Would you like a flake with that?

[wrapped in bacon]

Hi Guys n Girls,

Absolutely loving this brewing
I can't believe I've now produced 3 out of 3 very tasty brews. I hasten to add this has been the feed back from many rather than my own biased opinion!

My third brew was decanted into my cornie and 8 bottles
The bottles are currently fermenting
I did bulk condition this ale so wacked the suggested CO2 psi on the cornie, which seems to have produced a sensible 'fizz' - not too much or too little

OK, my problem - when trying to serve my beer from the cornie I turned the gas off, vented the pressure from the cornie, applied 4 psi to serve (following guidelines I've read) but the gas was escaping from the lid. Crank the pressure up a little at a time until the lid seals - far too much pressure to pour a pint. So I vent again but not completely - just enough to force beer out. No matter what I try I always end up with a third of a pint beer and two thirds head.

I have people coming round tomorrow evening and I'm in danger of looking like a berk!

Seriously though how do I solve the problem? Do I need new lid 'o' rings? A different approach? A different dispensing tap (currently have the small plastic tap on the end of a clear plastic tube)?

Your assistance would be very much appreciated

 

[carl_saint]

Vent the keg, take the lid off carefully and apply Vaseline around the rubber seal. Put the lid back on and gas up to 3-4 psi for serving.

You also need a good length of beer line between your tap and the keg. The longer the line, the easier it is to get the pour right!

 

[wrapped in bacon]

Excellent - I'll give your suggestions a whirl :thumb:
What sort of length are you suggesting? Are we talking a couple of feet or a couple of yards - or longer still?

 

[ScottM]

I use 6ft of 3/16" for 11psi lager and it works a treat :)

 

[Dave1970]

Some 3/16" line is the key. I have one of the little party taps with about 5ft of 3/16". It's served 20psi weissbeer ok as well as 10 psi ales. Might pour a bit slow at lower pressures but better a 30 second pint than a pint of froth. This setup doesn't seem to be tempramental at all, even changes in temp have very little effect.

 

[wrapped in bacon]

:party:
Cheers guys - I'll grab some 3/16th line and give it a whirl

 

[Fil]

in addition to sound advice above i found some of my kegs seal with the lid round one way better than the other, so if the keg is not behaving try the lid round the other way if it behaves better mark both keg n lid for future reference,

keeping the keg/beer cool also helps retain co2 in the beer standing in a bowl of ice will chill the beer at the keg bottom.

the theory i picked up from my own reaserch is that to help the beer stay conditioned you want to avoid sharp changes in both temp and pressure at release(tap to glass).

standard beerline 3/8" and 5/16" have nominal restrictive properties over short lengths, while the 3/16" line restricts pressure between 1-2psi per foot length

So serving into chilled glasses and balancing the keg pressure with a suitable length of thin line for the serving pressure should sort you out. if you sort out the lid 1-2ft of 3/16th line should provide the correct resistance to balance out the 3-4psi in the keg while pouring within a reasonable time:)

 

[Vossy1]

As per fils advice re turning the lid around you can also move it slightly in position to see if it seals. if the legs of the lid are worn they may need bending inwards to apply a little more pressure, alternatively you can put a 5p under each foot and then lock into place, that'll give you more sealing pressure.

 

[PD]

unless you live in Yorkshire. If so use 2p

 

[wrapped in bacon]

unless you live in Yorkshire. If so use 2p

:lol:

I do live in Yorkshire - so it will be cut-outs from electric back boxes rather than using real money! :rofl: