Pin-Lock Keg, clogged dip tube. Cannot remove posts without special tool, what now?

Well this is frustrating. Clearly I suck at leaving behind hop dust when transferring. It was a small problem with my first kegged beer, but now my second kegged creation is at a stand-still. CO2 is fine, nothing is freezing... the diagnosis is the dip tube is clogged.

Enter the frustration. According to the Internet, I'm gonna need a special socket to remove the post to get to the tube. That was all fine and good five years ago when these articles were written and the thing cost five bucks, but I'm seeing it go for 17-20$, on top of websites 7.99 shipping... yeah, it'd be cheaper to just throw the keg away and buy a new one than deal with that hassle.

My LHBS, for better or for worse, doesn't carry pin lock stuff. Only conversion kits. So no luck just asking the local shop for a free hand. I was also really looking forward to having some of this beer on the weekend... and paying 30-something for this tiny socket and waiting a week and a half just to get it... this whole thing is leaving me bitter.

So I tried a monkey wrench. It didn't work. I tried shaking out the jam. Nope. Well, what the hell can I do at this stage?! The only option I can think of is calling up Coca-Cola (across town) and asking if they have any advice or tools to do the job, but that seems just not possible. I'm between a rock and a hard place. Help?

No personal experience since I use ball locks, but maybe this will be helpful:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/pin-lock-socket-substitutes-229421/

You can buy a socket made for the job or make one with a dremel tool.

Sometimes if they get stuck you may need a breaker bar along with the socket.

Your about an hour and a half away from MoreBeer in Riverside... road trip! $16.95 for the socket (ridiculous I know) but you could also get several kits or supplies

Might be cheaper though to just make one...

I'm not a pin-lock guy, but can you put the gas QD on the beer out and try to blow the blockage out of the beer out tube? That may fix this particular problem.

Big picture though, you need to get a way to remove the posts. You will never be able to adequately clean your keg if you don't remove the posts and tubes for cleaning. No matter what you do, you should figure out a way to remove the post, whether it be to make your own socket or to pony up the $ to buy one... My $0.02

If you have a Dremel just make your own socket. If you don't have one I be someone that you know does. It'll take about 5 minutes.

I had the right sized socket in my tool kit that happened to be one for spark plugs ( I think it's 13/16ths). A few slots with the grinder cut off wheel and I'm in business. You can also get an open ended wrench on the flats if you angle it correctly.

Frankly, you NEED to be able to disassemble the posts on your kegs whether you like it or not. The crap that gets caught up in the poppet springs alone, nevermind on the inside of the siphon tube, demands a scrub down and visual inspection between uses.

Buy a new keg? What about after you use it a few times? Suck it up, it's part of the cost of ownership.

Had this happen to me (clogged dip tube) I did this on a ball lock but should work on a pin lock. I attached the gas line (I use all 1/4" fittings for ease of use) to the liquid connector and connected it to the keg with the top open. Turned on the gas to 30ish psi and blew it right out the bottom.

Reverendnathan, I used to use Pin-Locks and changed over to Ball-locks a few years ago and still have some assorted QD's, o-rings, poppets and a post removal socket that I don't need. I'm in the Northern Nevada and can send them to you if you still need. Send me a PM with your USPS mailing info.

Well, so I drilled two 13/16" spark plug sockets. The first one ended up being too short. Bought a second one, a nice long one, drilled it... also too short. Has some sort of odd rubber washer in it that doesn't want to come out... it's really in there, and cutting it with a knife didn't seem to help. Any thoughts?

The rubber is usually a piece of hose that you should be able push out from the wrench end with a flat screw driver. Or, burn it out with FIRE! I usually have the opposite issue where the rubber falls out of the socket.

-JWP

I just use a wrench on my pin locks.

Nuggethead said:

Reverendnathan, I used to use Pin-Locks and changed over to Ball-locks a few years ago and still have some assorted QD's, o-rings, poppets and a post removal socket that I don't need. I'm in the Northern Nevada and can send them to you if you still need. Send me a PM with your USPS mailing info.

Click to expand...

It will go out in the A.M.

shoman89 said:

The rubber is usually a piece of hose that you should be able push out from the wrench end with a flat screw driver. Or, burn it out with FIRE! I usually have the opposite issue where the rubber falls out of the socket.

