Riddle me this....who wants to win $1,000,000?

[B-Dub]

So I have a weird carbonation riddle for you all.

4 kegs, 4 gas lines all off off the same manifold, at the same temp, same 5' beer lines, same forward sealing faucets. All the same except for the beer, okay.

Why would one beer have little carbonation and the other 3 be perfect????

The beer I pulled off the same gas line and tap line was perfect, just this one is off.

Riddle me this.......

 

[the_bird]

Is the keg leaking? Not holding as much pressure?

I'm assuming they've all been in the kegerator at least a couple weeks, so we cab assume they are all fully carbed up?

 

[eschatz]

something is clogged? broken check valve? stuck poppet?... go take a look... i'll be waiting for my million

 

[IrregularPulse]

Yes agreed with above. Assuming all three have been on gas the same amount of time., i would look for a clog in your line going to keg #3 and a leak in keg #3

 

[olllllo]

What are the beer styles and alcohol %.
What is the order?
How long has the beer been carbed for?

 

[JWHooper]

Switch one of the good lines with the bad lines and see if it helps. Naturally I only expect $50,000 for this troubleshooting tip.

 

[WBC]

Here's how to tell, Disconnect CO2 from the keg. Pull the pressure relief on the offending keg. You should get a nice blast of CO2 until it emptys CO2. Reconnect the CO2. You should hear CO2 going into the keg.

1. If the CO2 did not come out (or very little) when you emptied, it was not fully carbonated.

2. If you heard CO2 rushing into the keg when you re-connected the CO2 then the pressure inside the keg will be at what the regulator is set at providing there are no leaks at the lid, pressure relief on the lid and the posts. Leak check with Starsan from a spray bottle. If you have to fix any leaks then your beer was not carbonated at the maximum for the pressure set on the CO2 guage. I always do a leak check every time I connect a keg for the first time after filling it. I don't want flat beer and CO2 being wasted into the air.

 

[Homercidal]

Stuck poppets?

 

[B-Dub]

Okay....

I opened the PRV on the top of the keg last week and this week...lots of pressure.

The beer has good flow out the faucet...lines are good

Switched the gas lines last week...still not carbed like the other kegs.

All kegs have been cold and in the fridge for weeks....except for an IPA that was put on CO2 5 days ago...it is carbed up perfect.

Pressure on the tank is holding steady...no leaks or loss of pressure.

 

[BierMuncher]

Okay....

I opened the PRV on the top of the keg last week and this week...lots of pressure.

The beer has good flow out the faucet...lines are good

Switched the gas lines last week...still not carbed like the other kegs.

All kegs have been cold and in the fridge for weeks....except for an IPA that was put on CO2 5 days ago...it is carbed up perfect.

Pressure on the tank is holding steady...no leaks or loss of pressure.

Odd things can happen to good beer.

What kind of beer is it that is not carbonating?

I had my OctoberFast ales last Fall that took three times longer to carbonate that everything else I had...despite identical setups and procedures.

 

[JWHooper]

I would patent it as the first carbonation resistent beer.

 

[B-Dub]

The beer is 100% German Vienna, w/ Hoods through the 15 addition finished with NZ Halls and fermented with Düsseldorf Alt yeast.

Kind of the seasonal house Pale. The first keg of it went down really nice.

Kind of a draft anomaly. All things being equal. Nice to hear you have had a similar experience.

1,000,000 thanks for the help guys, I'll give you an update in a few days.

 

[BierMuncher]

The beer is 100% German Vienna...

Interesting that the beer I mentioned taking so long had a 25% grist of vienna malt.