Excuse me as I am just starting to learn about my set up. For example, I am still trying to get an understanding of regulating the CO2. I have an Edgestar under counter triple tap kegerator (model KC7000SSTRIP). When I dial the CO2 up or down (the dial on the regulator), I barely notice the gauge changing. Even if I turn the dial a full turn and then come back an hour later, sometimes I don't notice that the PSI changes at all. The pressure stays right between 10-11 PSI. I'm a little hesitant to just crank the dial multiple turns and see what happens. Here was my experience with my first 4 kegs #1 (an APA) I think went well, but I was too ecstatic just to have it running, we drank through it quick. #2 (an APA) Beer was foamy the entire keg, all the way to the last 3-4 beers. Despite the PSI "only" being 10-11 #3 & #4 (I loaded 2 this time, an APA and a wheat) Just tapped, a few beers into both, but seems to be very foamy as well PROBLEMS: 1. PSI gauge doesn't seem to change despite turning the dial quite a bit 2. Beer seems to be very foamy, despite the gauge saying the PSI is on the low range for what I'm aiming for WHAT I'VE CHECKED: - I believe the CO2 tank is still full enough; I just tapped my 3rd 1/6 barrel keg. - The CO2 is fully open (turned handle all the way counter clockwise) - Temperature is set at 42 degrees - From the brewer of my favorite beer (the APA), I believe I want to experiment with PSI between 10-15 to see what tastes best - I'm researching other reasons for foamy beer, I'll address those issues as I can (i.e. getting the lines above the keg, cooling the tower, etc.) QUESTIONS: I wonder if this may be a regulator issue? Or is there something with the couplers? Or, is there something with lines, or other connectors that I should look at? I anticipate upgrading all of these parts eventually. Already upgraded the faucets (Perlick 630ss which are nice!). If needed, what are very nice upgrades for what may be the problem?
Plenty of threads here if you search through the forum for foam. In addition to a possibly bad regulator you need to get your arms around balancing your system. Dialing a pressure to 'see what tastes best' is a ridiculous piece of advice (as is getting the lines above the keg). The pressure doesn't effect taste, but has a big role in foam. The temperature of the beer, the volumes of CO2 it was packaged at and the pressure are related in a mathematical equation. None of it is based on guessing or randomly turning knobs. Beer temp is the temp of the liquid, not what you have the kegerator set at or an air temp reading. Your CO2 tank isn't empty if you don't have a leak based on that usage. In normal usage the tank will be full one day and empty the next. CO2 is a liquid and the tank gage is giving you the pressure of the gas above the liquid. It will stay at that value until the liquid has depleted and from there it will empty quickly.
Yes, there is a lot of information. A bit of a learning curve, but it's fun. One thing I did find, was I went ahead and really turned the dial multiple times. I feel dumb, but seems to fix one problem. It seems you really need to turn the dial a full 3-5 times to get the gauge to change ~1 PSI. I was expecting a more subtle effect and didn't know if this might be a problem. So, next step will be to continue to research how best to set my settings. I'm still reading some threads. I think I'm just trying to determine the most "important" thing or two to try first. Because otherwise, like with anything regarding troubleshooting, the more you do at once, the more likely you don't know what is cause and effect. And I find threads on recommendations on regulators. Probably the next thing to upgrade anyway.
3-5 turns on a regulator is not typical. You should be able to turn it and get the pressure to increase relatively quickly. If dropping the pressure, you need to vent the keg to get it to move. The most important thing or two is that temp / pressure / volumes of CO2 are related. If you don't address that first with accurate beer temperature readings and appropriate pressure settings from a force carbonation chart, nothing else will be of any value. A tower cooler will help with first beer foam, but until you are actually balanced it's worthless. You mention cooling the tower, but your model does have a tower cooler - although if it is like they show in the pictures and it doesn't deliver air to the shanks at the top of the tower, it needs work. Longer beer lines will help slow the flow of properly balanced beer. Also worth mentioning that anything you adjust will take time to settle in and show you a change. Think of it as stopping a train as opposed to a car. Most changes will take 12-24 hours to show a result, and as you suggest changing one thing at a time is the way to go at it. If you have gaps in your beer lines that is pointing directly at a balance issue - it is the CO2 breaking out of solution from either not enough pressure keeping it in, or over saturation. Very first step - get an accurate beer temp using a properly calibrated thermometer. Take a room temp glass, pour a beer. Immediately chug or pour off, and pour a second beer in the same glass. Take the temp of the liquid, not foam, and don't touch the sides of the glass.
When you turn the knob to increase the pressure, you should hear gas flowing into the keg. If you don't, the regulator is likely defective. If you do and the gauge doesn't change, then it's probably just a bad gauge. Based on my, admittedly, limited experience with my home system, the gauges fail far more often than the regulators. That's good, since a replacement gauge will only set you back $5-$10.
