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Beer coming out of spigot even with CO2 disconnected

Kegging
#1

I am brand new to kegging. I kegged my beer last weekend and set the gauge to 20PSI for a week. The beer is carbonated great. When I turned down the pressure for serving (~7PSI), beer came out of the spigot without evening pressing the button to dispense (I used a picnic dispenser). Any idea what the problem would be?

I tried dispensing for the other keg I have. I kegged the beer 30 minutes prior and the same thing happened with an independent dispenser. I’m sure it is user error, but what am I doing wrong?

#2

Not sure if I’m understanding but a pressurized keg (a keg filled with carbonated beer) will still dispense even if the gas is not connected because that beer is under pressure and there is pressure in the headspace in the keg. You could probably dispense a number of beers w/o gas being applied because of that pressure but eventually the pressure would fade and you would need to reconnect the gas. Is this a picnic tap? Is the tap in the locked-open position? Hmm… not sure if I’m getting this right.

#3

Is the picnic tap lever in the “up” locked open position and pouring beer out?

Or is the beer just trickling out?

#4

[quote=“Nighthawk”]Is the picnic tap lever in the “up” locked open position and pouring beer out?

Or is the beer just trickling out?[/quote]
Yeah, I envisioned that at the end of my post. I’ve connected a cobra tap to a keg when the tap was locked open. Many, many times. Then I try desperately to close it while beer is being launched across the room and hilarity ensues! :o

#5

I don’t know if I would call it hilarity, I never find myself laughing while cleaing beer off the wall. A few times I have connected the beer line after cleaning the picnic tap and having forgot to replace the top of the tap all together. When you do that beer shoots in two directions.

#6

You’re right, it’s not funny. Not only are you making a mess but you’re wasting beer and probably giving your wife/gf/so something to wag her finger about. It’s unreal that I have done this so many times and continue to do it. Luckily I don’t use a cobra tap much anymore except to bottle, which is rare. I wonder if we’ve answered the OP’s question! :expressionless:

#7

Whew! Glad you posted that.
I was afraid I was the only one who did that. (and yes…multiple times…oysh :oops: )

#8

[quote=“prelude06”]I am brand new to kegging. I kegged my beer last weekend and set the gauge to 20PSI for a week. The beer is carbonated great. When I turned down the pressure for serving (~7PSI), beer came out of the spigot without evening pressing the button to dispense (I used a picnic dispenser). Any idea what the problem would be?

I tried dispensing for the other keg I have. I kegged the beer 30 minutes prior and the same thing happened with an independent dispenser. I’m sure it is user error, but what am I doing wrong?[/quote]
I think Ken is right and the pressure in the keg was pushing beer out of the line. I recently hooked up my keg to 30psi to carbonate quickly with the beer line/picnic tap installed and come back 2 days later to an almost empty keg and beer all over my garage floor. From now on, beer lines only get installed when I’m serving.

Also, as Ken said, the keg will still have 20psi of pressure after you take the gas line off. If you’re going to serve, you will want to vent the excess pressure off through the relief valve (ball lock) or through the gas in post (pin lock).

#9

Ok, so I purge the keg of any additional CO2. Then I hook up my cobra tap. Even when I just hook it up beer still comes out (a small leak). When I turn my gas on, it comes out as if I was opening the valve to dispense. It won’t stop dispesnsing until I release my ball lock valve and remove the hose (even after I turn the CO2 off as as well). Like I said, I’m sure its a minor problem, but I just can’t figure it out. The last time I hooked it up to have a beer it worked fine, I just can’t pin point what, if anything, I did differently. Any experiences would be appreciated! Cheers

#10

Can you post a pic of the picnic tap?

#11

A pic would be great but also tell us where it’s leaking from. You have keg, quick-disconnect, tubing, spigot. Where is the beer coming from? Is it leaking between the tubing and something that the tubing is supposed to be fastened to? Is it coming out of the spigot? Is it coming out closer to the keg?

#12

I’m thinking the spigot based on the initial post… “beer came out of the spigot without evening pressing the button to dispense (I used a picnic dispenser)”. Cheers!!!

#13

Could the tap be loose? When I first tapped my keg, I didn’t realize that the top of the picnic tap unscrews for cleaning (I suppose). Since it wasn’t tight, the stopper that closes off the dispensing hole wasn’t fully seated and allowed beer to spray all over.

#14

MVsawyer, that may be the case. I will try screwing them down when I get home. I didn’t realize they came apart in the fashion. The beer is coming from the actual cobra tap spigot, where it would normally dispense. Even when I’m not dispensing beer, it is still dispensing as a small stream. I think MVSawyer may have found the answer though. I was unaware they came apart.

#15

Hooray!

#16

make sure your picnic tap is screwed together tight.

#17

I learned that the hard way a couple of weeks ago. Had my very first keg carbed and ready to go. I was so excited I took my new picnic tap and line assembly out of the package and hooked it up without checking it. I proudly poured my first beer and brought it up to show my wife. A couple hours later I brought the wife down to show off my handywork only to discover 3+ gallons of beer on the bottom of the freezer. Turns out the assembly on the picnic tap that connects to the keg wasn’t fully tightened. Lesson learned, at least the beer gods left some beer in the keg for me

#18

I learned that the hard way a couple of weeks ago. Had my very first keg carbed and ready to go. I was so excited I took my new picnic tap and line assembly out of the package and hooked it up without checking it. I proudly poured my first beer and brought it up to show my wife. A couple hours later I brought the wife down to show off my handywork only to discover 3+ gallons of beer on the bottom of the freezer. Turns out the assembly on the picnic tap that connects to the keg wasn’t fully tightened. Lesson learned, at least the beer gods left some beer in the keg for me[/quote]

man that sucks, but this is something different your picnic tap comes apart.

#19

I had this happen with my sanitizer while cleaning my new used corny, read the this forum thread, and screwed the end on tight. Thanks!

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