Flat carbonated beer?

[Graz]

Do you know I'm experiencing something similar. I made a Festival German Weiss that I started to carbonate but then my cylinder ran out. It had a day of burst carbing at 40 psi and then maybe a day or two at serving pressure (about 25 psi for this style) before it conked out. I wasn't able to get a new cylinder for a while so it sat there for a few weeks. When I did get a new cylinder I had it at 25 psi for a good few days.

Now whenever I turn the gas on to it it takes a good initial burst from the cylinder and pours fast with a decent head but it dissipates really quickly and doesn't seem anywhere near as carbonated as it should be. I can't find any leaks, sprayed everything with soapy water, and the stuff in my other two kegs is fine. It's most odd.

I've made this kit before now as well and it was a real pain to pour at this carbonation level but had the lovely fluffy white head and decent carbonation you'd expect from a Weiss.

I did have another beer a while back that whilst carbonated had zero head retention. I just put down to the kit which wasn't the greatest anyway (St,. Peter's Honey Porter). Now got me thinking if it was in the same keg Got a few bottles of it left which were primed / naturally carbonated, must try one of them to see if it's the same or not.

 

[nordberg]

Can I chime in here as I'm new to kegging (on third keg now) and I've yet to be satisfied with my pours..

Similar to the OP, my beer comes out quickly and often frothy, but there's never any carbonation in the beer itself. A few moments after pouring, the head is gone and there's no sign of carbonation whatsoever.

I'm using 5L Kegland mini-kegs and an ODL reg. I've tried various pressures and the "set and forget" method to no avail. Also tried the rocking the keg whilst connected to the CO2 at 20psi, no dice.

Interesting to read the suggestion of forcing the carb down the beer out valve. I'm going to give that a go, and see if it makes any odds...

Very frustrating as my bottled beer has always been perfectly carbonated. I was hoping that kegging would raise my game...

 

[Braufather]

Will be interesting to see how your bottles turn out. I too started with a burst of 40 for a couple of days as I was going on hold and didn’t want to leave it connected. Set it at 25 when I came back a ninth back.

 

[phildo79]

Will be interesting to see how your bottles turn out. I too started with a burst of 40 for a couple of days as I was going on hold and didn’t want to leave it connected. Set it at 25 when I came back a ninth back.

Why did you not want to leave it connected? Surely this would have been the better option. Set it to the correct psi to achieve your desired carbonation level and it would be ready when you got home (or possibly not in this case as there seems to be something wrong).

 

[Braufather]

Why did you not want to leave it connected? Surely this would have been the better option. Set it to the correct psi to achieve your desired carbonation level and it would be ready when you got home (or possibly not in this case as there seems to be something wrong).

that’s what I normally do, I only disconnect if I’m going to be away for a week or two.

 

[phildo79]

that’s what I normally do, I only disconnect if I’m going to be away for a week or two.

Because of a potential leak?

 

[crowcrow]

Do you know I'm experiencing something similar. I made a Festival German Weiss that I started to carbonate but then my cylinder ran out. It had a day of burst carbing at 40 psi and then maybe a day or two at serving pressure (about 25 psi for this style) before it conked out. I wasn't able to get a new cylinder for a while so it sat there for a few weeks. When I did get a new cylinder I had it at 25 psi for a good few days.

Now whenever I turn the gas on to it it takes a good initial burst from the cylinder and pours fast with a decent head but it dissipates really quickly and doesn't seem anywhere near as carbonated as it should be. I can't find any leaks, sprayed everything with soapy water, and the stuff in my other two kegs is fine. It's most odd.

I've made this kit before now as well and it was a real pain to pour at this carbonation level but had the lovely fluffy white head and decent carbonation you'd expect from a Weiss.

I did have another beer a while back that whilst carbonated had zero head retention. I just put down to the kit which wasn't the greatest anyway (St,. Peter's Honey Porter). Now got me thinking if it was in the same keg Got a few bottles of it left which were primed / naturally carbonated, must try one of them to see if it's the same or not.

Serving pressure of 25 psi? What diameter beer line do you use and how long is the line?
I have about 2 meters of the thin line and have my (nice and very fizzy) lager and APA at about 7psi. It pours slowly *but* you don't lose the fizz. Pushing it through the pipes too fast and too high a pressure will get you a good head but it will go flat fast in the glass. When I pour my beer nice and slow I don't even have a head (unless I jiggle the glass and pour directly onto the beer) but that keeps the bubbles in the beer so I can enjoy it when I drink.

If you are getting a lot of head even when pouring into an angled glass you pressure is likely too high.
I burst carb at 40psi while is rock my keg for 50 rocks, then dial down to 10psi over night, then drop back to about 7ish to serve. I generally turn the gas off and just pop it on when drinking.

 

[phildo79]

Might have a possible reason why your beer isn't carbonated. I have an IPA that has been on the gas for almost two weeks and it isn't carbed properly. I took the disconnect off and heard a continuous hiss coming out of it. Something has failed inside, probably the o ring. My beer has some carbonation but nowhere near the amount it should. I can only think the disconnect is to blame.

 

[Braufather]

Might have a possible reason why your beer isn't carbonated. I have an IPA that has been on the gas for almost two weeks and it isn't carbed properly. I took the disconnect off and heard a continuous hiss coming out of it. Something has failed inside, probably the o ring. My beer has some carbonation but nowhere near the amount it should. I can only think the disconnect is to blame.

is your regulator showing normal presure?

with mine it seemed a bit more carbonated last weekend and then on Wednesday it wasfully carbonated. But only about 3 pints left before it kicked. So didn’t carb for 2 months then carbed very quickly when little beer left to carbonate. Still a mystery. My other beer currently on tap is fine.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

The issue described by @phildo79 is a possibility maybe? If the dip-tube o-ring is split it may allow CO2 in the head-space of the keg to escape straight out through your beer line when you open the tap. You’d probably have foam and seemingly lots of pressure. You might also see CO2 bubbles in the beer line.

 

[phildo79]

is your regulator showing normal presure?

with mine it seemed a bit more carbonated last weekend and then on Wednesday it wasfully carbonated. But only about 3 pints left before it kicked. So didn’t carb for 2 months then carbed very quickly when little beer left to carbonate. Still a mystery. My other beer currently on tap is fine.

Yeah, the reg stayed at a constant 12 psi. I hope I haven't wasted a bunch of co2 but better off finding out ASAP that the disconnect has failed. It's weird, I had a black disconnect fail on me recently but only discovered it last week.

 

[Braufather]

The issue described by @phildo79 is a possibility maybe? If the dip-tube o-ring is split it may allow CO2 in the head-space of the keg to escape straight out through your beer line when you open the tap. You’d probably have foam and seemingly lots of pressure. You might also see CO2 bubbles in the beer line.

Confusing thing for me is I wasn't losing any pressure. I’d left it disconnected from co2 for periods and the presure remained the same.