yet ANOTHER co2 leak thread. haha

[orange_black]

Hi everyone. Im new to the Kegerator family. Just bought a used one off my buddy.

However, I've come to find that it has a leak. I did the soapy water test and indeed found bubbles forming on the top of the coupler.

with the coupler in the tapped position, the leak (or bubbles anyways) seem to be coming from the top of the coupler body, at the interface between the couple body and the probe. So i looked at the washers but they seem to be good.

1. How do you know a washer is bad?

2. help me fix my leak! lol

thanks

[orange_black]

perhaps this is a case where i might need to just buy a new coupler?

[cubby_swans]

Take it completely apart to make sure all the parts are there, and in good shape. Click on the 'replacement parts' tab on this link...

http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-...pid-7485E.html

Luckily, couplers aren't terribly expensive.

http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-...rs-cid-49.html

[orange_black]

I will try to take it apart tonight.

However, I will admit... over the weekend i had managed to take most of the coupler pieces off.... HOWEVER.... i did not see an easy way to remove the probe from the coupler body.

any hints before i dive in head first?

[orange_black]

so... after a few weeks and alot of forum reading... (lol)... i finally went out and bought a nice 1/6 keg of Sam Adam's boston lager.

good beer. But i seem to always get about 1/2 foam and 1/2 beer in my pours.

my setup:

1/6 sam adams
3/16 id x 8' beer line.
"water in a glass kept in fridge on top of the keg" temp is about 34 degrees
co2 pressure is set at 17 psi.
im in Albuquerque... about 5300' elevation

the beer line is new... so cleaning should not be an issue.

I also rigged a blower up into my tower. I saw a guy that used a plastic box with a computer fan in it blowing through a tube that runs up into the tower. I did the same thing.

any thoughts?

thanks

[beerlver]

Not sure how elevation will play into it...I am not a scientist, however it seems to me that you may have your psi too high. I set mine for no more than 11psi. Try adjusting that, then purge some air out of you keg wait a bit and try another pour.

[orange_black]

Well from everything i read....

the co2 volume for sam adams is about 2.5

at a tempertaure of 34... the co2 pressure is about 11 or 12

add 2 psi for "tap push" pressure or whatever its called...

add another 2 psi for the elevation... and i get to 15 or 16 psi.

i guess i added 1 more psi cuz id rather have my beer a little over carbonated as opposed to foamy.

maybe im wrong here... anyone?

[cubby_swans]

I use this link to determine pressure.

Maintaining Draft Beer Equilibrium

2.5 v/co2 product at 34 requires 9-10 PSI. Then add 2lbs for elevation, and I'd add 1 for push pressure instead of 2.

So that comes out to 12-13 instead of 17.


The temperature of the glass of water is 34, but you need to know the temperature of the beer in the glass. Pour half a beer, chug, pour a beer and take the temp of that beer with a calibrated thermomter. You may find you're off by a couple of degrees.

Is the beer coming out foamy initially, then pouring clear?

Or is it pouring clear and foaming as it hits the glass?

[orange_black]

I will redo my pressure tonight at about... 13 psi and see what happens.

it seems like the beer is coming out foamy and then gets really clear.

I'll do the "chug-n-check" temperature reading tonight.

back to the foamy-then-clear thingie.... i read that this is a sign of warm beer in the beer line....

thats why i installed my cooling fan setup as described. and i definitely noticed that the tower got alot colder to the touch since i set up the fan.

thanks for the replies!

[cubby_swans]

Is your tower insulated at all?

You can alleviate some of the foam by snapping open the faucet for a second, and snapping it shut. Then just chug or dump the bit of foam in the glass, and then pour a beer. When you pour beer on top of foam, it just makes more foam.

[orange_black]

Is your tower insulated at all?

You can alleviate some of the foam by snapping open the faucet for a second, and snapping it shut. Then just chug or dump the bit of foam in the glass, and then pour a beer. When you pour beer on top of foam, it just makes more foam.

ok that makes alot of sense. I didnt know beer + foam = more foam.

my tower has about.. 1/8" or cork insulation. I've been contemplating put a 1" diameter (or something) pvc pipe down the tower and infilling between the pvc and tower with expanding foam or something to get some more insulation.

ever heard of something like that?

or am I just dreaming?

