Noob Kegging equiptment issue

[dmcclain]

I kegged my first two brews on Sunday. Crash carbed for 24 hours at 30psi. Temp is 38 - 40 F. Cranked down the regulator and bled off pressure from both kegs to get down to around 11psi. Checked in 12 hours later and the pressure was backup to 30psi. Again, cranked the regulator counter clockwise and bled off the excess pressure from the kegs. 12 hours later it was back at 30psi again. I've been fighting this for a couple of days now. Currently I have the 5# co2 tank turned almost all the way off and the regulator turned as far as it will go. When I left for work it was at 12psi. Is there something I'm missing? Is there a problem with doing 2 kegs at once? Do I have a faulty regulator? Both beers were within .002 of target final gravity and had been steady so I don't think they're still fermenting. Any thoughts, suggestions or tips would be most welcome. Thanks

 

[jbay76]

I would leave the kegs off gas until you hit your target PSI/CO2 volume. You are currently over-pressured, so when you use the pressure relief valve, head space gas gets released, right. Well, some of that excess gas in solution will come out of solution and fill that head space (Law of partial pressure) until pressure in beer = pressure in head space. Then release gas via pressure relief valve, and rinse repeat until you're at the PSI you want. It sucks, I know. I'm only slightly more advanced in kegging than you, but science is science.
G' luck!

 

[dmcclain]

That makes sense. I'll kill the gas and keep bleeding off the kegs until pressure holds, then ease it back on for serving. Thanks

 

[jbay76]

To help in this effort, I got this keg tester, and it removes a lot of the guess work.