What happened to my spunding valve?

[whovous]

My spunding valve worked just fine a month or two ago. Now, no matter how far I turn the adjustment knob in either direction, it will not release a single pound of pressure from a highly pressurized keg. What happened?

My valve looks like the one on the "build your own" page at Homebrew Finds, although I bought it assembled from somewhere.
https://www.homebrewfinds.com/2011/02/build-spunding-valve.html

It is off the keg right now and it still reads over 30psi. Is there something I should try to fix this?

My understanding is that the actual venting should go through the small holes near the threaded end of the control valve. That implies the holes are clogged. Is there any other possible explanation? I had issues with krausen in my first use of this assembly, but it was working just fine when I took it off. How do I clean them? Remove and disassemble the valve, or is that overkill?

I am thinking all of this through as I type this, but I have the uneasy feeling I am missing something.

Advice?

 

[day_trippr]

I have essentially the same spunding rig and you have to release the pressure by poking the qd plunger in between readings....

Cheers!

 

[whovous]

It was zero before I put it on the keg. Keg pressure, as measured by other devices, has not changed.

 

[bjhbrew]

The valve will only release pressure that exceeds the set point. So presumably it is currently set at or above 30 psi. So to bleed it down press the qd plunger or wind the valve to its lowest setting

 

[whovous]

I have wound the valve up and down several times. Nothing changes. I released the QD plunger and took it to zero, but I've been through this part before. Will try again and see if I can get a different result.

 

[whovous]

No changes. When I put my BlowTie valve on the same keg it promptly lowers the pressure to 25psi, as set. But I want to spund two kegs at once.

 

[Dustin_J]

FWIW, I have two of the same valves and they'll both release pressure when taken off the keg by backing the valve screw out. I've heard/read that there's quite a bit of variability with these, though. I also had krausen get in one of mine and was able to disassemble the three parts (QD, valve, pressure gauge) and clean out the valve by soaking it in Oxyclean. I'm not sure if this is standard procedure, but it worked once You probably don't want to get water (or krausen) in the pressure gauge, though.

 

[Brooothru]

I have wound the valve up and down several times. Nothing changes. I released the QD plunger and took it to zero, but I've been through this part before. Will try again and see if I can get a different result.

Disassemble and soak in PBW. Spray with StarSan. Let all the parts completely dry and put it back together. Then recalibrate with a known pressure. It sounds like you got some krausen in the release ports and it stuck after the krausen dried.

Brooo Brother

 

[Robert65]

I wasted a massive amount of time and money building a bunch of spunding valves of the type pictured, thinking eventually one would work right. All crap, the spring poppet PRV is just not a reliable design, and the brass parts will corrode in the presence of moisture and carbon dioxide.

Blow Tie is the answer. I now have several. Get another if you need more than one spunding valve.

 

[whovous]

I may buy another BlowTie, but Williams ships excruciatingly slowly, and my yeast waits for no man...

Meanwhile, I just discovered my BlowTie has decided to compensate for the unwillingness of the other valve to do anything by slowly leaking the pressure out. It went from 25psi to under 10psi in under ten minutes. I read somewhere that the Guest-type connectors will leak if the connecting hoses are too short to reach all the way in. Fortunately, I have plenty of the same type tubing.

I will try the disassemble and soak method on the problem valve tonight.

Thanks, everyone.

 

[Dland]

I use alcohol as one step clean/sanitize/dry on mine. Have had no problems.

 

[whovous]

I may have this fixed, tho I am not sure of that. The valve completely refused to unscrew from the T, so I removed the gauge before disassembling the valve and soaking in Oxyclean. That cleared the clog, but reassembling everything left lotsa leaks. Testing now to see if that problem is solved.

I put longer tubes in the BlowTie, and am hopeful those leaks are solved as well, but I can only test one at a time.