Stupid Kegging Tricks

Years ago, before my brewing hiatus, I had a corny keg system with 4 kegs and 4 cobra taps with 3/16" serving line. There was no clamp around the cobra taps because it was such a tight fit and I never had a problem. You can see where this is going. Fast forward to yesterday. I have one keg in the fridge setup exactly as I used to, stored and served at 13psi. I've dispensed about 2 gallons out of 5 with no problem whatsoever. Yesterday I filled a pitcher to share with my father-in-law at Easter dinner then went down to fill it again. I noticed some liquid on the floor. EVERYWHERE on the floor. And the room smelled like my lager. I opened the fridge and the beer poured out. The gas was still running so I shut off the CO2 tank. There was beer everywhere. The cobra tap blew off the end of the line and dispensed the remaining 3 gallons of my lager. I imagine it was like a little fire hose spraying beer wildly all over the inside of the fridge. The beer ran under the fridge, the freezer, the cabinets next to the sink, my work bench and the rugs. A huge, huge mess. 2.5 hours later it was cleaned up. 3 gallons of good beer down the drain all because I was too stupid to put a 25 cent hose clamp on my dispensing line.

Living and learning and missing my lager.
K

That sucks, no doubt about that. Its amazing how the simple lessons (recent example for me - should have replaced the 3 dollar spark plug on lawnmower before needlessly tearing down the carburetor) are some of the hardest learned.

Bet you'll use clamps from now on

Wow!
Oh man that sux. I keg mine using those same taps. I guess I will be checking on them first thing when I get home!

what 25 cent clamp are you using?

No 25 cent clamp - that was the problem. I didn't think I needed a clamp because I never used one in the past. My stupid mistake. Lesson learned.

Cheers!
K

i figured that out.
i also use the cobra taps in the fridge but have never heard about clamping them off between use. just curious what you would use to do that...any pics or part numbers are appreciated.

straycat said:

i figured that out.
i also use the cobra taps in the fridge but have never heard about clamping them off between use. just curious what you would use to do that...any pics or part numbers are appreciated.

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I think he means using a worm clamp to make sure the picnic tap stays attached to the line.

jbrookeiv said:

I think he means using a worm clamp to make sure the picnic tap stays attached to the line.

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Exactly.