Help with keg pressures

[Beer-lord]

I recently had lots of hoppage blocking my tube. Cleared it out and it worked fine. I've also had bad poppets and keep a supply on hand for that as well.
If you try different picnic taps, does that change anything?

[BigPapaG]

They are replacement poppets inside the in and out posts for the disconnects. The universal ones are a tall spring and sometimes are too long to depress enough to dispense beer or co2 when the disconnects are attached to the posts. They often need to be trimmed to fit better.

^^^^^ Might be this... ^^^^^

Remember, you said the LHBS refurbishes them...

So, maybe they did use the universals and maybe the person doing it hasn't used them on your style posts... So even though they 'fit', they have trouble working...

I find they work fine as is in a pin lock post...

On the other style, they are a little too tall in the spring... Usualy need to clip a coil or two off the spring to get it to seal just right and open just right.

The connector you are using also has a spring in it behind the pin that pushes down the poppet.

If the poppet spring is too tall, there will be too much force pushing against the pin in the connector for the connector spring to handle, hence the poppet only opens part way when the connector is attached...

Fine for the gas side, not so for the liquid side as it reduces flow which changes the whole hose diameter, flow rate deal...

Just my thoughts... Or it could be a clog in the post or dip tube...

[ScrewyBrewer]

Another place to look is the o-ring on the gas in post, check to make sure it's not worn out.

[Kealia]

Jim, any update? Is your beer pouring better now?

[JimH]

I cranked the pressure up to about 14. It pours great! However, my other kegs are way too foamy. I am working on finishing off one keg, and am still thinking of transferring the beer to that keg so I can take the suspect keg apart and investigate if there are issues with the posts or internal parts.

[FedoraDave]

Have you spoken to anyone at your LHBS about it? Just to get more input? Not to take anything away from The Borg, because that's what this forum is all about, and there are many knowledgable people here, but I find that very often, it's more helpful for me to talk one-on-one in person with someone, rather than read about it and get a variety of suggestions.

Just a thought, and one more option for you to maybe pursue.

[Dawg LB Steve]

You said changing taps and lines didn't make a difference other than pressure? One thing popped into mind, didn't look back over responses but is the tubing on this particular keg thicker or thinner walled than the others?

[JimH]

Dave: I have not yet spoken to the LHBS yet, I was thinking of taking the keg down there to ask for help with it. Someone suggested the poppets could be the problem, since I am still learning I figured if that was the problem maybe the guys down there could help me fix it, maybe they made a mistake putting it together and will be willing to help fix it.

Steve: are you referring to the beer line? All that is exactly the same. If you are referring to the tube on the inside, I do not know.

[ScrewyBrewer]

I know what a headache it can be getting your pours just right and I've had my share of them believe me. For me it turned out to be a bad beer line disconnect, even though it didn't look bad inside even after I cleaned it. I simply bought a new black beer disconnect, hooked it up and the foaming stopped. As a result my pours are now perfect, and I set 'n forget force carbonate all the kegs at the same serving pressure used to pour my beer.

Sometimes having to invest $12 to replace the beer out post and $6 for a new beer disconnect is worth it to avoid the headaches. You did force carbonate both kegs the same way Jim right? The kegs have the same level of carbonation too?

[Dawg LB Steve]

Yep talking about the clear tubing beer line. Just something that came to mind.

[JimH]

Everything with all three kegs is pretty much the same. I just have the one regulator, so everything is carbed at the serving pressure.

I have now finished off the third keg and it is currently empty, cleaned, and sanitized.

Is it a good idea to transfer the low carb beer to the empty keg so I can troubleshoot it from the inside out? I have another beer ready to keg, but I could transfer the beer, investigate and repair, and then keg the new beer. Or I can just suffer through this until the keg is empty, but it probably has over 4 gallons in it (I haven't drank a lot of it since kegging since I have been waiting on the carbonation level to increase).

[Dawg LB Steve]

If you do a keg to keg (this will definitely implicate or rule out the keg in question), after you purge the keg w/CO2 go from post out on full to post out on empty this way you are filling from the bottom up. When you start filling set at maybe 4 or 5 lbs just to push it, with the lid secured, open the vent so the liquid can push the CO out. Just another thought I had, you said it was a Chocolate Stout, possibility that the fat from the chocolate is messing with the perceived carbonation?

[JimH]

I thought about the chocolate, but since it seems better now at a higher pressure, I am not sure that is it. Plus, now that I have thought about it more, the first beer I put in that keg had the same issues. I just chalked that up to being new to kegging. But now that I have 3 kegs and experience I figure it has to be something with the keg.

[John Sand]

I agree that the best method of keg to keg transfer is connecting the two out posts. But I don't have the hardware, only one of my lines unscrews. I recently transferred from a 5 to a 2.5 using a picnic tap. First I filled the empty keg with CO2, then vented the pressure from the full keg. Sanitized the tap and line exterior, lowered the now open picnic tap to the bottom of the empty keg. Pressure the full one low, maybe 2 psi, the beer flows in slowly, like filling a growler. Seal and pressurize. No trouble followed.

[JimH]

OK, I used a ball lock to ball lock 'jumper' to transfer the beer. I took apart the keg and found something interesting, but I don't know if it is the problem.

Here is a picture of the working keg I cleaned earlier (not shown, dip tube):

working keg (1).JPG (60.62 KiB) Viewed 1831 times

And here is the non-working keg:

non working keg.JPG (59.76 KiB) Viewed 1831 times

It looks like the non working keg has a shorter poppet, the same size as the gas 'in' poppet. The working keg has a longer poppet in the 'out' line.

Is this it?