Corny Keg Carbing Help

[Perrin_Abara]

Recently built a kegarator and have begged my first batch this evening, setting my regulator to 13psi. When checking it a couple of hours later it had creeped down to 0. Is this just a case of beer absorbing the Co2 or may I have a leak somewhere?

 

[xozzx]

The beer will absorb the CO2, check for leaks then leave it at the set pressure for a couple of weeks to carbonate the beer.

 

[Perrin_Abara]

I don't think I have any leaks but should the gauge on the regulator be going down after a couple of hours?

 

[xozzx]

Are you leaving the gas turned on? If not then the gas will be absorbed and the pressure will drop off.

 

[Perrin_Abara]

no, the gas remains open.

 

[xozzx]

Are you backing off the regulator after setting the pressure? A regulator should set a pressure (so here 13psi) and will hold the outlet at this pressure once set even if there is a leak (that is how you end up emptying the cylinder as it will maintain 13psi in the keg until no gas left). So if you set the pressure to 13psi and leave it then it should continue showing 13 psi until the cylinder is empty. Sounds like either you are backing the regulator off, closing the cylinder valve or you have a faulty regulator.

 

[Perrin_Abara]

I’ve kegged, attached the gas disconnect, turned on the cylinder, set to 13 psi and left, came back and it was at 0 so I set it to 13 psi again.
Can you explain the “backing off”?

 

[xozzx]

Sounds strange, what regulator are you using? Is it a large CO2 cylinder (6.5kg ish) or sodastream?
By backing off I mean after you turn the regulator dial clockwise to reach 13psi do you leave it or you turn it back (counterclockwise)?

 

[Perrin_Abara]

I leave it? Is that my mistake?

 

[Perrin_Abara]

 

[xozzx]

I leave it? Is that my mistake?

Nope, you should be leaving it set. Im not sure what is wrong here as even if there is a leak it should continue to show 13psi.

Try removing the CO2 disconnect from the keg and leaving the pressure set to 13psi, see if any change overnight. This would mean only the line between the regulator and CO2 disconnect is pressurised.

 

[Perrin_Abara]

If it has gone down when I go to bed I’ll try that. If it goes down overnight are we diagnosing a faulty regulator ?

 

[xozzx]

It is a good regulator that one so I would be surprised if its broken, but Im not sure what else could be the issue.

Just had another thought but do you know if the CO2 cylinder has a dip tube? If it does then it will be drawing up liquid CO2 from the bottom which maybe causing issues at the regulator.

 

[Perrin_Abara]

So, thank you for your help. I set the gauge to 15psi last night and it hasn’t budged come this morning and neither has the bottle pressure. So it appears I may have jumped the gun a bit.

All is appears well in the world of corny kegging