Ruined beer?

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mission419

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I appolgize in advance if this is in the wrong forum, I just dont know where to turn, I've googled the crap out of this, and cant figure out what to do... So, I picked up a kegerator for christmas from beverage factory... http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/kegerators/dualkegerator/Kegco_K309B-2_dual_faucet_kegerator.html is what i bought... I went with the upgraded 2 product regulator, and upgraded stainless steel tower with perlick faucets... it came with 2 standard D system couplers with lever handles... Had nothing but issues with it from the get go... First off, i made the mistake most newbies make, tried screwing the coupler on with the lever in the down position, that was my first encouter of spilled beer... So here i am, regulator hooked up to tank, c02 line hooked up to coupler, beer line to tower hooked up to coupler... The first keg I chose to put in the kegerator was a wonderful 1/6th barrel keg of liquid deliciousness that is great lakes christmas ale fresh from the brewery... When i first dropped the lever on the properly coupled keg, i had a massive leak from the faucet... After many colorful words, trying both lines with the same result, and finally removing the shank from the tower, I concluded that the faucets they sent me, werent designed to fit the shanks they installed in the tower... The geared interface between the faucet, and the shank, fit together, but when you tightened the coupler down with the faucet wrench as tight as you could, there was about an 1/8" worth of play between the faucet, and the shank... I managed to band aid the problem by putting one of the black washers they gave me for in between the coupler and beer line between the faucet, and shank, and amazingly, it held... From the get go, i was having foam issues, I figured that was from an unproperly insulated tower... I had the pressure on it set at 10 originally, it seemed i had too much pressure at the faucets, and dropped it down to 8... I also have the temperature holding pretty steady between 37-40 degrees. I dont know if this variable counts for anything, but the c02 i used was out of a tank thats been full for about 6 years... I bought a c02 system for a planted aquarium i was going to put together years ago, that never really panned out... i had the c02 filled when i first bought the system, but never used it, I was under the understanding that c02 doesnt go bad... Over the first few days, i was sick with a cold, so i couldnt really taste the beer one way or the other... now almost a week later, The beer just downright tastes flat... i still get a ton of foam when i pour, and am not getting the same bubble effect in the body of the glass that i was getting from the same christmas ale poured off the tap from the local buffalo wild wings yesterday... Is this beer ruined? Is it even safe to drink from a standpoint of one getting sick? If so, can anyone tell me what to do to remedy this problem for the future? And yes, I did call beverage factory, and am working on getting a new tower sent out...
 
I'm quite sure you want the co2 set around 10-12 based on the carbonation chart I was looking at, and that could be the cause of it tasting flat. The foam problem could be the line length/diameter.
I've never heard of co2 going bad or causing people to get ill from an old bottle, as long as it is just co2 in the tank.
 
Are u sure you aren't missing the o rings that go inside the taps? I don't have perlics but I understand they mount to a standard shank.

IMG_20141229_215453.jpg
 
it was just plain c02. i jumped the pressure up to like 12 the other night when i noticed there was air in the line... it came with 5 foot lines on each faucet... I just dont know what im doing wrong... I know when my new tower gets here, im probably gonna modify it to longer lines... just have no clue what i did wrong...
 
there is an o ring inside the faucet itself, the problem is, for some reason, the keyed part of the faucet, wont interface with the keyed part of the shank to form a solid seal, it just runs out of thread...
 
The splined part of the faucet should fit to the shank, in my experience they are pretty universal though. I've had no trouble switching from my Perlicks to my Krome, and back. I'd Check to make sure you are not cross threading the couplers.

Second, Foam ,and flat beer issues can usually be solved by tuning your line length to your average serving pressure. I know that there is a calculator out there somewhere for this...I just can't remember where. When I was tuning my own personal system, for a psi range of 12-15, I found that 10ft was just about ideal. Most commercial kego's are shipped with 5 feet or less of line, that is way to short for most circumstances.

Good luck:mug:
 
there is an o ring inside the faucet itself, the problem is, for some reason, the keyed part of the faucet, wont interface with the keyed part of the shank to form a solid seal, it just runs out of thread...

The splines only keep the tap from rotating, there should be a rubber seal inside your tap to seal against the shank. Look at the gasket in the pic I posted above.
 

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