I recently kegged 10 gal of a SN Celebration clone. However, over the last couple of days, the beer stopped flowing out of one of my kegs. Something was stuck in the liquid line, most likely hop residue. I cleaned out the beer line but that made no difference. I decided to attach the CO2 to the beer side to see if I could push whatever was there into the beer. Since my gas disconnect doesn’t attach to the liquid post, I vented the keg, removed and swapped the beer post with the gas one. Then attached the CO2.
I thought to myself: “I should put the beer post on the gas side” but thought “nah, it’s just going to be a little burst of CO2, what could possibly go wrong?”… Then right as I open the gas valve, I thought “maybe I should lower the pressure on the regulator, just to be safe”… then replied to my own thought with “nah, I’ll just open the valve a little bit”…
So without listening to my little voice of reason, I opened the CO2. Within half a second, a beer volcano shoots out of the other post, a full stream of beer splashes into the ceiling, 10 ft above. I killed the CO2 as soon as the beer flowed out but the keg continued to pour beer all over. I used my finger to cover the open post and stop the beer flow. I was then able to assess the “damage”. I was soaked, head to toe in beer. Walls, ceiling and floor, covered in beer. Kegerator covered in beer.
Thank goodness the kegerator is in the garage so cleanup was easy with a water hose. After sanitizing the posts and reattaching the right way, I tested the keg. Whatever was in the beer line was gone and beer happily poured out.
A very messy way to clear up a beer line but a man has to do what man has to do in order to salvage his beer.
Happy to hear all is well now. Cheers!!!