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New kegerator woes, advice appreciated!

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  • New kegerator woes, advice appreciated!

    So ive been reading, and gathering knowledge from this forum for a couple weeks now......been applying it, and im still running into trouble. I guess you could say im a noob, although ive had a diy kegerator a decade ago, and used to home brew with buddies then. But back then i of course had different equipment/setup, ( a full sized fridge etc). What im currently working with is a pre-fab keg kit you would pick up from a box store, tower, lines, etc all included. Its 450.00 unit originally, which by today's standard is **** by todays standard, but nonetheless, i got a crazy deal on it, and thought how bad can it be? Well, nothing like what i had before. In fact ive never had problems like this with my previous setup. Currently im pouring a 46 degree first glass (foam), 41 degree 2nd, 3rd @ 39.5, 4th @ 39, 5th +6th @ 38! Since ive had for about a month now, ive ran new beer line @ 5ft which was brew shop recommended, put on a new faucet, new regulator, temp controller, and have a 4 fan setup, daisy chained together for good air flow, (i know, fan overkill, maybe....lol). The cabinet is tight, not a ton of room on the sides, so 2 fans sit above keg, by front door, blowing down the door and back through the sides, other fan is on comp hump, blowing up through cold plate, 4th blows the air from the bottom fan toward the 2 in front. So heres where it gets weirder. Im currently at 29.8 degrees w/7 degree CD. (Worried about freezing another keg, which currently is rolling rock, for testing purposes). Im still averaging the above temps, as ive been running the gambit of settings. At my current setting, my cycle is 7 min on, 24 min off, not good, i know. But my lowest setting can only be a .5 cd swing. Ive dropped my co2 to 8 psi, because every glass is mostly foam, the best being 2/3 foam, but beer taste good, carb decent. I keep my lines and system clean with starsan every keg via pump coupler etc. Currently my sensor is attached to a can of miller lite, on the comp hump, can facing away from cold plate, but still in front of it. Having it immersed in 12oz liquid yielded nothing better than 40degree at best, and long cycles. I had it initially mounted to the top on frdge, right before door opening, and that caused frequent cycling, and froze 1/4 left of a tecate keg, which ruined it, but i did have temp set around 27-28 with .5 cd. What could be causing such an unstable setup? I feel like im close, but getting anything but 3/4 foam a pour is frustrating, even when it does finally hit 38......but when a new keg is hooked up, it pours great for a day.....Any help fellas would be appreciated, and im runnin the gambit here figuring this out! Thanks!

  • #2
    *side note, cooler air temp is in mid 30s between cycle, and about 32.4 after its finished. Yes i realise light lagers etc freez at about 28 degrees, with alcohol content varying this, but am i just better off mounting the probe on top of the unit, near the middle or side, and getting a better cycling rate? My current temp sensor is a poniie, and everytime compressor kicks on, it raises a couple degrees then drops as cold plate chills up, on the flip, when it hits target temp it shuts off, and temp continues to fall for a few minutes, to roughly a degree and half from target, then rises from there. Seal on door is great, no obstructions or leaking. Thank you to anyone who reads through these details and can help. ....

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    • #3
      Too many fans, you don't need to make a weather system in there. You also need a tower cooler which is what everyone needs if they don't have one. Your multiple temps from the faucet give that away right off the bat. A tower cooler is all the circulation you need, assuming you are getting goof flow back down the tower. Also trying to balance at 32 is nearly impossible, you need to be at least 34 degrees liquid temp, second pour, using a calibrated thermometer. Air temp means nothing.
      What I have: Haier two tap, 525 faucets, tower cooler, 10' lines

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