co2 regulator

ninja_geeze · Oct 2, 2017

Ok so just got my kegerator all setup,pours a great pint using 5 foot of the small 3/16 beer line using 8psi of co2 pressure .
temp set at 4c for the current lager .
one issue is that when ive poured a couple of pints the co2 pressure is dropping on the reg and not climbing back to 8psi unless i turn the adjuster up a bit and than back it off to 8psi again.
is my regulator faulty ? or am i a missing something,i was lead to believe using it this way as long as i have beer in the keg and gas in the bottle (Full) it was just that this is what i am trying to achieve.

peebee · Oct 3, 2017

Your regulator is fine. You not missing anything.

But your expectations are well out of sync!

8PSI is about on the edge of what most regulators will hold to. They have a "piston in cylinder" type of design and at the lower end of their scale just get sticky when trying to respond to small pressure changes. Not for nothing did "keg" get such a bad name, the pressure has to be laid on way too heavy to get any consistency out of the naff regulators. Us home-brewers make matters worse by going for cheap single-stage "welders" regulators.

Your options are: Lay on the pressure and get used to much belching, beer going up your nose and a glass of something that looks like it came out of a "pop" bottle. Or, fork out for a dual-stage regulator which should operate a bit better at lower pressure. Or, fix your current regulator to push out 3-4BAR and use its output to feed "secondary" regulators. Not all "secondary" regulators are any better than using the "primary" as it is. I use these: http://www.shako-online-sales.com/frl/regulators/miniature-regulator-nr200-01-nr200-02. They use a diaphragm design which is a lot less sticky, but the diaphragm is very small and they're not perfect (cheap though).

ninja_geeze · Oct 3, 2017

peebee said:
Your regulator is fine. You not missing anything.

But your expectations are well out of sync!

8PSI is about on the edge of what most regulators will hold to. They have a "piston in cylinder" type of design and at the lower end of their scale just get sticky when trying to respond to small pressure changes. Not for nothing did "keg" get such a bad name, the pressure has to be laid on way too heavy to get any consistency out of the naff regulators. Us home-brewers make matters worse by going for cheap single-stage "welders" regulators.

Your options are: Lay on the pressure and get used to much belching, beer going up your nose and a glass of something that looks like it came out of a "pop" bottle. Or, fork out for a dual-stage regulator which should operate a bit better at lower pressure. Or, fix your current regulator to push out 3-4BAR and use its output to feed "secondary" regulators. Not all "secondary" regulators are any better than using the "primary" as it is. I use these: http://www.shako-online-sales.com/frl/regulators/miniature-regulator-nr200-01-nr200-02. They use a diaphragm design which is a lot less sticky, but the diaphragm is very small and they're not perfect (cheap though).

ok cheers. the mini regulator you left a link for ,do i put this on the co2 line after my current reg and the whack up the pressure on the first reg and then set the psi with the new one ?:-?

peebee · Oct 3, 2017

ninja_geeze said:
ok cheers. the mini regulator you left a link for ,do i put this on the co2 line after my current reg and the whack up the pressure on the first reg and then set the psi with the new one ?:-?

Yeap. The mini-regulator will take an input of no more than 10 BAR (or was it 16?). So you keep the current one, set to about 3-4 BAR, upstream of the mini one (current one becomes your "primary" regulator).

It's more or less what a "dual-stage" regulator does in a single package, but having separate "secondary" regulators is cheaper and a whole lot more flexible as you can have multiple "secondaries" set at different pressures (but also adds more to get confused about - ah well).

You have to add your own connectors to that linked regulator so as to fix it all up - not difficult, but adds about 4-5 quid (EBay). You chose the regulator with 1/8 or 1/4 BSP threads to match the fittings you want to add. Don't forget to add a gauge (they are cheap to buy with the reg.).

peebee · Oct 3, 2017

peebee said:
... You have to add your own connectors to that linked regulator so as to fix it all up - not difficult, ...

This is what I meant about "fittings". The blue ones (1/8 thread) are what I use because I switched to 6mm tubing for CO2. The black ones (1/4 thread) do for the rigid 3/8" stuff. I get all mine from "context-pneumatic-supplies-cpm" on EBay.

(EDIT: The blue one pictured is actually 1/4" BSP threaded, you can get both sizes, just to give a sense of scale).