Beer in gas lines

Well, last night, I think I may have really screwed up. I was drinking with a friend and had a keg of pale ale that I had been chilling in order to force carb so we could tap into it later. After shaking and all that, I put it into the fridge and was going to attach the gas connector to the post. I pushed the connector down and thats when I noticed that it was the out beer post, which then shot beer all the way through my gas line.

I have the hose going from my regulator to a T, and two lines off of that. The hose connected to the regulator and the T is a solid red color so I couldn't see if the beer made it all the way to the regulator. The two lines branching off were instantly full of beer, so I imagine it reached the regulator.

I'm going to clean and sanitize the lines, but I'm worried about the regulator. If there is beer in it, does anyone have any suggestions as to how to clean it? I'm afraid of some beer hanging around getting spoiled and sending baddies into any subsequent kegs that I might hook up. Or making it read wrong.

Has this ever happened to anyone else?

If it got in the regulator, your regulator is shot. Invest in a co2 manifold that has check valves on it, it keeps that kind of stuff from happening. Everyone has done that at least once, and if they haven't it probably will, welcome to the club.

regs can be cleaned - it's not junked - but from what I hear it is a pain in the posterior. i second the check valve recommendation

All regulators can be dismantled and cleaned. It's a royal pain. Your best bet is to go to the manufacturer's website and look for an exploded parts diagram. That should give you a good idea of how to proceed.

You might get lucky and discover it has a built-in check valve, so only your gas lines got filled.

Leave the gas on, disconnect the line, and push in the little post in the QD that pushes against the poppet...the beer will get pushed out by the gas.

homebrewer_99 said:

Leave the gas on, disconnect the line, and push in the little post in the QD that pushes against the poppet...the beer will get pushed out by the gas.

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I was able to get the gas out of the lines right away by using my carbonator cap. A bunch of really small droplets remained that I could see in the clear lines. The regulator still appears to be working. Both gauges are moving.

I have it disconnected from the Kegs, and still need to flush out the lines. If there is a check valve in the regulator I will be very happy. If there is any beer trapped anywhere in the regulator, should I be overly concerned about it being able to infect any future batches of beer?

Have to respecfully dissagree....regs ae super easy to dismantle and clean, I do mine at least once a year. There are only about 5 parts to the entire reg. Just lay them out on a clean surface in the order you take it apart.
If beer got to your reg, you "must" clean it out or your reg will need replacement parts for sure.

Get some of these and put them in line just above your connections: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/va...ory_name=45&product_id=15641&variant_id=64174

They will do the trick..

I have rebuilt a couple of my regulators. It's really quite easy to take them apart and clean the insides. If it is really hosed, you can get rebuild kits for most regulators from most of the major online brew shops for a reasonable price.

The problem you had will happen any time you have higher pressure in your keg than what your regulator is set for. Any time you do a quick force carbonation at high pressure you need to relieve the pressure before hooking it up in your kegerator. If you have your hoses on a tee instead of through a manifold with check valves, you also run into the problem of beer running from one keg into another. A russian imperial stout running back into a pale ale is not something you want to happen.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company