At the End of My Rope; I Need Advice on This POS Keg

I think that I have finally figured out why I always seem to have a keg that's foamy while the rest are fine: it's gotta be a problem with this keg! I took two batches, kegged them on the same day, carbed them the same. One's perfectly carbed and doesn't foam; the other one is pretty much all foam. When I open the tap up, it sounds like something inside the keg is gurgling or something...doesn't sound normal...then it kerplunk! spits out this big fat load o' foam and then more beer/foam follows. And after I pull the pint o' foam, all these bubbles go rising up the liquid line to the high point where it goes into the keg.

After a few hours of this, there's actually air/co2 in a good portion of the line:



Now, I know it's not the tap, because I've switched it out with taps that have worked fine on other beers. So that leaves the keg. What in the hell could be causing this? Do you think one of my posts or diptubes is screwed up? Or maybe I have a leak and that's why there's that air space allowed in the liquid line? Umph, I'm stumped here, boys and girls. Little help?

I have one keg that the poppet doesn't seat fully and needs a replacement. I haven't really paid attention to see if it's causing a similar situation like yours. It seems that a leak in the beer out line would push fluid and not air into the line, kind of baffling. If you have a spare keg, I'd try swapping out the beer out post and see if the problem persists. At a minimum, pull it off and take a look at the post, poppet and dip tube.

Good Luck.

Holey Moley, I am clueless!!

_________________________________________
Primary- Circle City Haus Ale
Secondary- Orange Cascade APA (dry hop)
Keg1- Centennial Blonde (On tap)
Keg2- Oktoberfest (On tap)
Keg3- Christmas Spice
Keg4- Fire In The Hole
Keg5- AIR
Keg6- AIR
Keg7- AIR
Keg8- AIR

Sounds like a leak in the liquid dip tube (or seat) inside the keg. When it sits idle, CO2 from the head space works it's way into the beer out pathway. Because the leak is internal, no CO2 or beer is actually lost.

I'd start by cleaning up the dip tube seat and replacing the dip tube oring. If that fails, I would replace/swap the entire post.

The poppet suggestion one is a good one as they need to be allowed to push in far enough when connecting the lines. I would also check the dip tube and gas tube to make sure they are as they should be. If the dip tube is bent or smashed it would restrict flow and could cause the problems. Aside from that, there is really no reason for what you describe. It's not like a dent in the keg would cause that.

Just thinking out loud here
Have you ever dryhopped loose in this keg?
I hopped with whole leaves once and since i only do a full breakdown every 2-3 uses i had some hop leaves clog up the beer out poppet. They got all mahed into the spring mechanism and caused some line problems for me.

Yeah, the post and poppet look okay. It's a brand new full keg of awesome munich dunkel, so I'm leery of pulling the keg apart. Grrrr...

GreenwoodRover said:

Just thinking out loud here
Have you ever dryhopped loose in this keg?
I hopped with whole leaves once and since i only do a full breakdown every 2-3 uses i had some hop leaves clog up the beer out poppet. They got all mahed into the spring mechanism and caused some line problems for me.

Click to expand...

nah, never. And I typically disassemble mine between batches anyway.

pldoolittle said:

Sounds like a leak in the liquid dip tube (or seat) inside the keg. When it sits idle, CO2 from the head space works it's way into the beer out pathway. Because the leak is internal, no CO2 or beer is actually lost.

I'd start by cleaning up the dip tube seat and replacing the dip tube oring. If that fails, I would replace/swap the entire post.

Click to expand...

That sounds like the culprit to me. The level of the beer in the line in that picture is about where the beer level in the keg is, so it makes perfect sense. Never thought about that! Maybe I'll pull apart just that post and replace the diptube oring, sanitize it well, and see what happens.

thanks

pldoolittle is a genius!!!

McKBrew said:

pldoolittle is a genius!!!

Click to expand...

I know, right?!

McKBrew said:

pldoolittle is a genius!!!

Click to expand...

That's not quite what you said in Debate Forum!!!