didn't vent first?
It's really hard to fix these type of problems remotely. Here is a PDF detailing everything you could ever want to know about draft systems. Skip down to chapter 5, ignoring all the commercial equipment explanations (unless you want to read it, it's kind of interesting). Chapter 5 (page 35) will explain the relationship between the CO2 in the beer, in the head space of the keg, temperature, and how the beer pours.

Once you understand those relationships it should be easier to troubleshoot your system.