Slow Pouring and Flat Beer at High Pressure

Beer shouldn’t pour out slow at 14 psi unless you have a really long beer line. How long is your beer line? There might be a correlation between the slow pour and the lack of carbonation. Either a clog or a leak. You said you checked for leaks and the keg is holding pressure but maybe check again. Also, disconnect the keg from the CO2 and let it sit for a day or two and see it still hold pressure. Maybe the leak is in the line or connection before the keg. I had a leak with the CO2 line into the keg. Keg held pressure but I burnt through the CO2 fast. Beer carbonated fine but did waste A lot of CO2

 

How full is the keg? Do you think you might have filled up and beyond the co2 inlet?

also, is the beer dry hopped? Could be clogged with hop residue.

 

Given the pressures, times, and temperature from your post, I'm not at all surprised the beer would be undercarbonated. However...

How slow? And how long is your beer line?

 

Yikes. There are four possibilities I can think of:
- a clog somewhere between your liquid dip tube and the faucet
- a CO2 leak somewhere between your regulator and your gas dip tube, or in the keg lid - spray everything with starsan or a liquid soap solution and look for bubbles
- a regulator low-pressure-side shutoff is closed
- a seriously malfunctioning low pressure gauge - do you have another gauge or another regulator to test this?

 

With 14psi and 5 ft you should pour 12 ounces in about 4 seconds. Starting at the CO2 tank and working forward here are some troubleshooting tips:

Re-check tank master valve fully open and shutoff valve on reg open. It wouldn't hurt to give them a cycle or two, maybe tap the gauge with handle of screwdriver (THUMP, THUMP). If this passes . . .

. . . set 14psi and remove the QD from gas post. With your finger tip, depress the pin inside the QD (what would depress the gas poppet) . . . you should get a long consistent HIIIIISSSS, noticeable and constant pressure should be felt. If this passes ...

,,,pressurize keg at 14 and remove QD. Pull your PRV and you should get a loud but brief PFFtttt. You have never heard this before but use a little imagination. If this passes . . .

. . . Set 14psi with reg shutoff valve closed, reconnect gas QD, then open shutoff valve. If keg is near full there should be a loud but brief WHOoosh as CO2 enters the keg , can hear it across the room. If this passes . . .

...leave keg pressurized at 14 and remove liquid QD. With tip of screwdriver gently depress the liquid poppet. Beer should come out fast enough to hit the ceiling (really), although it normally finds my face with enough force to swear out loud (AW SHIT). If this passes . . .

. . . then problem is with faucet, which has no sound effects . . . but report back.

 

Are you using a standard narrow-ish neck carboy? If so, you could use a stainless steel autosiphon filter, like the kind made by Utah Biodiesal, around the "in" end of your siphon or autosiphon. If you're using something like a big mouth bubbler (with a wide opening), you could put the hops in a stainless hop cage or a hop bag to dry hop.

 

Yes, you want to reduce hop debris as much as possible. All that junk will settle to the bottom of the keg and it will endlessly clog your dip tube and poppet too.
Every time you handle the keg the debris is stirred up again, and it starts all over.

Try to reduce solids as much as you can. Dry hop with a mesh bag. Use finings. Gelatin will clear your beer crazy bright. Gelatin is great if you can let the beer cold condition. But mostly don't transfer solids to your Corny keg in the first place.

Also 5' of choker is probably a bit short. This is what they give you often but 6 or even 7 feet will make your life easier.

Cheers

 

Been there . . . done that . . .



You are pretty much screwed which ever way you turn. Yes, siphoning to another keg would introduce way too much oxygen. Only if you drink it all in less than a week could you pull this off. There is no way to put that screen on your diptube (unless you reach your hand down into keg . . . now you have oxygen and forearm-grit to deal with). If you keep removing the diptube/poppet and re-cleaning at some point you'll get all the debris. But that would let in oxygen every time and frustration level would peg the meter.

Your best bet is to insert a shortened diptube. Pretty sure you don't have one but could remove the current diptube and take a sawzall to it. An inch or two should do it.