Beer Forum

I'm new to kegging. My first batch went smoothly.. no problems. My second batch in another keg, lost pressure while sitting in the frig off of the gas (my setup allows only one tank on gas at a time) . After I racked the beer from the secondary into the keg, I forced carbed (30 psi) and didn't notice any leak as I rocked the keg back and forth on my lap. My first keg blew on Sunday and that's when I found the pressure loss in the second keg. When I put gas on the second keg, there was a leak in the lid that I couldn't seal. I tried other lids and I thougt I had it fixed. I think there is still a leak. I replaced the o-rings before I put the keg into service. The keg held pressure before the o-ring change. What methods do you use to assure that a keg sealed? I've checked for leaks using soapy water on other pressurized things but, I don't think it would be wise to use soap around beer. If I found a leak using soapy water, I'd be worried about getting some soap residue into the keg while I was trying to fix the leak.

As long as the bubbles are blowing out, no soap can get in. If you've found the leak, just unhook the gas & fix the leak.

I think I found the problem to the leak in my new keg. The posts on the keg were reversed. The gas post was on the beer side and the beer post was on the gas side. The female disconnects were difficult to get onto the posts so, I should have figured something was wrong. I just read read where there is a difference in the female disconnects and compared the new keg to the old keg. Sure enough the disconnects were reversed.
When I corrected this error, the disconnects went on smoothly and there was no leak... imagine that! The beer still doesn't taste great but, it's drinkable. I'm glad I didn't pitch it, though I was really tempted. I thought for sure it was infected or something. I read so many posts on another web site about being patient with a suspected bad batch of beer. I think the bite was from over carbonation.

Glad you found the problem. That is an easy one to get mixed up. For checking for leaks, I use some of my StarSan sanitizer in a spray bottle. The stuff foams up real easy and makes it ideal for checking for leaks. If any gets in the beer, it won't bother it a bit.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

I use the same starsan in a spray bottle trick works great on everything and is just good to have around. Another problem you might not of even thought of was if you carbed at room temp and stored in a fridge off of co2, there might not of been enough co2 to comensate for the pressure change and created a vacuume in the keg, no keg will hold up a vacuume. Just for info, I store all my empty kegs with co2 pressure in them, for 2 reasons, keeps the stuff out, and when I go to use them if they are flat I know I have a leaker and can fix the problem before it cost me a refill on my co2 bottle.

Kevin

marketfixr wrote: Another problem you might not of even thought of was if you carbed at room temp and stored in a fridge off of co2, there might not of been enough co2 to comensate for the pressure change and created a vacuume in the keg, no keg will hold up a vacuume.

Now that you mention it, the keg was forced carbed at room temp and then put into the frig. That could have been my problem all along
I won't make that mistake again. I like the idea of storing kegs under pressure... Thanks!

A tip that was taught to me when I started kegging, so you don't mix the disconnects and posts up.

Beer Black

Gas Grey Groove (around the base of the post)

Phillipa wrote:A tip that was taught to me when I started kegging, so you don't mix the disconnects and posts up.

Beer Black

Gas Grey Groove (around the base of the post)

I also replaced the o-ring on the gas in post with a red colored one and I leave the beer post o-ring black. That way I can tell quickly what each post is for when I remove them for cleaning.