Sealing keg at 30psi

I have been a long time lurker on the forums but after much searching I can't seem to find an answer to my question so I am hoping you guys can help me.

I recently purchased a set of kegs with the hopes of keggiing my own beer. The problem however is that one of the kegs has a small leak on the lid. I have replaced the O-ring and lubed it with keg lube, when i pressurize the keg at 12 psi it leaks until I physically shake the lid into place and even then I am not sure if it seals for the long run.

I have read that people seal finicky lids by blasting with 30psi to make a good seal. Would I be able to blast my keg at 30 psi and then dial my gauge down to 12psi to "set and forget" without purging the keg beforehand?

That's exactly what I do....blast it up to 20-30 for 5-10 seconds to seal, and then slowly purge and dial down to equalize at 12.

That method has worked for me in the past, but it has also failed me in the past. Kegs like that make me very nervous!

What I noticed on one such keg, there was dried out remnant on the inside lip of the hatch opening. Make sure it is as smooth as possible. Also check for dings around the lip region, as well as the lid itself. Any irregularities with either will make it difficult to seal.

As cheap insurance, I've heard others using larger diameter O-Rings, using pennies under the feet of the bale or caps. These tend to work, but really should be considered temporary solutions. You want to be able to trust your kegs, so do what you can to make it reliable. I wish I had done this from the start, because now I have so many kegs, I can't keep track of the ones I need to pay special attention to.

gnef said:

... I wish I had done this from the start, because now I have so many kegs, I can't keep track of the ones I need to pay special attention to.

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Have you thought about marking the kegs? You can use colored electrical tape on the handles to identify the ones you need to keep an eye on.

I usually blast them at 30 psi to seat the lids, release the pressure, then set and forget. Sometimes you have to move the lid around at first. If it's not visibly dented it should be ok. But you're just gonna have to chance it in order to find out.

Also, some soapy water in a spray bottle is your best fried when searching for leaks!

homebeerbrewer - That is a good idea, but at this point, I just need to bite the bullet each time I see a problematic keg and fix it for good. I want to be able to trust all my kegs - it will just take me a while. I do need to get some new lid o-rings, this time silicone, so hopefully those will work better than the buna-n I've been using. It will also help me know which kegs I've replaced the lids on since the color is different.

The other reason why it is difficult for me, is because I store things for so long in some cases - I have a cider and cyser from 2006, and a braggot and barlewine from 2007, plus a lot more from the more recent years. Since I don't see the kegs very often, they might have an issue, but I won't come back to it for years. This is also the reason why I now need to fix them as I see them, so that I can trust them for years without having to worry about them. Also, those that I am storing for the long term are in the walk-in cooler and are triple stacked now and many kegs deep, so it is physically difficult for me to get to them to check them.

Thanks for the replies. I guess I will blast it at 30psi and see how it holds. I dipped the keg in a bucket of water and saw that it was leaking from the lid seal and after playing around with the lid/ setting the lid at a higher pressure it stopped bubbling. I am not confident however that it will hold for long. Ill try a batch and see how it works and in the mean time I will order some oversized o rings as a temporary solution.

You can also try these XL o rings, KEG LID SEALING 'O' RING @ Williams Brewing

Some people have good luck for them.