[orange_black]

also forgot to mention.

i did the chuck-n-check thing and WOW... my thermostat was reading like 28

so needless to say, i turned the temperature thingie way up. cant do much until i get home from work today.

[cubby_swans]

Wow. At that temp and that PSI setting, you're probably overcarbonated quite a bit. If your beer pours aren't too terrible, I'd probably not worry about bleeding any pressure off of it, and let it balance itself out as you drink the beer.

[orange_black]

too late, cubby, i let out the pressure last night and set it to 13.

also changed the thermostat setting.

couldnt really "check" anything this morning... wouldnt want to show up for work with beer on my breath.

[orange_black]

by the way... this is a used kegeerator i bought from my buddy for 300 bucks. Its a Beer Meister.

everything I've seen online is that that's a pretty good kegerator

[cubby_swans]

As long as it gets cold enough (and yours clearly does), it's good in my book.

[orange_black]

so over the past few days... ive depressurized my system. I've now got it to be fairly steady at 13 psi.

I've also adjusted the temperature.... so a chuck-n-check reads right at about 37 degrees.

heres my problem. every time i pour a beer, i get a "burst" of foam... then an air pocket... then steady foam..... then eventually the beer clears up. But by that time, my pint is full of foam.

I"ll usually drink my "half pint" of beer in 15 -20 mins... go for another pour... same thing.

thoughts? I cant figure out how the air pocket is getting into my system.

[orange_black]

check that.... i just rechecked the math....

at 37 degrees, and 2.6 volume of co2.... i should have 12psi + 2 psi elevation +1 psi push .....

=15 psi. I'll redo my pressure and report back.

[orange_black]

and one more silly question.... ive done alot of reading on this forum and i keep seeing "calibrated thermometer"

what exactly is that, where can i get one locally.... walmart? home depot?

thanks!

[Woodsy Pete]

and one more silly question.... ive done alot of reading on this forum and i keep seeing "calibrated thermometer"

what exactly is that, where can i get one locally.... walmart? home depot?

thanks!

You can calibrate the one you have. Make a large slurry of ice and water and stick you thermometer into it. It should read 32 degrees, take note of any more or less and take that into consideration when taking readings.

[orange_black]

You can calibrate the one you have. Make a large slurry of ice and water and stick you thermometer into it. It should read 32 degrees, take note of any more or less and take that into consideration when taking readings.

thanks woodsy... i guess its that simple i shoulda thought of it.

thanks

btw.... woodsy... i was reading through one of your threads the other day. You had mentioned (i think) that you used vinyl tubing from a hardware store for your beer line. Did that cause you any problems?

thanks!

[Woodsy Pete]

btw.... woodsy... i was reading through one of your threads the other day. You had mentioned (i think) that you used vinyl tubing from a hardware store for your beer line. Did that cause you any problems?

thanks!

Nope, not I. The only tubing I used from the hardware store was the 1.5" tower cooling tube that's inside the 3" PVC shell. My beerline was stock danby 5' that came with the kegerator.

[cubby_swans]

Hardware store tubing + beer = bad

See, it's a proven mathematical equation. Don't do it.

[draft only]

I run sam adams lager through 3 differnt kegerators and after sitting a while they all tend to foam when first poured.

I have learned to keep a 'slop glass' next to the faucet, and do 2 or 3 quick pulls of the faucet handle into it to clear the foam. Then it pours with little foam. Any other glass filled at the same time has little foam.

Once the keg has set a while, I need to use 'slop glass' every time.

-draft only

[orange_black]

I run sam adams lager through 3 differnt kegerators and after sitting a while they all tend to foam when first poured.

I have learned to keep a 'slop glass' next to the faucet, and do 2 or 3 quick pulls of the faucet handle into it to clear the foam. Then it pours with little foam. Any other glass filled at the same time has little foam.

Once the keg has set a while, I need to use 'slop glass' every time.

-draft only

that sounds exactly like whats happening to mine. I just installed 10 feet of new 3/16 tubing last night (real beer line, not hardware store lol).... and the flow seems to be pretty good... BUT... that first pull is ALL FOAM.

I hate to think that unless im chugging beers one after another, i'll have to "slop glass" it every time i want another beer. man that sucks.

one thing i did notice.... as soon as i pull the handle, there will be a "plurt" of foam... still getting that damn air pocket. any idea?