One kegs lid came loose and brand new tank down the drain. Hooked up on thursday, adjusted pressure on friday, gone saturday morning.
And of course it happened over friday night. So I wasn’t able to get more gas until today. Now I may have also lost an almost full keg of beer too. If not all three.
What can I use to keep the one keg seal better? Something around the house please.
That sucks. Its why I don’t leave my kegs hooked up generally. I will charge them with CO@, shake them and then unhook the tank. Do that a few days in a row and the keg’s ready.
You probably need take the posts apart and clean the poppets and all rubber orings. Its generally something messing with the seal on the poppet (the spring-loaded part of the post). Then replace and tighten properly (not over-tight you’ll squish out the oring). You need to get some keg lube, they might have a food-safe lube at the hardware store. Its kind of like petroleum jelly but I hesitate to tell you to use that because I don’t know if it is OK for orings.
I highly doubt that the beer is bad. If I were you, I wouldn’t even give that a thought. It’s only been a few days.
You can try to put pennies or dimes under the rubber feet of the keg lid. Some people have success with that on leaky kegs, but I’ve never been able to get them under there.
You could try to use 2 lid o-rings, but again I’ve never had luck with that.
Get yourself some keg lube. If you don’t have a LHBS near you, go to the hardware store plumbing section and get a little container of Danco grease/sealant. It is a litte gray container…should be about $3-$4.
EDIT It is a food grade sealant used for o-rings on liquid plumbing.
[quote=“HummelBrew”]I highly doubt that the beer is bad. If I were you, I would even give that a thought. It’s only been a few days.
You can try to put pennies or dimes under the rubber feet of the keg lid. Some people have success with that on leaky kegs, but I’ve never been able to get them under there.
You could try to use 2 lid o-rings, but again I’ve never had luck with that.
Get yourself some keg lube. If you don’t have a LHBS near you, go to the hardware store plumbing section and get a little container of Danco grease/sealant. It is a litte gray container…should be about $3-$4.
EDIT It is a food grade sealant used for o-rings on liquid plumbing.[/quote]
thanks. I will get some today.
+1 to the idea that the beer will be just fine.
+1 to the keg lube and the beer being fine.
If you continue to have issues getting this one keg to seal you might try one of these:
[quote=“Baratone Brewer”]+1 to the keg lube and the beer being fine.
If you continue to have issues getting this one keg to seal you might try one of these:
[/quote]
Thanks. I got some grease. and did the penny trick as well. hit it with 30psi. and I am going to then took it off the gas. going to check back in a few days, and check if it still holding the pressure.
The problem being. that it doesn’t leak at high pressure only when the pressure is lowered. Just going to cross my fingers, and hope for the best. Just don’t want to lose another $26 worth of gas in a night.
Bottle caps work well. They’re a little thinner, and the rim keeps them in place under the feet.
People keg without using lube? I thought it was a requirement!
Pick up a few o ring kits with your next order. I bought some on sale and have 15 sets sitting in a shelf just in case.
I have oring kits. I have had a problem this keg one time before. but just thought I didn’t have it set good from the get go.
I was wrong.
If you dont already, for spot sanitizing etc… Keep a spray bottle of star san around just for this purpose.
I check lids the day of sealing um up and the day after w/gas feed on of course—quick spray kewl no probs off you go.
I also check the posts the day of kegging and every time I disconnect a line—gas or draft line. simple cheap insurance policy.
It also might be a leak some where else and when the tank is gone the keg depressurizes. Been there bro so I know your pain. Now I always close the valve if I’m leaving it alone for a while. The beer should still be good prob not if you left it for a week or so.
Bottle caps work well. They’re a little thinner, and the rim keeps them in place under the feet.[/quote]
BRILLIANT idea! Surprised I never tried that before considering I always have more bottle caps in my house than I would coins!
You could probably use Starsan solution to find your leak, look for bubbles.
You can check your keg for leaks when its empty by pressurizing, but if theres beer it usually soaks up the gas the first time or two you pressurize and then take off the tank.
I have two tubes of keg lube, and I almost never use them unless I’m cleaning/rebuilding a post.
[quote=“tom sawyer”]You could probably use Starsan solution to find your leak, look for bubbles.
You can check your keg for leaks when its empty by pressurizing, but if theres beer it usually soaks up the gas the first time or two you pressurize and then take off the tank.
I have two tubes of keg lube, and I almost never use them unless I’m cleaning/rebuilding a post.[/quote]
I don’t use lube either. I picked up a couple of those fatter O-rings from William’s brewing a while back, they’ve been pretty reliable. Once in a while I won’t set the lid right and when I go to shake the keg with sanitizer in it, it leaks out of the lid. So I just have to make sure it’s attached correctly. The keg lube is messy and sticky…blah. Always hit the keg with 30 PSI until the gas sound stops, and vent a few pulls of the relief valve. I usually spray the lid a couple times to check for leaks.
