Curved Keg Lid - salvageable?

silentknyght · January 15, 2012, 5:37am

A keg I purchased from NB has a lid that’s a bit warped. With a well-lubricated o-ring, it still leaks. I have confirmed it’s the lid: I purchased a replacement lid, which does seal the same keg (without leaks, of course). The question I have is whether this lid is salvageable.

The oval-shaped lid bottom is slightly curved in a banana-like (but not banana-severity) shape: when placed on a flat surface, the top and bottom of the oval will touch the surface, but both sides do not touch the surface. I can push one side to touch the flat surface, however the other side worsens. If this description is insufficient, I can provide pictures.

Is there a way to flatten out the lid, or is it toast?

baratone_brewer · January 15, 2012, 10:12am

If purchased from NB it is guaranteed to hold pressure. If there was a problem with the lid they should replace it.
Is it bad enough that an oversized o-ring like this

won’t get it to seal?

silentknyght · January 15, 2012, 7:31pm

[quote=“Baratone Brewer”]If purchased from NB it is guaranteed to hold pressure. If there was a problem with the lid they should replace it.
Is it bad enough that an oversized o-ring like this

won’t get it to seal?[/quote]

I have it ordered, already. It’s my only hope, I think.

It held pressure when I purchased it from NB, but I think that might have just been an unusual circumstance with the old, syrup-caked o-ring. It’s been a while–it was purchased as a stand-by keg–and I no longer have the receipt.

jon_h · January 17, 2012, 7:27pm

If the over sized seal doesn’t do the trick than I see no reason not to drink a 6’er of homebrew and give it some tuff love with a rubber mallet. Set it on the ground and beat it till it wants to hold a seal, you got nothing to lose trying to flatten it?

dobe12 · January 17, 2012, 7:29pm

+1

jon_h · January 18, 2012, 5:22am

I thought of another way to flatten this baby out without drinking beer and beating it with a mallet. You could set it up underneath something immovable, not sure what that something may be for you, for me its my mother-in-law. Really though, set it up under something that more or less cant move and maneuver a car jack so that it puts pressure only on the center of the lid, jack it up until it flattens out. Maybe a couple 1/16" flat and thin pieces of metal could be placed under each end of the lid, you know how metal is, you gotta take it a tad bit past the point to reach the desired result. Can you tell that I will do anything to save a buck? A new lid is damn expensive these days!

gruneun · January 18, 2012, 3:35pm

I had one (not from NB) that had the same problem you’re describing. I was able to bring the lid within acceptable tolerances using a ball peen hammer on flat concrete, working around the edges of the entire lid (not the center). Once I had the lid and new o-ring back on the keg, I turned the gas on, sprayed StarSan around the seal and tapped the opening of the keg where I saw bubbles. It doesn’t take much force, just light taps, and you want to make sure you’re contacting straight down.

Once I have them working reliably, I also mark the lids and kegs with a unique number and orientation, so I don’t lose my mind when I’m cleaning and filling multiple kegs.