Kegerator problem

[Duster]

First kegging, low flow. See here.

Kegged the NB Apricot brew, puree in 2nd fermento, so its kinda thick. Put the beer in the corny keg, then pressurized it on gas side after overnight in the frig. Forgot that someone said its best to pressurize it on the liquid side, so I switched sides. When that happened, I think some beer headed for the regulator... Switched back lines and kept it at 25psi for a couple days. Now the beer seems OK but low flow, as you see in the video.

I turn cut off valve on gas side and the flow is the same. Video shows CO2 at 10psi, turning it up or down does not change it much....

I had replaced the tubing in the tower with new stuff, all new tubing, and cleaned and sanitized the keg before this keg. So Im not sure if it is (1) regulator got beer in it (2) the brew is clogging the intake, (3) I have some assembled wrong (4) something else....

Any ideas ? Thanks in advance... :cross:

 

[RJBanks]

Sorry I can't help with your kegerator issue. I am just curious if you have tried the Apricot brew yet and how it was? I just brewed it last week and I'm excited for it to be done to try it.

 

[wilconrad]

How long is the tubing going from keg to tower? When you say changing the pressure doesn't affect flow much, how much are you changing the pressure? (I.e. If you turn it up to 20psi, what happens?)


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[Duster]

Sorry I can't help with your kegerator issue. I am just curious if you have tried the Apricot brew yet and how it was? I just brewed it last week and I'm excited for it to be done to try it.

I put the apricot puree in the 2nd fermentor instead of the 1st one, and its pretty fruity... If you like that I would try that, if not keep to the instructions...

Drinking it right now, everyone loves it...:cross:

 

[Duster]

How long is the tubing going from keg to tower? When you say changing the pressure doesn't affect flow much, how much are you changing the pressure? (I.e. If you turn it up to 20psi, what happens?)

Tubing is very short.... 10 or 30psi, same flow...

 

[h22lude]

So right now you have the beer line on the out post, the air line on the in post, PSI set to 10 and all valves are open? Just want to make sure. I don't like the idea of putting the air in on the beer out. It does carbonated bottom up but it also gets stuck.

Not too sure how what happens if beer gets in your reg.

I just made a batch of hard lemonade. Something in it clogged my dip tube. I rolled the keg around and put high pressure on and what ever was clogged came out and now it runs smooth. Maybe want to try that or even releasing the air and taking out the dip tube to clean it. If there is a layer of thick sludge on the bottom from the puree it may take a while for it to clear.

 

[Hopsnob]

I have had this issue before and the poppet valve on the beer side was loaded with solids, no amount of pressure would increase the flow. You said its a thick beer, maybe check that.


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[doc5md]

Agree.... there very easily could be debris in the poppet valves. Also, I never carb through the liquid side. There really isn't a good reason to do so. I carb at 35 PSI for about 36h or so (on the gas side), then purge and set to serving pressure. works great.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

You shouldnt be pressurizing on the liquid side, it makes zero difference i dont know where this dumb rumor its better came from.. maybe you get .0000001% faster absorption because of the millisecond bubbles are going through the liquid but we are talking miniscule amounts, your carbonation comes from pressure, temperature, and time....

 

[Duster]

UPDATE - I hooked up another keg with sanitizer and it works fine... I also brought up the temperatore in the kegerator as the low flow keg had ice in it....So Im assuming a clog somewhere in the keg.........

 

[wilconrad]

UPDATE - I hooked up another keg with sanitizer and it works fine... I also brought up the temperatore in the kegerator as the low flow keg had ice in it....So Im assuming a clog somewhere in the keg.........

If it had ice in it, the line and/or coupler was probably just partially frozen...

 

[Irish1225]

It's definitely a clog. I had this happen just a couple weeks ago.

You will just need a deep socket to get the "out" post off. The diptube then will just pull out. Do some cleaning of the tube, re-sanitize it, and replace it on the keg. Also make sure no hops or debris is clogged inside the out post.

You may have to do this a couple times - I know I had to. I picked up too much dry hop gunk when kegging an IPA. I now use a muslin bag lol

 

[Duster]

SOLVED - I bought a temperature controller, that did not help - though I love the controller, I emptied the keg, cleaned it and ran sanitizer though it, same issue, I bought a new post/popit for the liquid side, same issue, then I jigged the liquid dip tube and noticed it didn't move... as I tightened the post it jammed the tube into the bottom so tightly there was hardly any room for the liquid to exit the keg - I jiggled it after tightening the post and now it works as it should - lesson learned...