No beer flow

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bobeer

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I've cleaned the lines, checked the gas, cleaned the dip tube, took apart the faucet, cleaned the poppets, cleaned the black out ball valve and I still get no beer. Does anyone have any idea what could be the issue? I'm on my 4th kegged beer and I've never had any issues before.

I've uncooked the gas and purged all the gauges then repressured too. No beer!

Sent from my LG-E980 using Home Brew mobile app
 
Put your beer goggles on, attach your gas line to the keg, put 10psi on the keg and press down on the Out post poppet. If you don't get a beer shower, the problem is in the keg. If you do, your QD isn't playing nicely with your Out post poppet. Fix it.

Cheers!
 
Thanks for the reply. I actually did press down on the poppet just a few minutes ago and I got beer. I didn't press down super hard or anything because i didn't want the shower but there was beer coming out.
By QD do you mean the faucet? I'm using a shank with a standard faucet from beverage factory. Not the best, obviously. I guess I'll take apart the faucet again and keep playing with it. Good thing I bottled an oak strong a few months ago!!
 
Thanks for the reply. I actually did press down on the poppet just a few minutes ago and I got beer. I didn't press down super hard or anything because i didn't want the shower but there was beer coming out.
By QD do you mean the faucet? I'm using a shank with a standard faucet from beverage factory. Not the best, obviously. I guess I'll take apart the faucet again and keep playing with it. Good thing I bottled an oak strong a few months ago!!

The QD is the "doohicky" that you put on the post and the line hooks up to it. That sounds like it could be the issue. Have you taken apart the QD? It comes apart with a screwdriver, really easily. But if you take it apart, do it over a white piece of paper as there are four little bitty parts, and you need them all to put it back together! (trust me on this- I speak from experience :drunk:)
 
QD is quick disconnect. The inner "pin" is plastic and may have flattened out over time causing it to not press down on the poppet hard enough. Just a thought.
 
Thanks everyone. I took apart the QD and everything looks ok. If the little plastic pin already wore out after 4 kegs I'm going to have to buy a ton of these things. I guess it's easier to find a whole new DQ though.

Edit... At this point I'm about to start replacing parts because I have no idea why there's no beer coming out. I've taken apart every piece of this thing. The only thing it could be is the flattened out poppet pusher on the QD at this point. Too bad I have about a gallon of a red rye left. Thanks again for the help!
 
The "black out ball valve" is actually a Liquid Quick Disconnect.

So you got beer out of the Out post when you pressed the poppet. Good start.
Now, remove the beer line from your black QD, release the pressure from the keg, attach the QD, then apply JUST A LITTLE BIT of CO2. You should get beer out of the tail end of the QD, and if you do the problem is downstream towards the faucet. If not, the QD isn't playing nicely with the post/poppet for some sudden reason...

Cheers!
 
Two most likely causes are an ill fitting poppet or liquid side diptube. Sometimes parts get switched between kegs, and while they may appear to fit, they can be off just enough to cause problems like yours. Does the bottom of the diptube press against the bottom of the keg in such a way that it could restrict flow? Is the poppet one of the "universal" ones that didn't get trimmed short enough? Is the poppet the correct size/type for the post fitting?

Take a look at the post fitting and poppet styles here, and compare to yours-
http://www.dresselbrew.com/Keg_Info.htm
 
The "black out ball valve" is actually a Liquid Quick Disconnect.

So you got beer out of the Out post when you pressed the poppet. Good start.
Now, remove the beer line from your black QD, release the pressure from the keg, attach the QD, then apply JUST A LITTLE BIT of CO2. You should get beer out of the tail end of the QD, and if you do the problem is downstream towards the faucet. If not, the QD isn't playing nicely with the post/poppet for some sudden reason...

Cheers!

Thanks for the idea. I'll try it when I get home tonight. It was working fine a day ago and then all of a sudden it just stopped working. On "National Beer day" too!
 
