When I first started kegging, I was averaging 5 or so kegs from my 5lb tank. My methods for force carbing and serving have always been the same. Force carb @ 30psi to 2 days, turn off gas, purge, turn gas back on and set to serving pressure. Over the last 6 months or so I have only been getting 2 1/2 to 3 kegs per cylinder. I have leak checked my kegs, and they seem to be fine. I have had kegs leak before, but they usually get drained in a day or so. I am thinking it may be the regulator. I have this one: http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/regulator/twoproduct/premium_double_gauge_5422.html This thing has been a PITA to me since day one. The adjustment knob have always been hard to turn, almost impossible if you have any sort of moisture on your hands (which when kegging is almost always a given.) Its gotten to the point that I have to use a rubber jar opener when adjusting. I friend of mine has the single style version of the same regulator and his also leaked. The vendor he purchased it from told him to take it apart, when he did, it was full of metal shavings and caused it to leak. Whats everyones thoughts one this. Anyone have the same experience? Thinking of buying this as a replacement for Father's Day: http://www.amazon.com/Taprite-Product-Pressure-Kegerator-Regulator/dp/B0060NOX40 Thanks, Joe
I'm pretty sure you have a leak. I force carb, and get many kegs through a 5lb tank (I haven't counted) but it's probably in the rough range of 12ish. Serving pressure @ 12psi.
I can't help you with your leak, per se. However, I have the Taprite you're looking at and it has given me zero issues.
Get some soap water or some StarSan on your connections. Start with the regulator to the CO2 tank and work your way slowly down all of the lines. Turn everything around, front to back, upside down, etc. and make sure you aren't losing gas somewhere. Edit: When I ran a 5# tank, I got like 6 kegs per tank. I didn't do much purging back then and ran at about 14 or 15 PSI.
Set a pressure, say 10 PSI. Turn off the valves on the out put side. Turn off the tank valve. If the pressure goes down, even after a few days, you have a leak in the regulator. Check for leaks around the regulator. Tighten every thing. I had a leaky regulator, fixed it doing this.
I have not yet leak checked the regulator, but have leak checked fittings and kegs and found nothing. That's why I suspect the regulator
What @hopfenunmaltz says: To speed things up, set 40+ psi and close your tank master valve and reg shut-offs. Let it set for two days and see what happens. The high pressure will speed things up and if it's leaking you get a louder hissssss and it'll "spit" the starsan solution farther. Also, when you find a leak, don't automatically assume it's the only one.
I had thought about saying crank it up. As I said tighten everything. The one I had issues with had several that were suspect. The OP may want to get a new gasket washer for the reg to tank fitting, those can be an issue sometimes. Edit - check to see that the hose is on tight - those can leak too at either end.
Are you sure it's glued? It looks similar to the one on a Micromatic regulator, and those sort of snap into place, even though they look like they are non-removable at first glance.
Typically yes. Usually they are nylon, but you'll see fiber sometimes. Some are advertised as "never-needs-replacing" but you can guess how that works out. With care they can be re-used but don't be shy about replacing, that's cheap insurance. Buy a six-pack and rest easy. A good practice after re-fitting the reg is to crank up the pressure to 40'ish and squirt some starsan on the connection. Then shut off the tank master valve and wait at least overnight to see if it holds pressure.
Bringing this one back. Everything has been situation normal for the last month until just now. I went to start carbing my dunkelwizen and the gauge keeps slowly creeping up. I usually set at 30 psi, I checked after 10 minutes and it shot up to 50! Crazy part.....when I turn the gas off at that CO2 line, the gauge rockets up again and pins itself all the way at the end. Thinking there maybe metal shavings in the bladder. Thoughts?
Do you think it is the gauge? It was working just fine 20 minutes before. Only disconnected the keg jsut before to clean and fill it again. Was reading fine with the other keg line attached.
If it pegs off-scale with no pressure applied, then yes . . . you have a gauge problem. Everything was just fine on board the Hindenburg just twenty minutes before it crashed.
