HELP WITH CARBINATION ON KEGS

[PunkInDrublic]

I cant seem to get my kegs to carbonate after serveral weeks? ANy ideas? one is a blonde ale, My temp is 38, CO2 13PSI, and beer is still flat???? It has a little cabination but not much?

[BDawg]

38F and 13 psi should fully carb your keg in 1 week even if you never shake it.

Are you sure there is pressure getting into the keg?
Is it possible that the connector or your poppet valve is somehow blocked? Try isolating the problem one step at a time.
Start at your CO2 tank, and ensure there is CO2. Turn the bottom valve on the guages so gas flows out to the connector.
Check the gas connector, and manually push the stem in so a little gas should flow out and make a noise.
Check your poppet valve on your keg by pushing on it with a screwdriver. It should move freely, and you should get a nice hissing sound as gas escapes.
Empty out all the CO2 from the keg through the relief valve.
When you hook the gas connector back up to the keg, you should hear it flow in. When it equalizes, you should be good to go.

HTH-

[PunkInDrublic]

yes it is getting CO2 in the kegs ( I have it set up to 2 kegs, both have minimul carbination), is it possible i have a bad CO2? Is that even possible?

[Weenie Boy]

Just thinking that maybe the gauge on the set up is not calibrated.
A thought.

Weenie Boy

[TheTodd]

yes it is getting CO2 in the kegs ( I have it set up to 2 kegs, both have minimul carbination), is it possible i have a bad CO2? Is that even possible?

If you mean "bad CO2" as something wrong with the actual gas, I've never heard of such a thing. If you've followed all of Bdawg's suggestions and know for a fact that the CO2 canister is providing gas to the keg, I would next suspect that your regulator or thermometer (or both) are giving false readings. Even if the temperature is higher that you think, though, the kegs should be fully carbonated by now. Try increasing the CO2 pressure by 3-5psi for a couple of days. If your carbonation level improves, it most likely means that your regulator gauge is off.

[EagleDude]

Are you leaving your CO2 on 24/7 or are you just pressurizing and then turning it off?

If the latter, it will take a long time to get enough CO2 into suspension. In addition, there may be a slow leak that relieves the pressure before the CO2 gets pushed into the beer. You can check for leaks by turning up your CO2 pressure and spraying all the connections with a starsan solution (look for bubbles) or just turn on the CO2 tank and when it is empty in a couple of days you know the cause (not recommended).

[Jbug]

I know everyone has already said it but check every thing again!... The first time I kegged, I wasn't getting gas to the keg. After inspecting every thing I noticed I was missing the needle that pushes the valve down on the poppet... It was a simple fix but kinda hard to spot... It was the needle under the spring in the gas hook up...

[BDawg]

I agree with what Weenie, Todd, Eagle, and Jbug have all suggested.

Constant gas pressure, connected and flowing all the time, at 13 psi will EASILY carbonate a corny keg in a week (though the bubbles and head seem tighter and just overall better after 2 weeks IMHO).

If that is happening, then either you have a mechanical problem where the pin cannot push the poppet in to let the gas flow into the keg, or the pressure readings are low and so you are in fact carbonating but it is at such a low pressure that it still seems flat.

This zymurgy article is a SUPERB one on everything kegging related.
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/a ... How-To.pdf