kegerator not dispensing?

[bigdave]

Hi all. Having not used my kegerator since last summer I've just taken delivery of a 30l ecokeg of lager. When I connected the keg it fobbed but no more than you'd expect from a room temperature keg of carbonated lager. Having left the keg in the kegorator for 2 or 3 hours I went to draw a pint but nothing came out. I disconnected the coupler, reconnected it.. still nothing. Disconnected it again and left it for an hour. When I reconnected the coupler it began to dispense (happy days) but this lunch time I've gone back to the kegorator and once again nothing is coming out!?

Can anyone offer any advice on why / how this is happening? The kegorator is set to 2.5º and the reg is at 40psi

[Fil]

I assume its a sankey type keg, if so double check the couplers co2 feed especially the duckbill 1 way valve is the right way round, the co2 pressure could be stopped at this point and the contained pressure could easily have been absorbed by the chill..

Disconnect from the keg before checking!!!

[bigdave]

That's all fine.

I'm wondering if the beer line is too long? If I up the pressure to 50psi is fobs but as soon as I drop it down it stops pouring.

[Fil]

off the top of my head with a serving temp of 2.5c you shouldnt need much more than 10 psi to retain condition and serve?? ( for a highly conditioned very fizzy lager) tho i would double check that in the kegging chart sticky..

to balance off 10 psi of keg pressure a 5-6ft length of 3/16" micro line should be sufficient, as it has a pressure reducing effect of circa 1-2psi per foot length, closer to 1psi for the first foot and getting closer to 2 psi by about 8ft iirc??

3/8" 'standard' beerline shouldnt have much restricting effect until its over 10m in length again going from memory,

how much line is between the tap and keg ? and what dimension is it??

its begining to smell like kinked or blocked beerline??

[Fil]

Eko-Keg?? is this the keg where the pressure is between the keg wall and a beer containing bladder?? so you can use compressed air to serve?? could the pressure be so hi its pressing the bladder over the beer out route blocking it??

[simon12]

Or could a blockage have got into the line?

[Kev888]

I'm wondering if the beer line is too long? If I up the pressure to 50psi is fobs but as soon as I drop it down it stops pouring.

I'd thought the max pressure for these things was 40psi? Unless you know better, watch out for yourself.

Either way though, that should be enough pressure for a very long 3/8" line (my python used to be 8m long and was fine at about 10psi or so), and it should even be okay with a respectable length of 3/16" line.

Could there be a poor fit or some incompatibility between the keg spear and your keg coupler? e.g. the coupler not depressing fully when you engage it, or a type D coupler on a type S spear.

[bryan_r]

I had a similar thing a couple of months ago with a corny, and with perfect timing it was when we were having a party - it stopped flowing once the night before, was ok again the next morning, then stopped for good during the party.

Fortunately I had a spare party tap and long enough beer line that I could replace it and keep the beer flowing...

I dismantled the tap and the disconnect and gave them all a through soaking & cleaning, and flushed the beer line through, and since I put it all back together again it's been fine. I can only assume it was some bit of crap (hop debris, maybe) that was blocking somewhere.

[matthuds]

I have had this a could of times with KeyKegs that I have kept in my kegerator.
My fridge holds cornys and bottles at 3-6c but when I started putting KeyKegs in there with big metal connectors I found the pour would foam, trickle or stop altogether.
Several times I have disconnected the keg to find small ice crystals blocking the connector. Soaking the connector in warm water and sanatising before reconnecting fixes it short term...long term I guess keeping kegs at cellar not fridge temp is the best solution.

Matt