Keg flow

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Graham.C
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Keg flow

Post by Graham.C » Fri Nov 18, 2011 12:24 pm

I feel I have been posting lots of questions lately, my apologies but I have another.

The flow from my keg is really low. I have lots of CO2 (thanks Andy) and although the stout may not be fully carbed, it is almost there. However, I am only getting a trickle out the tap. I tried switching over to a picnic tap, but still a trickle. Could the straw be clogged? The stout aged for months before putting in the keg, I can't imagine there would have been anything to plug up the straw. Any thoughts?

G
-Graham

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Re: Keg flow

Post by LiverDance » Fri Nov 18, 2011 12:27 pm

This place was made for asking questions :cheers2: Your dip tube could be clogged, try taking your gas and connecting it to the liquid out. This will force whatever is in the dip tube back into the keg. The connection will be harder than normal to get on and off as it is different.
"Twenty years ago — a time, by the way, that hops such as Simcoe and Citra were already being developed, but weren’t about to find immediate popularity — there wasn’t a brewer on earth who would have gone to the annual Hop Growers of American convention and said, “I’m going to have a beer that we make 4,000 barrels of, one time a year. It flies off the shelf at damn near $20 a six-pack, and you know what it smells like? It smells like your cat ate your weed and then pissed in the Christmas tree.” - Bell’s Brewery Director of Operations John Mallet on the scent of their popular Hopslam.

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Re: Keg flow

Post by chalmers » Fri Nov 18, 2011 12:29 pm

What have you got your regulator set to? And if you pop the poppit on your keg, you've got lots of CO2 escaping, right? Have you tried checking the flow out of the gas-in quick disconnect? Just to be sure it's delivering what it says it is.
If all of that seems OK, maybe try shaking the heck out of it , in case something has lodged in the bottom. Not sure if you have Ball Lock or Pin Lock, but you could hook the gas-in to the beer-out side for a second to hopefully dislodge anything in there. Don't actually hook it in, just push it down enough to get the gas flowing. They can be a pain to undo again.

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Re: Keg flow

Post by hogie » Fri Nov 18, 2011 12:29 pm

It may be out of balance? ie: beer line too long or PSI too low.

How many PSI is your regulator set to? What is the inner diameter of your beer line? How long is the beer line from your keg to your tap? What is the approximate elevation from your keg to your tap?

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Re: Keg flow

Post by chalmers » Fri Nov 18, 2011 12:29 pm

LD is a faster typed than me. :(

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Re: Keg flow

Post by hogie » Fri Nov 18, 2011 12:30 pm

chalmers wrote:LD is a faster typed than me. :(
and you're both faster than me!

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Re: Keg flow

Post by Graham.C » Fri Nov 18, 2011 12:45 pm

PSI is at 20, because I was force carbing. My line is 4' and 5' for the two taps. I have pin locks and cant seem to get the gas to fit on the output.
-Graham

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Re: Keg flow

Post by Graham.C » Fri Nov 18, 2011 12:51 pm

reverse gas worked! thanks... it was a bit of a bitch but it works.
-Graham

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Re: Keg flow

Post by KMcK » Fri Nov 18, 2011 2:13 pm

LiverDance wrote:Your dip tube could be clogged, try taking your gas and connecting it to the liquid out. The connection will be harder than normal to get on and off as it is different.
This is another good argument for MFL connections.
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Re: Keg flow

Post by Jmac00 » Fri Nov 18, 2011 2:22 pm

KMcK wrote:
LiverDance wrote:Your dip tube could be clogged, try taking your gas and connecting it to the liquid out. The connection will be harder than normal to get on and off as it is different.
This is another good argument for MFL connections.
could also hook up a gas line to a liquid disconnect to work in a pinch.

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Re: Keg flow

Post by derek » Sat Nov 19, 2011 8:47 am

chalmers wrote:...you could hook the gas-in to the beer-out side for a second to hopefully dislodge anything in there. Don't actually hook it in, just push it down enough to get the gas flowing. They can be a pain to undo again.
Oh thanks! That information came a week too late... :-) It wasn't _too_ hard, but it was definitely harder than I had expected, because I hadn't realized the connections were different. At least on the coke kegs they're visibly different.
Currently on tap: Whiter Shade of Pale!
In keg: .
In Primary: Nothing

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Re: Keg flow

Post by benwedge » Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:21 pm

derek wrote:
chalmers wrote:...you could hook the gas-in to the beer-out side for a second to hopefully dislodge anything in there. Don't actually hook it in, just push it down enough to get the gas flowing. They can be a pain to undo again.
Oh thanks! That information came a week too late... :-) It wasn't _too_ hard, but it was definitely harder than I had expected, because I hadn't realized the connections were different. At least on the coke kegs they're visibly different.
I have an old thread on here about reversing them. It was a head scratcher that first time. My industry seriously frowns upon a lack of visible distinction. It's just asking for trouble.
Brewing right now: whatever is going on tap at Stillwell in a few weeks.

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Re: Keg flow

Post by derek » Mon Nov 21, 2011 10:31 pm

benwedge wrote:
derek wrote:
chalmers wrote:...you could hook the gas-in to the beer-out side for a second to hopefully dislodge anything in there. Don't actually hook it in, just push it down enough to get the gas flowing. They can be a pain to undo again.
Oh thanks! That information came a week too late... :-) It wasn't _too_ hard, but it was definitely harder than I had expected, because I hadn't realized the connections were different. At least on the coke kegs they're visibly different.
I have an old thread on here about reversing them. It was a head scratcher that first time. My industry seriously frowns upon a lack of visible distinction. It's just asking for trouble.
LOL. All my Pepsi kegs have a steel flange around the base of the gas-in post that isn't on the liquid-out post. No doubt somebody considered that was "visible distinction". I guess they figured that nobody who was pumping out Pepsi would possibly be slightly impaired...
Currently on tap: Whiter Shade of Pale!
In keg: .
In Primary: Nothing

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Re: Keg flow

Post by chalmers » Tue Nov 22, 2011 7:56 am

Once I get my clammy hands on a keg, I swap the visible o-rings: Red means gas in, Green means beer out. Haven't made a mistake since.

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Re: Keg flow

Post by ratchet » Tue Nov 22, 2011 10:41 pm

chalmers wrote:Once I get my clammy hands on a keg, I swap the visible o-rings: Red means gas in, Green means beer out. Haven't made a mistake since.

Of course, this method only works if you aren't colourblind ;)

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