-JWP

Click to expand...

Gonna try putting some fire on it when I get home. Little thing didn't want to come out with a screwdriver!

Alright, I did it. This was not an easy task. The post was screwed on very tight when I finally got the socket to fit. Also it was righty-loosey, wasn't expecting that.

Anyways that poppet was jammed Citra! The diagnosis was correct. Getting that poppet in and out was not pleasant too. Went ahead and circumsized the dip tube... I don't want to deal with the nightmare of disassembling my keg for a long, long time. Luckily when it comes time to do this again, I'll be well-prepared

Thanks all for your help, and thanks again to Nuggethead who is mailing me his old pin-lock gear. All-in-all, this was still easier than bottling!

reverendnathan said:

[...]The post was screwed on very tight when I finally got the socket to fit. Also it was righty-loosey, wasn't expecting that.[...]

Click to expand...

That's a new one on me - I've never heard of a keg post with a left handed thread before...

Cheers!

reverendnathan said:

I don't want to deal with the nightmare of disassembling my keg for a long, long time.

Click to expand...

Like it has been stated here a few times... You really should disassemble your keg after each use and perform a thorough cleaning to ensure you do not contaminate your next beer. It really isn't that hard and like you said, it is still easier than cleaning/sanitizing 50 bottles...

I have a socket in my set that perfectly fits over the whole post. The Pins fit right inside of the grips on the inside of the socket, perfect size. I did not have to drill or dremel the socket at all. Piece of cake.

Brewfat said:

I just use a wrench on my pin locks.

Click to expand...

+1. I just use a small adjustable wrench. Sure a socket would be easier, but I don't have any issues and I already had the wrench.

I made my own socket today out of a 13/16 sparkplug socket. I used a dremmel tool with a grinding wheel on the socket. It took me about 15 minutes. And I had the socket in my toolbox.

I made my own too, it was super easy with a $2.99 socket from harbor freight.. Before that I was using a 22mm closed end wrench.

I made mine as well... Used an old 13/16 socket and just cut the notches with my angle grinder.... Quick and easy.... Worked like a charm....

To those who've made your own pin lock socket, do you hold the socket in a vice when grinding the slots? If not, how do you hold it?

I just put the socket on the ratchet, placed it on a flat surface and took the dremmel to it.

I dry hopped my last brew. Only to have it block up. Pump it up to 500 psi still no good. Guess I gotta take the out outlet off to un block it
Has anyone had the same problem

This happens to me at least once every time I dryhop. I just live with it. You could dryhop in sacks if it really bothers you.

I held the angle grinder on the bench with my left hand and ground the socket holding it in my right.... Made the initial cut and then carefully ground the slot width to the point where it would match the pins.... I'm sure there are more sophisticated ways of doing this but this worked for me.......

barrooze said:

To those who've made your own pin lock socket, do you hold the socket in a vice when grinding the slots? If not, how do you hold it?

Click to expand...

barrooze said:

To those who've made your own pin lock socket, do you hold the socket in a vice when grinding the slots? If not, how do you hold it?

Click to expand...

I just held the the socket with my teeth and used a grinder with a cut-off wheel.

Seriously, all joking aside, I used a vise on my workbench to hold it. I also used a cheap harbor freight deep well socket (not a spark plug socket.) You can buy a whole set of sockets at harbor freight with change left over for the price of that special socket.

Whatever you do, don't forget the safety glasses! It's not worth a trip to the ER!

very important that you get socket to catch on the nut head prior to marking. If not will be a bad fit and possibly (I guess not work) I didn't and my slots got quite messy but work. I also made both wrenches on one socket using a common slot (neatest one!) 2nd wrench was nice fit after finding out about had to fit nut head!

I use a 13/16 wrench and it works fine.

a wrench

Vice grips work. Just took apart some new kegs. Not sure the fuss or maybe if I got lucky, but even one of the ultra stubborn ones came off without much work. Could by my incredible skill, or amazing manly power. YMMV.

Vice grips worked of a few that I couldn't remove with the pin
lock socket. the special pin lock socket started bending the pins the posts were so stuck. The vice grips abd a hammer loosened them up. You can clamp the vice grips all the way at the bottom of the post, below the pins.