So, I had been “away” from my kegerator for quite some time. I basically had slowed way down on my beer production and consumption. The other day a friend was coming over, so I wanted him to try some of my past brews.
Of the 5 tap handles, 2 were completely empty. I swore that I left a decent amount in each leg, so I was perplexed. I opened it up… And those kegs had leaked out 100% and the kegerator had a flood inside!
I am not sure where the leak came from. I have a hard time believing that they leaked out the side/bottom, so they must have leaked out of the ball lock post? They weren’t even at a very high pressure, maybe 10psi max.
This happened to me once, on a nitro stout. I assumed since the psi for nitro is considerably higher, that it was too much over time and the spring inside the post or the tubing interface just couldn’t hold it back any more.
Any ideas what is going on? Should I throw the kegs away (meaning, they are broken open somewhere), or is there a reason this is happening?
Things loosen over time, and the steady inexorable push of carbon dioxide pressure will eventually find a way to push the beer out. My biggest problem has been actually losing CO2 through all the various connections and fittings…… although I have lost an entire keg of delicious cream ale before through a tap that didn’t seal.
I still use cobra taps in my kegerator, and I have to watch those like a hawk. I understand that you do not, and probably have a traditional tap setup on the exterior. It sounds like you must have leaks at the beer out post, although it could be anywhere along the line that there is a fitting.
I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a keg leak from the structural keg itself.
I try to heed the advice of Drew Beechum from Experimental Brewing, when he says to stick your head in the brewery, and check things every single day.
I suppose you’re right. At the low pressures of dispensing beer, I assumed it would just be ok, even over a long stretch of time.
Again, I knew the nitro keg was destined to fail, 30-40psi will not work out well. I know the leak was all inside the kegerator, nothing spilled outside. Due to the lack of “arterial” spray on the inner sidewall, it makes me thing it was at the liquid-out post. I just never knew it would happen, what a shame
Positive pressure is positive pressure. This just happened to me. Luckily it foamed and dried so I was able to see the culprit… ball lock fitting not pushed all the way down.
Well now I just need to pump out all that beer, which is going to be fun! Oh well.
So in the future, I will disconnect the gas and the liquid connections when not using it, just to be safe.
Should I try to bleed some CO2 out of the keg as well? Not fully obviously, but a little bit so that there’s even less of a chance of a leak?
My supply(gas) side it outside the keezer…. If I know I’m serving, the gas is on. If not then off and tank is still on. Do you take yer fittings apart once an a while to clean? Apply some lube? A big help for me, as I haven’t had a keg leak out for almost ever… diligence, it pays…
Sneezles61
If I will be away from or not using my kegorator for any period of time longer than a day or two I try to turn off the gas and disconnect the QDs. PIA but could save losing the tank of CO2 and/or a flood. Like you guys I learned the hard way.
I have lost pressure in a disconnected keg and ended up with flat beer but that was easy to fix.
BTW I looks to me like Petrol Gel food grade equipment lubricant is the same thing as keg lube and much less expensive. We bought some to use on a meat slicer so I tried it out on some of my kegs. Just plain water on the O rings helps a lot though.
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I leave mine connected all the time. I’ve disconnected them only to find a poppet sticks and I end up with flat beer, or, the beer in the bottom. I would suggest after disconnecting that you spray with starsan as it will bubble and indicate a leak.
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