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Author Topic: Regulator Question  (Read 1760 times)

Offline zsmith87

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Regulator Question
« on: October 07, 2015, 01:23:33 pm »
Hi Guys,

New member here, been brewing for a little over a year now and just started kegging back in August. I kegged my third batch of beer last night when I realized today, I had an oversight in the carbonating process. I force-carbonated at 30 PSI for 2.5 minutes then proceeded to take the Co2 fitting off, lowered the pressure down to 12 PSI, reconnected the Co2 and the beer line, and put the keg back in the kegerator. At no point in this process did I pull the PRV at all. Today reading / hearing that not pulling the PRV and reconnecting the gas right away will cause beer to shoot back up into the regulator has me concerned that I may have destroyed my regulator. I have yet to get home from work to check it, but at this point is there anything I can do other then buy a new regulator?

Thanks.

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Regulator Question
« Reply #1 on: October 07, 2015, 01:31:13 pm »
The co2 in tube has to be below the beer to do that, otherwise just gas backwashes. Hence one more reason not to overfill kegs.

Offline zsmith87

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Re: Regulator Question
« Reply #2 on: October 07, 2015, 01:37:42 pm »
The co2 in tube has to be below the beer to do that, otherwise just gas backwashes. Hence one more reason not to overfill kegs.

It wasn't all the way full, but can't remember if the CO2 tube was in the beer or not. If it was and this did happen, is my regulator done for?

Offline Stevie

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Re: Regulator Question
« Reply #3 on: October 07, 2015, 01:37:46 pm »
+1 to Jim

Most regulators will have a check valve that helps to reduce the risk. The lines could get fouled, but the regulator should be good.

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Regulator Question
« Reply #4 on: October 07, 2015, 02:19:03 pm »
Pull the o2 line off the regulator and look. It it wet or gummy? Run a qtip in the fitting and see if its clean and dry. If so, you're fine.

Offline Frankenbrew

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Re: Regulator Question
« Reply #5 on: October 07, 2015, 05:39:30 pm »
Yeah, sometimes when you do a quick force carbonate, you get foam on top of the beer in the keg. So, even if you don't overfill, the foam from shaking the keg will get taken up in the CO2 tube. It's a good practice to let the beer settle down for a few hours, purge that excess CO2, and then connect the beer at serving temperature. Oh well, that's how we all learned.
Frank C.

And thereof comes the proverb: 'Blessing of your
heart, you brew good ale.'

Offline zsmith87

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Re: Regulator Question
« Reply #6 on: October 13, 2015, 07:41:38 am »
Thanks for the feedback. Ended up being fine. Typical reading one thing online and thinking I did it completely wrong.

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Regulator Question
« Reply #7 on: October 13, 2015, 09:49:32 am »
Good to hear