They came with my kegs from Kegco but I think they’re limiting the beer’s CO2 intake. I’m going to swap them out for traditional ones today to see if they make a difference.
I have been plagued by poor carbonation and I have tried everything else.
Submitted 1 year ago by smellhound@lemmy.world to homebrewing@sopuli.xyz
They came with my kegs from Kegco but I think they’re limiting the beer’s CO2 intake. I’m going to swap them out for traditional ones today to see if they make a difference.
I have been plagued by poor carbonation and I have tried everything else.
I have fixed up several different kinds of kegs over the years and whilst I can’t say for certain I have seen these posts (need more pictures to better ascertain) I would be surprised if they are limiting the flow of CO2 into the keg. I do find that sometimes these kinds of post poppets (where they are held in place in the keg post by 3 feet) can be stiffer than the universal kind (which comprise of just the poppet and a spring and aren’t held in place by anything) which can require some more fiddly placement of the quick disconnects. A cheaper fix for the posts would be to swap out the poppets for the universal kind (which retail around $2 USD as opposed to new posts which are more in the $15-$20 range USD).
When you say you have tried everything else, can you describe your carbonating process and the things you have tried?
It’s so interesting, the poppets don’t come out like normal ones with the springs (though I could probably force them out). I just bought new ones, entirely, so we’ll see if those do the trick.
I have replaced the pressure regulator, checked the lines and the attachments for leaks. I still get some pressure in the keg but the beer is severely under-carbonated. This has happened on numerous beers.
I have tried setting to the correct carb pressure and leaving it for 2 weeks, force carbing via the shaking method and the 3-2-1 method where you set the carbonation at triple, drop it to double and then to serving carbonation over three days and I’ve had these issues with all of them.
I don’t quickly run out of CO2 (which I figure I would if there was a leak and this happens on both of my kegs (which both have these types of posts).
My next step if the posts don’t fix it will to be trying a diffusion stone but I feel like I shouldn’t have to.
To get the poppets out just takes a bit of force. I usually use a screwdriver from on top to direct the force and hit it gently with a mallet. The poppet comes right out.
Out of interest what temperature is the beer at? Also is this keg the only one you have trouble with? i.e. are you able to carb other beers fine in a different keg?
Regardless, changing the keg posts will probably do the trick.
baggyspandex@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I agree that we need to know more about your carb troubles. 9 times out of 10 it’s a leak somewhere in the system that causes issues.