5l kegs (carbonation issues)

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Ben034

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Hi,

Really need some advice on force carbing a keg! Recently decided to get a couple of 5l (kegland mini kegs - 5l as per the picture). I brew in 10l batches so the size is perfect. The idea was to keg lagers and APAs and force carbonate and continue bottling other beers as usual.

I must be doing something wrong as I just cannot get the keg carbonated. I have a few questions.

These kegs are supposedly fine to have on their sides. I need this to fit it in a small fridge. Now, is there any reason you can't carbonate a keg on it's side? I have a check valve in the gas line. The keg has a silicone flexible dip tube so should be sitting on the bottom.

I'm using 16g gas bulbs for now. Initially I thought I had overfilled the keg but in desperation opened it up and it's still got quite a bit of headspace. I'm perhaps being impatient, but I left it 48 hours at 10psi, fridge 3c, and I appreciate that it may not have been fully carbonated, but I couldn't get anything out. There was a really loud whirring and "glugging" noise, the regulator needle dropped to zero and the gas bulb went ice cold and frozen. I've done this a few times now and can't understand what's going on and just wasting these 60p bulbs time and again. When I connect the regulator, I can hear a gas noise and a bubbling noise in the keg whilst i turn the pressure up to 10psi.

I read that these 5l kegs should be carbonated in a few days with the set and forget method. Any thoughts? Hoping I'm doing something obviously wrong.

Thanks
 

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Image of the type of keg
 

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Also, even if the beer were not carbonated yet, shouldn't the gas push beer out? Does it sound like it's blocked?
 
Ok, sorry - think I may have got it working finally! Since I opened the top and cleared the dip tube it seems to be working. I can only assume there must have been a blockage. It's still very loud when pouring. Is this related to the check valve possibly?
 

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