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Author Topic: NO FLOW  (Read 17847 times)

Offline travjohn92

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NO FLOW
« on: July 28, 2012, 01:06:47 pm »
I have a new dual tap kegerator with a single gauge regulator split into two lines.  This is my first run with this set up and today I went to try it out as I had two corny kegs that are ready to go.  I am having problems with getting beer to flow from one of the kegs, all I get is a small trickle for a few seconds.  It may not fully be carbonated but has been at 12 psi for the last 7 days.  I have switched gas lines between the two kegs and have also flow lines to see if that works, and still nothing.  The keg is pressurized, hearing major release of gas when I press the relief valve and I hear it refilling with gas.  I am not hearing any leaks, but my assumption is there may be a small leak.  Is this a logical and correct assumption?

If it is a small leak can I replace the seals without ruining the batch?

Primary: Belgian Wheat IPA, Vlad the IPAler
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Offline tubercle

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Re: NO FLOW
« Reply #1 on: July 28, 2012, 02:22:25 pm »
Its soulds like the Poppit and/or dip tube is stopped up.

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Offline travjohn92

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Re: NO FLOW
« Reply #2 on: July 28, 2012, 02:26:24 pm »
If it is a clogged flow tube am I able to remove the flow tube, clear any possible debris, and reattach with no issues?  Will I lose any carbonation?  Will I need to recarbonate the batch?

DO I bleed off all pressure before removing?  Never encountered this before so I am making sure I go about it the right way.
« Last Edit: July 28, 2012, 02:29:06 pm by travjohn92 »
Primary: Belgian Wheat IPA, Vlad the IPAler
Secondary:  Iced Oatmeal Dunkelweizen
Kegged:  Baron Von IPWEIZEN, Dunkelweizen
Bottled: De Perverse Monnik Tripel
Next Up: Bog Nog Black IPA, Wake N Bake Clone, Breadbasket Wheat

Offline jeffy

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Re: NO FLOW
« Reply #3 on: July 28, 2012, 02:45:15 pm »
Yes, first relieve all the pressure, then unscrew the beer out fitting and remove the dip tube.  Clear that out, sanitize it again if you got it "dirty", reassemble and apply some CO2.  It'll be fine.
Jeff Gladish, Tampa (989.3, 175.1 Apparent Rennarian)
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Offline Jimmy K

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Re: NO FLOW
« Reply #4 on: July 28, 2012, 06:27:03 pm »
You'll loose a little carbonation, but that will recover just fine. If you have a LHBS near you, there is a long thin brush made for dip tubes. Otherwise, you could use the thin stream on a multi-spray garden hose sprayer.
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Offline travjohn92

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Re: NO FLOW
« Reply #5 on: July 28, 2012, 08:47:16 pm »
I removed the dip tube and the cleared the line.  I saw nothing in the line but cleared it anyway.  Hooked everything back up gave it a burst of CO2 and still nothing.  Just a trickle, a slow trickle at that.

Any other ideas?
Primary: Belgian Wheat IPA, Vlad the IPAler
Secondary:  Iced Oatmeal Dunkelweizen
Kegged:  Baron Von IPWEIZEN, Dunkelweizen
Bottled: De Perverse Monnik Tripel
Next Up: Bog Nog Black IPA, Wake N Bake Clone, Breadbasket Wheat

Offline Jimmy K

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Re: NO FLOW
« Reply #6 on: July 28, 2012, 09:33:52 pm »
Since you know the keg is pressurized, push down on the poppet with something sanitized. Beer should spray out (warning - do this outside and it might spray on your face). Assuming it does, then maybe the faucet is faulty or clogged.
 
If the keg is pressurized then beer should come out whether it is carbonated yet or not.
 
Other things to check - did you take the posts/poppets apart and clean them?  Is the post inside the disconnect that pushes the poppet down intact? Do you have the liquid disconnect on the liquid post? Is the disconnect fully seated on the poppet (I have one that is really tight).
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Offline travjohn92

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Re: NO FLOW
« Reply #7 on: July 28, 2012, 10:21:58 pm »
It is not the faucet because when I switched the in and out lines on the two kegs I got beer from the "good" keg to flow just fine from the faucet I had a trickle with.

The keg is pressurized, pushed on the poppet and got sprayed in the face (quite ok it tasted good)  ;D

Some of the terminology you are using I am unsure of.  Is the post the spring or is the post in the connector or something different?  I am sure I have the liquid connector (black) on the out and the gas (grey) on the in.

I have disconnected the connector and reattached it several times and it appears to be fully seated.

What will happen if I transfer the beer in this keg into another keg I have so I can trouble shoot this keg with no beer in it?  If I can do this I will make sure the keg I transfer in to will be cold.

