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Kegging, no beer out of Keg

Beer Lover

Grandmaster Brewer
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Nov 3, 2014
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Here is my problem. It's a unusual situation. I forced carb and was drawing beers from the keg with no problem. Then I opened the keg because of a minor issue. I returned the keg to servicing PSI( 8-10 psi). Now the beer comes out very slow. Very slow. I feel there's a air gap issue or a vacuum issue. But where and how to fix?  Any ideas?
 
a couple years after getting in to the kegging game, i feel like it's a sense you'll develop over time.  tricky little buggers.

-if you don't have a spray bottle for starsan, pick one up.  spray the keg and look for bubbles.  this will point out the leak if there is one.  your leak is probably on the lid as you mentioned.  it almost definitely isn't on the beer line, or you'd have a mess on your hands.  it could be on the gas line.  make sure every point that connects is tightened with a wrench and/or has a hose clamp really tightly applied.

-your co2 tank might be low or empty.  this can happen pretty quickly with a slow leak.  my first few months of kegging i was going through co2 way faster than i should have been... then i eventually found all my leaks and things are much better.

-if you can't get the leak to seal back up, you'll need some replacement o-rings and possibly some keg lube.  i like to keep all this in stock because a leak is never conveniently timed.

good luck and let us know how it goes.
 
Thanks jroots for the reply.
I figured out the problem. The very slow flow problem occurred right after I opened the keg. So I thought the problem was air in one of the lines. I tried to kick up the PSI. Had the same problem. I was going to put the beer in growlers. The keg was still half full. That's a lot of beer to put in growlers. I pulled the gas post and dip tube I found a lot of trub that was blocking the flow. Cleaned the gas post, poppet and dip tube. Tested and the flow was normal.
 
aaah nice.  thanks for the summary... i haven't had that particular problem yet but i'm sure it'll happen eventually.  hopefully my practice of cold crash/lagering minimizes my risk by dropping trub out of solution before kegging.  i've heard some folks like to lager in the keg, which i was thinking would be a good thing to try, but now i think i'll stick with what i've been doing.  CHEERS!
 
When I get a keg that is new to me, I always reach my hand down in there and with one hand bend the pick up tube slightly to create a 1/2 inch or better gap from the bottom of the keg. This helps leave the sediment, be it yeast (hopefully) or trub ( should be none left by now) undisturbed on the bottom of the keg. Remember these kegs were built  for soda syrup and the pickup design didn't need to account for any sediment to be left on bottom. I lose about 1/3 of a glass and am happy to have clear beer as a trade off. If you have performed all your other brewing procedures properly you should have removed all trub prior to kegging.  There should be nothing but a fine layer of  yeast packed onto the bottom of your keg.
Until you have achieved trub free kegged brews, raising the pick up tube will help even more to ensure nothing can be sucked into your draft system which would require a flush soak and clean of all connecters fittings and tubing if it did. If you dry hop in the keg, use a fine mesh bag for the hops.
 
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