So I finally got around to racking my beer into my new kegging setup and had a few quick questions. I've seen some videos on you tube of people disassembling a corny keg and when they did the poppet valves would come out of the post and also the gas in tube would come off of the post. When I took mine apart the gas in tube wouldn't come off and the poppet valves wouldn't come out either. Is this normal? And my second question is the guy at my LHBS said that keg lube was completely unnecessary so I didn't get any. Is this correct, because the few videos I've seen show people using lube on the gaskets. Once again thanks for all the help guys.
Disassembling a Corny Keg
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homebrewer_99
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Could be the previous assembler opened up the poppet legs a bit to stretch them or it happened while tightening the posts down. Just pop them out.
Keg lube is recommended because you want to keep the rubber from drying out and cracking. If the rubber dries out the kegs won't seal.
Keg lube is recommended because you want to keep the rubber from drying out and cracking. If the rubber dries out the kegs won't seal.
I tried to push the poppet valves out and wasn't able to so I took a small screwdriver and pushed in on the top of the poppet valve and they would depress but wouldn't slide out. Thanks for the advice.
Some poppets pop out, some don't don't fret it.
A bigger concern is the LHBS guy saying you don't need keg lube. Every leaky seal I've had on my "numerous" kegs was fixed with a liberal application of keg lube.
It is, in my opinion...absolutely necessary for a good seal.
If you don't have any on hand, use some simple mineral oil you get at the grocery store. Keg lube is basically just jellied mineral oil.
A bigger concern is the LHBS guy saying you don't need keg lube. Every leaky seal I've had on my "numerous" kegs was fixed with a liberal application of keg lube.
It is, in my opinion...absolutely necessary for a good seal.
If you don't have any on hand, use some simple mineral oil you get at the grocery store. Keg lube is basically just jellied mineral oil.
homebrewer_99
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Which is a whole lot better than mineraled jelly oil...BierMuncher said:
Thanks for all the help BierMuncher you seemed to always answer my questions, I definately owe you a beer or two. Speaking of questions what should the pressure be inside of a 5lbs co2 bottle that was just filled. I noticed on my regulator today that the pressure inside the co2 bottle was only 600psi, I say only because on my regulator at 500 psi, says the tank is getting low and should be refilled soon. Haven't found any leaks and I just filled it Thursday.
P.S. The tanks is inside the fridge.
P.S. The tanks is inside the fridge.
I'm no secondary regulator expert, but my understanding is that you can't really rely on that gauges' reading for the amount of CO2 that remains in the tank.mhdfj2 said:
That gauge is kind of an all or nothing indicator. When you start running out of CO2, that needle will drop very quickly...not gradually as you use up CO2.
The amount of CO2 you have remaining is determined by the weight of the tank, not the pressure on the gauge. Somewhere stamped on the side of your tank is a Tare Weight (or T.W.). That is the weight of the CO2 bottle when it is empty (with no regulator attached). Take a current weighing of your CO2 bottle and subtract the TW and that is how much CO2 you have remaining.
For me, my scale won't go that low to weigh the tank so I usually stand on a bathroom scale by myself, then pick up my tank and stand on it again and subtract my 1st weight from the second....that gives me the weight of the bottle.
NitrouStang96
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Speaking from experience (I'm going to assume that CO2 will do the same thing as N2O in a bottle)...
My 15lb nitrous bottle, when full, will reach higher PSI with less heat, but at cold temps (ie, in a kegerator), it will be a lower PSI inside the bottle no matter what. Sometimes I'll overfill it to 17lb or 18lb to run full PSI at cold temps, but that's a different story.
When the bottle gets down to about 20% full, it will require a LOT more heat to reach the same PSI as before, and it's almost impossible to heat it high enough to get any worthwhile horsepower out of it when it gets very far below that 20% line.
But here is the main point: You won't notice very much pressure fluctuation at all from 100% full down to 25% full. Then it will start dropping off radically fast, and you'll know it's time for a refill. Again, this is assuming that a CO2 tank acts like a N2O tank. I don't know yet - I'm picking up my first 5lb CO2 tank within the next few weeks.
Also, I doubt it would matter much in this application since we're using such low PSI to push the beer (vs 1000 PSI for nitrous), so the quick pressure drop off when the bottle is emptying will just be a nice early warning instead of becoming useless.
My 15lb nitrous bottle, when full, will reach higher PSI with less heat, but at cold temps (ie, in a kegerator), it will be a lower PSI inside the bottle no matter what. Sometimes I'll overfill it to 17lb or 18lb to run full PSI at cold temps, but that's a different story.
When the bottle gets down to about 20% full, it will require a LOT more heat to reach the same PSI as before, and it's almost impossible to heat it high enough to get any worthwhile horsepower out of it when it gets very far below that 20% line.
But here is the main point: You won't notice very much pressure fluctuation at all from 100% full down to 25% full. Then it will start dropping off radically fast, and you'll know it's time for a refill. Again, this is assuming that a CO2 tank acts like a N2O tank. I don't know yet - I'm picking up my first 5lb CO2 tank within the next few weeks.
Also, I doubt it would matter much in this application since we're using such low PSI to push the beer (vs 1000 PSI for nitrous), so the quick pressure drop off when the bottle is emptying will just be a nice early warning instead of becoming useless.
NitrouStang96 said:
You covered it right at the end. A fridge will not get the bottle cold enough to drop the pressure so low that it will not work for what we are using it for..
OT: If you are having a problem with the N2O not pushing well at 20% get a good bottle heater. I never have a problem with mine spraying 150hp.
NitrouStang96
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OT reply: Mine's 175hp, and I use a waterbed heater with temp control plugged into my power inverter Only cost me $40 for the heater, and I already had the inverter. Lots cheaper than a typical bottle heater, and it heats FAST.
Only cost me $40 for the heater, and I already had the inverter. Lots cheaper than a typical bottle heater, and it heats FAST.
