dispensing kegged beer

guest · Post by **guest** » Monday May 23, 2005 7:01 pm

i am fairly new to the process so any help will be appreciated... I gas the beer at around 310 kpa for a few(sometimes up to a week) days.. then when i turn it down to have a drink i release the pressure to around 70.. then if i keep it at 70 the keg may start to lose its gas after a few glasses... and i have to turn up the gas up.... so everytime ihave a drink i have to drop the pressure then put it back up.. isn't it a waste of gas?

is there a better way of doing it? interested on how people do it.. the HBS guy here told me to keep it around 120 after keeping it at 310 for a few days.. then i don't need to touch it.. but won't that make beer pour everywhere?

any suggestions will be appreicated.

thanks

grabman · Post by **grabman** » Monday May 23, 2005 7:11 pm

I gas my kegs at around 200kpa for three days, chill keg first to help with gas absorbtion.

Then I drop pressure to 100kpa and away I go.

Couple of things to think about:

how long is line from keg to tap? My HBS suggested about 1.5m was way to go, I coil excess around keg to keep it tidy;
is tap above keg? It has been suggested that will help stop drop in pressure and prevent heady beer;
if you are losing pressure in the system test all joints for a gas leak by slowly pouring soapy water over them, if it bubbles you have a leak.

Antsvb · Post by **Antsvb** » Tuesday May 24, 2005 10:11 pm

Woah,

My pouring pressure is only ever around 10 or 20kpa. Gas at 270 odd for 48 hours (once chilled).

Am I unusual?

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Wednesday May 25, 2005 2:56 am

You know,

I am just dying to help but I can't get my head asound a kpa. I use about 10-12 psi over a 4 foot, 3/8 ID hose. Hope that means something

Dogger

grabman · Post by **grabman** » Wednesday May 25, 2005 9:29 am

Antsvb
What length beer line do you have, this makes a difference to pressure needed to get a good pour.

Dogger's 10-12 psi is around 70-80kpa, not far from my 100kpa, yet he uses a shorter beer line. As length of line increases pressure rises as well.

Grabman

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Wednesday May 25, 2005 9:01 pm

Thanks Grab

I am actually running a bit high, should drop to about 8 psi

Dogger

grabman · Post by **grabman** » Wednesday May 25, 2005 9:55 pm

there is some fancy way of working out pressure at tap, given that you know length of line and pressure at keg, but stuffed if I can remember it.

I just know that for me with lines I have 100kpa is good! I did try with shorter line and was just pouring foam, damn waste it was!!!!

Don't forget that too low a pressure can also give too much head on the brew!

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Thursday May 26, 2005 2:24 am

Yeh,

I tuned mine based on how many seconds to pour an ounce. I too have forgotten. Should look that up and make sure I am still in line

Dogger

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thursday May 26, 2005 8:27 am

Dogger, I have mine at 10 psi with 18 in. of line and always get a good pour, nice head, good carb.

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Thursday May 26, 2005 8:35 am

Cheers Guest

Will bear it in mind

Dogger

Antsvb · Post by **Antsvb** » Thursday Jun 09, 2005 9:13 pm

Sorry guys, taken a while to get back to this topic.

To answer you question grab, I have about 1.1m of beer line from each keg. How does this sound now?

grabman · Post by **grabman** » Thursday Jun 09, 2005 9:20 pm

I'm no expert Antsvb, just know what works in my setup, however with 1.1m of line maybe try around 70-80kpa to dispense.

see how you go.

Antsvb · Post by **Antsvb** » Tuesday Jun 14, 2005 1:42 pm

Cheers grab.

Evo · Post by **Evo** » Tuesday Jun 14, 2005 2:51 pm

I'm with you Dogger on the whole kpa thang. Going back to the original question, our guest carbonates at 310kpa for a week. Much higher than the 210kpa for two days that I do. I see that would be a problem. I'm not really making sense of the "drop the pressure then put it back up". When you pour beer from your keg you are losing pressure (by losing that volume of beer), so it makes sense you will have to put more gas into it. This is more apparent when you have a new keg with little head space.

All this said, and I know there's a science to it all, I've never had a prob with carbonation or dispensing. If it's pouring slow I whack on more gas then take the fitting off. Or, if it's a party and the beer is a flowin, leave it on at about 10psi (70kpa ?).