What in the world happened to my pressure?

[cubbies]

Okay, as some of you know, I have been very limited in my brewing because of a broken leg. Also because of the leg, I havent been able to go down to the keezer to get my own beers. Luckily, my wife has been pretty good about getting them for me when I wanted one.

Anywho, Friday I asked her to pour me an outmeal stout and she brought it back up and it was 90% foam and she said it was coming out really fast. I didnt think much of it, because sometimes people dont pour it right and it comes out foamy. Yesterday, I was planning on drinking a few pints so I went down with her and I was going to fill up my growler. I went to start pouring and it was coming out like a fire hose. Massively pressurized. I looked at the regulator and it was up to 80psi. I have no idea how long it sat like this. Last Tuesday I had my brother come over to help me fill a couple of kegs and get them on the gas. We had beers after that and I know the pressure was good that day. No one messed with the regulator. The only thing that changed was that I went from one keg on gas to three. I dont see why this would be a problem though as I take kegs on and off gas all the time.

Anyone have any idea why my pressure went so high for no apparent reason? Is my regulator toast?

Since all of this, I took everything off the gas and started bleeding everything to get it back to flat at which point I will carb them back up. The stout, I got flat pretty fast and it is back on the gas at 12 psi. I will check it in a little while to make sure the pressure doesnt skyrocket again. The other two are taking a little longer to bleed off because they are full and after just a couple of seconds of pulling on the pressure release, foam sprays everywhere. So I have to let it set and then come back a little while later, pull for a couple of seconds, repeat.

Sorry for the long post. Most of it is blabbering. My only main question is why would my regulator go from 12 psi (where it has been for months) to over 80 with nothing apparently changing except the addition of two kegs?

 

[lordbeermestrength]

do you think it's possible that the two kegs you put on could have been fermenting still? I imagine that would build some pressure pretty quickly.

I don't think it is possible with every regulator design I have seen that it could skyrocket to 80psi then be able to regulate back to 12psi later without some sort of adjustment. that is very peculiar.

 

[cubbies]

No, there is no way they are still fermenting. Because of my leg, I havent been brewing for over a month. These beers have been fermenting for 4+ weeks.

As for dialing it back down to 12, I definitely intervened. I turned the screw all the way back, turned off the gas at the tank and removed all of the kegs from pressure. When I put the stout (which had since been brought back to flat) I put the gas back on and it registered 0. I gradually turned the screw until I got pressure back on. There was definitely a lot of manual adjustments to get the regulator back down, but as far as I can tell, nothing happened that would have made it go up in the first place.

 

[MoRoToRiUm]

If you have a typical style regulator, is the nut tightened? I've seen compressors vibrate/change the PSI setting if you have it internal... That's the only thing I can think of, other then regulator malfunction.

 

[Moonshae]

I once had a bad regulator that creeped like this, but it did so right from the beginning. Sounds like a failing regulator to me.

 

[cubbies]

Well, here is the latest update. I got the stout back to flat and got it back on the gas. I overshot a little bit and had to dial it back down last night before I went to bed, but that is not that abnormal. This morning, it was still sitting steady at 12. When I get home I will check it again and see if it has crept up. If it has, then I suppose I will look into replacing the regulator. If not, I will put one of the other kegs on the gas. They are both nearly flat now. I will put them on one at a time and see what happens.

 

[cubbies]

Well, the pressure has remained steady on the stout for over a day now. I am hoping that at least one of the other kegs will be flat today so I can put it back on the gas and see what happens.

I am no expert, but I would assume that if a regulator was broken, it would not work with one keg. I really have no idea what happened.

 

[cubbies]

I guess I really don't have an answer here. I attached the stout back up and it held it's pressure. Then a few days later I attached a second keg and it held it's pressure. Over the weekend, I attached the third keg and so far it has held it's pressure. I really have no answer here.

The only thing I can think of is that when my brother put the kegs in the keezer for me, he may have somehow moved the screw accidentally. I really don't know. I would assume that if it was a failing regulator that it would have failed again by now.