Psi in keg keeps dropping down

[Colizza]

I kegged my first beer yesterday and want to force carbonate it at 30 PSI for 48 hours. It has been around 36 hours and the psi went from 30-15. It put it back to 35 and 1 hour later, it droppend to 20 psi. So what's going on?

Note: the keg and Co2 tank was in a cold room (around 40 celsius, maybe lower), the pressur inside the Co2 tank indicated that it was at 500psi, which is normal because of the relation between pressure and cold temperature, so i put the Co2 tank back at room temperature and the keg is still in the cold room. I let a small opening through the door so that only the tube from the Co2 tank (room temp) to the keg (cold room) could pass through the door.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

Are you leaving the co2 turned on? If not that is why your pressure keeps dropping as co2 is absorbed into the liquid. If you are leaving your tank turned on and the pressure is dropping then you have a leak somewhere. If your force carbing though you want to keep the gas turned on the whole time.

 

[Colizza]

The tank is on, i used soapy water to check for leaks and none of the connections showed leaks. I did however hear an hissing sound from the adaptor that goes from the tubing to the keg (if you know what i mean) but whenever i put it on a right position, the sound would stop

 

[Colizza]

And its kinda weird that for the first 24 hours or so i would not have lost pressure and in the last couple of hours, I did lose a lot

 

[Magnus314]

Hold up, isn't 40 C hot as h-e-l-hockeystick!?

 

[Colizza]

40 farenheit in the cold room, 70 my room temp

 

[Colizza]

My bad!

 

[Colizza]

If theres a leak though, i tightened every connections, so i really dont know except if it is the gas disconnects that has a prblem

 

[Magnus314]

Best bet is to force carb after it's cold. Then 12-15 psi for a week, or 25+ psi for 36-ish hours or 15 min. shake if you're impatient.

No matter what, the beer seems to taste better after a week on gas and cold.

 

[gspot]

I don't think you want to hear any hissing from your disconnect. That sounds like a leak to me. Try changing your o-ring on the keg post and put a little waterproof grease on it. That might solve the problem.

 

[tezcatlipoca]

I've had the nut on the disconnect loosen itself and leak. You really have to get those tight. In the wrong position it would hiss. Soap water didn't help me as it wasn't the keg, but eventually, I put the co2 bottle back in its spot and the stress from the bottle made the tube go back in the spot and it hissed. I had to tighten it a bit further than what I thought it would take. So, I would look at the nut on the disconnect, then the clamp on the tubing. If you think to yourself, "what clamp?" then we definitely found the problem.

 

[Colizza]

Thanks! How did you tighten that connection (the one on your disconnect)?

I talked to one of the guys at my LHBS, he told it was normal that i'd loose some psi because the cold beer would absord some Co2. He told me the hissing that i hear commes from the grey diaconnect and it happens when the grey disconnect has a king of angl, so the litlle rotating balls inside the disconnect are not perfectly aligned. So i have to find an angle where it doesn't hiss.

After one night, it went from 35 to 20 psi. I raised it back to 30 this morning

 

[wapitiscat]

Just finished chasing a gas leak myself recently (it turned out to be where the gas line fits on the barb of the disconnect). I would suggest trying to "isolate" your system to help focus your attention. Pressurize your system then shut your gas off at the tank (big black knob). Then close your barb shutoff coming out of the regulator. Check back after a while. If the pressure is holding, the "regulator" side of things is OK. Disconnect the gas line from the keg and open the regulator barb shutoff. Check back later. If the pressure is still holding, the regulator barb to gas disconnect checks out and points you to look at your keg's gas post. All that being said, you first have to convince yourself that it not just the beer absorbing CO2. If the keg can take more gas (due to absorption or leak) then you may hear the gas moving out of the tank and through the regulator until things get repressurized.

Todd

 

[tezcatlipoca]

I just kinda hold the plastic piece and put a present wrench on the nut part. It was a little difficult to get tight, as there isn't much to hold on to.

It is best to not put the gas disconnect under too much stress from a short tube.

 

[kecclest]

To me, its strange that your regulator isn't maintaining the right pressure when you have a good tank of gas. I agree that the CO2 will go into solution more readily at lower temperatures, but your regulator should maintain the pressure. Do you have another regulator you could try? I would suspect that if this was a leak, you'd be running out of gas quickly.

 

[Colizza]

To me, its strange that your regulator isn't maintaining the right pressure when you have a good tank of gas. I agree that the CO2 will go into solution more readily at lower temperatures, but your regulator should maintain the pressure. Do you have another regulator you could try? I would suspect that if this was a leak, you'd be running out of gas quickly.

Yeah ill check, but the pressure in my tank indicates more than 700Psi

 

[Colizza]

I just pulled a sample, its a little on the flat side, but still it was carbonated.

Concerning the kecclest's comment. I dont know about the regulator. I know im not running out of Co2 since the pressure inside the tank is a little over 700Psi

 

[gspot]

I'm also wondering about the adjustment screw on the regulator. Supposedly there's a rubber diaphragm underneath that regulates the pressure. I've seen replacements available for sale, so they presumably need replacing for one reason or the other. Maybe that's the cause of your inability to hold a steady pressure. You might investigate that area also.

 

[Colizza]

I did have an issue at first with this screw. When i first open the tank it was at 110 psi. I tried to screw it down but the screw would reach its maximal capicity. So i had to **** off the gas and purge the keg and put the screw back in place with a manageable "thread space". The pressure went back to 0 and i raised it to 30psi

Does that make sense?