Keg pressure problem! Help please!

[Will B]

Grateful for help please!! I have been making the Festival 'Golden Stag' summer ale fine in my old keg (which had no pressure valve). I have used a new keg with a pressure valve on top this time (attached). Secondary fermentation 10 days after initial fermentation
fermentation- as per normal not sure of hydrometer but have never had issues in past).


About 10 days after kegging thought I'd test a bit of the brew - but beer exploded out of keg!! No probs with old keg - following exactly same recipe. Beer tastes fine once it calms down- just waiting to clear.

Please can someone tell me how to solve issue without depressurise keg too much. The keg is for a party and the beer will all be drunk on same day so I guess I cld just depressurise on day but loathe to so as beer will get progressively flat!

Any help gratefully received! Photo of keg attached...

Will

 

[tigertim]

I think the valve is probably unrelated - the only function it could perform would be to release pressure, which is the opposite of the problem you have.

I suspect either the old pressure barrel may have a tiny leak which is allowing pressure to escape, limiting the maximum pressure, or there are somehow more fermentables in the beer, despite having followed the same recipe.

I must admit, I suspect the former - my experience with pressure barrels is that they can be great, but they do need regular maintenance in terms of seal cleaning and lubricating to ensure pressure-tightness.

To reduce pressure in your new keg without venting, you could put the keg in the fridge prior to serving. The lower the temperature, the lower the pressure and more CO2 will dissolve into the beer. You might not want to serve the beer at a fridge temperature of 4C, but even if you only lower the keg to cellar temperature around 12C, the pressure should drop enough to reduce foaming. In reality, a bit of careful venting on the day should be OK. If the beer is all getting drunk on the same day, it's unlikely it'll go unpleasantly flat within a few hours.