shaynsawchuk
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- Jul 9, 2013
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I recently switched to kegging and am in the process of carbonating my first brew. I'm not sure what I should or shouldn't be seeing as I go along so I thought I would check in with the experienced keggers on the forum.
My setup is a converted fridge with a pass through tap, 4' of beverage line, 4' of gas line, a single product/dual gauge regulator, a 5lb CO2 canister and corny kegs. Everything was acquired used with the exception of the lines and fittings which I purchased new.
The beer is a stout I aim to carb at 2 vols, my fridge reads 38F so I want to set the regulator to 6 PSI but it just wont stay still. What's going on?
Here's how everything went step by step:
Cleaned and setup everything.
Cold crashed.
Sanitized keg/racked.
Hooked up both disconnects to keg.
Turned regulator to 30 PSI and applied pressure to the keg.
Checked for leaks and purged O2.
Turned off gas to keg and purged the keg and regulator of excess CO2.
Set pressure to 6 PSI.
Turned gas to keg on.
Here is where things seem to fall out of line: next the pressure drops to 0 PSI stable. If I increase the pressure to 6 PSI, the regulator groans until it stops at 6 and it will stay there temporarily, then rise to 9 PSI. If I then purge the headspace and dial the regulator down, it still rises of it's own accord.
I don't believe I have a check valve, but there shouldn't be enough carbonation in the beer to send CO2 backward, should there?
I also read that having low CO2 can do make your regulator do strange things, my canister is in the fridge and reads around 500 lbs. Could this be the cause?
My setup is a converted fridge with a pass through tap, 4' of beverage line, 4' of gas line, a single product/dual gauge regulator, a 5lb CO2 canister and corny kegs. Everything was acquired used with the exception of the lines and fittings which I purchased new.
The beer is a stout I aim to carb at 2 vols, my fridge reads 38F so I want to set the regulator to 6 PSI but it just wont stay still. What's going on?
Here's how everything went step by step:
Cleaned and setup everything.
Cold crashed.
Sanitized keg/racked.
Hooked up both disconnects to keg.
Turned regulator to 30 PSI and applied pressure to the keg.
Checked for leaks and purged O2.
Turned off gas to keg and purged the keg and regulator of excess CO2.
Set pressure to 6 PSI.
Turned gas to keg on.
Here is where things seem to fall out of line: next the pressure drops to 0 PSI stable. If I increase the pressure to 6 PSI, the regulator groans until it stops at 6 and it will stay there temporarily, then rise to 9 PSI. If I then purge the headspace and dial the regulator down, it still rises of it's own accord.
I don't believe I have a check valve, but there shouldn't be enough carbonation in the beer to send CO2 backward, should there?
I also read that having low CO2 can do make your regulator do strange things, my canister is in the fridge and reads around 500 lbs. Could this be the cause?
