Uh. . . my kegerator decided to pour itself some beer.

I got home today after working 13 hours and went to my basement to pour off a pint. Much to my dismay, my kegerator had the same idea apparently. The floor was soaking wet and the front of my kegerator was sticky from beer. Lord knows how long it was drip dripping all over the place but after some hasty cleanup, things are back to normal-ish. The wife is pissed but hey, the basement smells great!

Anyway, I noticed the keg is nearly empty and I've got a pretty good sized tap handle on the sucker. Could the weight of the handle and the lack of beer left in the keg cause it to open enough for some dripping or did I do something else wrong? I've never had this happen before so I figured I'd put my head together with everyone here and see if there's anything I can do to prevent this in the future so the SWMBO doesn't kill me.

Prost!

I doubt the keg fullness has anything to do with it. But I did have issues with a broken part inside the faucet. Also I would be willing to bet the tap handle has something to do with it.

It may have more to do with the pressure of the CO2 in the keg. I've noticed that when I have a keg set to a higher serving pressure I can feel a difference when the faucet seals shut.

Not exactly sure what happened in your case, but make sure that when you push the tap handle back you feel it sorta "click" back into place.

PS Sorry for your loss, I'd pour a 40oz on the sidewalk for your beer, but it seems your kegerator already did that for you

i had an issue with a cracked tailpiece on a shank. it left 5 gal of apfelwein in the bottom of my keezer

I worry about this happening to me sometimes.

I have a cat. I can see it now: cat jumps on top of the keezer, rubs against a tap handle for a good scratch...next thing you know, beery carpet, drunk cat.

i have the same fear of something like happening like that on my second floor apartment. its got me thinking maybe its a good idea to leave the beer lines disconnected from the keg when not in use. or rig up something to keep the tap handles in place.

BeantownR6 said:

or rig up something to keep the tap handles in place.

Click to expand...

You could always just un-screw the tap handle.

now i am thinking of an inline ball valve in the beer line to shut off while not in use. disconnecting is free, but id rather turn a valve than sanitize the poppets and connector each time.

rubber band the tap handle to the faucet in it's back position to prevent cats from opening the line

Problem with rubber banding the taps back; I have the Perlick 575s with the creamer action so that would cause MORE damage if I had them back. For now I've taken the handle off while I'm not pouring beer. It may not look as cool but it's in my damned basement and nobody cares what it looks like except me haha.

I had the same problem, My friend gave me a beautiful Bass Ale wooden tap handle. It was over a foot long. It would creep the faucet forward over a period of time and start leaking. Used rubberbands at first to hold it in place. Then I switched over to the things my wife uses for her ponty tail. However she started freaking out when they started to disappear.

So To solve the problem I bought these. I have a 7 year old kid so it was worth it anyway but it will still solve your problem of taps creeping open.

Faucet Locks

It still saddens me to think about my first all grain batch that ended up all over my garage floor. My scenario is a little different since I only have a picnic tap, but when I opened the keg, I noticed there was a bit of ice sludge in the bottom. The only thing I can think is that my temps got too low and somehow the expansion of the beer when it froze forced it's way out of the tap. Still a mystery, but I can relate to your frustration.

Could the added leverage asserted when pulling a long tap handle be damaging the faucet internals?

In my experience the Perlick faucets are more sensitive to heavy tap handles. You can tighten the packing nut to help but I eventually switched to lighter, shorter handles to avoid problems and tidy up the appearance. I would get spilled beer when I opened and closed the lid or just bumped into it.

Those long heavy tap handles are probably for use on a beergas/stout tap. That is my guess at least, I would worry some about damaging the regular faucets with the weight and leverage as mentioned above.

What about a self closing faucet? keeps it closed for when you are too drunk to stop pouring! I have a 10 tap system (I own a restaurant/bar) and I wish I had more of them. My blue moon(only 1 of 2 non micro/craft beer) faucet leaps forward if you shut to door too hard of the front so I may be getting some more faucets soon.

http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/taps-faucets-pid-4933KSC.html

-ArXiX

I am cracking a beer now to give a 21 chug salute

same thing for me tonight... got home to about eight gallons soaking into the carpet and two empty kegs, my buddy said my beer was two warm and adjusted the kegerator to make it colder and froze both kegs, then while i was gone they started to thaw and beer was every where... i almost cried when i got home, plus the clean up sucks