Never had any issues with this keg before and have used it 4/5 times.  Never had any issues with any kegs before and have used them all 4/5 times or more.
Primary: Belgian Wheat IPA, Vlad the IPAler
Secondary:  Iced Oatmeal Dunkelweizen
Kegged:  Baron Von IPWEIZEN, Dunkelweizen
Bottled: De Perverse Monnik Tripel
Next Up: Bog Nog Black IPA, Wake N Bake Clone, Breadbasket Wheat

Offline tschmidlin

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Re: NO FLOW
« Reply #8 on: July 29, 2012, 12:34:34 am »
Ok, here are things it could be . . .

First, the post is the part on the keg that that connector gets attached to.

It could be the beer out (black) connector.  Since you switched that to the other keg and got beer out, it's not that.

It could be the dip tube, but you say you pulled that and cleaned it.  It may have immediately got clogged again though.  To test for sure, put the keg in a bucket and release the pressure, remove the beer out post but leave the dip tube in.  SLOWLY put pressure back on and see if beer flows out of the dip tube (this is why it is in the bucket).  If there is enough crud in the bottom of the keg it could be getting plugged up again.

Assuming beer flows freely, it could be the poppet.  Clean out the post and make sure that the poppet moves freely.  Since you pressed it down and got sprayed it might be fine, but it's worth checking again.

If it's none of those, then it might be the interface between the connector and the post.  I think the easiest way to check this is to swap the post/poppet from your good keg to the bad keg and see if that fixes the problem.  If the poppet is the wrong size for that keg/post then it may be that the spring in the connector is not strong enough to depress the spring in the poppet so you get no/slow beer.

I know you've said you've used this one before with no problems, but sometimes when you take kegs apart parts get swapped accidentally and that can lead to problems.
Tom Schmidlin

Offline Jimmy K

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Re: NO FLOW
« Reply #9 on: July 29, 2012, 03:42:33 pm »
I was mixing my terminology too.
 
If you look inside the bottom of the disconnect, there is a tiny post in the center that is connected to a valve. When you push the disconnect on, that pushes down on the poppet (on the keg post) and also gets pushed up to allow beer to flow through the disconnect. So there are two valves that must be opened for beer to flow - one in the keg post (the poppet) and one in the disconnect. One or both of them must not be opening. 
 
No reason you can't transfer the beer to another keg if you're careful. You'll probably loose a little carbonation, but that can be replaced.
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Offline morticaixavier

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Re: NO FLOW
« Reply #10 on: July 30, 2012, 08:52:34 am »
I had a problem with a keg clogging up the other day. I transfered a bit too much gunk into the keg and it would pour for a moment, maybe an ounce or so, then stop. I would dump presure, pull the dip tube clean everything out and put it back to get another ounce or so. Finally I too the bottom half of one of those little perforated steel tea balls, attached it to the bottom of the dip tube with a piece of grain bag and a rubber band and it worked from that point to the end of the keg. just a thought.
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Offline euge

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Re: NO FLOW
« Reply #11 on: July 30, 2012, 10:14:04 am »
I shortened my diptubes by a centimeter.  Used a pipe-cutter carefully. Zero problems with pulling any sediment up the tube.

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Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: NO FLOW
« Reply #12 on: July 30, 2012, 10:27:59 am »
I had a similar problem some time back. Look at the post and poppet when those are out. The bottom side might be packed full of hop particles. If you see anything, remove the poppet, clean it all out, sanitize, reassemble.

Now the beer is filtered through a nylon mesh bag when racking to keep the hop particles out.

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Offline morticaixavier

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Re: NO FLOW
« Reply #13 on: July 30, 2012, 11:01:01 am »
I had a similar problem some time back. Look at the post and poppet when those are out. The bottom side might be packed full of hop particles. If you see anything, remove the poppet, clean it all out, sanitize, reassemble.

Now the beer is filtered through a nylon mesh bag when racking to keep the hop particles out.

I am going to try this next time. I think my problem started when I stopped worrying about preventing hop pellet gunk from going in the fermenter so I was pulling alot more into the keg. THe yeast gunk, break material and other soft and squishy trub doesn't ussually cause this problem but the hop particles sure do.
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Offline travjohn92

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Re: NO FLOW
« Reply #14 on: July 30, 2012, 08:30:14 pm »
When I went back and looked at my notes I did a substantial amount of dryhopping and for some f&*kin reason I didn't use a bag.  I just threw them all in there for 10 days.  Everytime I have pulled the dip tube there were hop remnants.   Thanks for all the feedback guys!
Primary: Belgian Wheat IPA, Vlad the IPAler
Secondary:  Iced Oatmeal Dunkelweizen
Kegged:  Baron Von IPWEIZEN, Dunkelweizen
Bottled: De Perverse Monnik Tripel
Next Up: Bog Nog Black IPA, Wake N Bake Clone, Breadbasket Wheat