Two most likely causes are an ill fitting poppet or liquid side diptube. Sometimes parts get switched between kegs, and while they may appear to fit, they can be off just enough to cause problems like yours. Does the bottom of the diptube press against the bottom of the keg in such a way that it could restrict flow? Is the poppet one of the "universal" ones that didn't get trimmed short enough? Is the poppet the correct size/type for the post fitting?

Take a look at the post fitting and poppet styles here, and compare to yours-
http://www.dresselbrew.com/Keg_Info.htm

The bottom of the keg has a half circle indentation that I think would allow enough flow. This was a very hoppy beer so I suppose it's possible that there's some trub in the bottom that's affecting the flow to the diptube. There's about a half gallon of beer in there still though so I hope I didn't lose that much to trub.

I'll have to take the keg apart again and compare my parts to the link you provided. It's been working fine up until now so I think I have all the corresponding parts but I'll check them all to make sure. Thanks!
 
Last update... I played with the poppet tonight and this time there was a nice little hop plug in the spring. Once I cleared that beer started to flow out slowly. There was no hop blockage in the poppet the last two times I took it apart but clearing the hops out, and reseating the spring and the little plug thing seems to have solved the issue. Beer is at least flowing. :ban:
I got about 64 oz's out of what was left and I'm letting is cold crash in a growler in my fridge. On to the next one!
This beer had about 11 oz's of hops in it and it was a 4 gallon recipe so I guess, ultimately, that's what was causing the issue.
 
haha yea, my b.... minor detail. It just wasn't clogged whatsoever all the other times I took it apart. :cross:
 
Hah! For some reason I assumed that the keg was acting this way immediately, not after already serving the first 3 gal just fine, which also would have been a dead giveaway. And FWIW the hops were likely lodged in between the diptube and keg bottom, or in the middle of the diptube when you checked the first couple times, and slowly moved up to the poppet.
 
I had a no flow with no good reason, it turned out the liquid line was laying up against the air inlet line to the fridge and was freezing up from the incoming air flow. Check the simple and easy things first.
 
Two most likely causes are an ill fitting poppet or liquid side diptube. Sometimes parts get switched between kegs, and while they may appear to fit, they can be off just enough to cause problems like yours. Does the bottom of the diptube press against the bottom of the keg in such a way that it could restrict flow? Is the poppet one of the "universal" ones that didn't get trimmed short enough? Is the poppet the correct size/type for the post fitting?

Take a look at the post fitting and poppet styles here, and compare to yours-
http://www.dresselbrew.com/Keg_Info.htm

Juan, please elaborate on "didn't get trimmed short enough" because I have some universal poppets and I've never trimmed them, but I have had an issue here and there. I didn't know you were supposed to "trim" them..or even what that really means?
 
There are a plethora of different length cornelius-style posts, yet these are purported "universal" poppets. Short answer: "not so much". If you have a squat post you may need to cut a loop off the bottom to shorten the spring enough that it doesn't totally over-power the opposing spring-loaded disconnect plunger.

I just don't like the darned things because the tiny o-ring can slip off the slug and wedge in the post bore. I won't use them on actual kegs but I do have them on my beer line cleaners. The ~50% of the time they fail just means a BLC or rinse water bath...

Cheers!
 
There are a plethora of different length cornelius-style posts, yet these are purported "universal" poppets. Short answer: "not so much". If you have a squat post you may need to cut a loop off the bottom to shorten the spring enough that it doesn't totally over-power the opposing spring-loaded disconnect plunger.

I just don't like the darned things because the tiny o-ring can slip off the slug and wedge in the post bore. I won't use them on actual kegs but I do have them on my beer line cleaners. The ~50% of the time they fail just means a BLC or rinse water bath...

Cheers!

Thanks for this. I certainly haven't seen the 50% failure rate you have, but I will definitely be trimming the spring on a couple of them. Makes total sense when I consider the problem I'm having (that the QD itself seems to be overpowered by the spring.
 
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