how to tell the difference in liquid/gas posts

so for some reason i didnt think there were any differences in the gas and liquid posts. I figured it if could screw them on then they were fine. After doing some reading it appears they are not interchangeable. I have two firestone kegs and two cornelius kegs, how do i figure out which posts are supposed to be gas, and which are supposed to be liquid?

Trial and error now.

But once you do figure it out, colored tape on the chime handles.

if they screw on are they in the right place? Some of them i felt like i had to push down on kinda hard to get to thread right. of the three i put together last night, when i was testing them out one of the liquid posts was stuck "in". Does that mean its supposed to be a gas?

nootay said:

if they screw on are they in the right place? Some of them i felt like i had to push down on kinda hard to get to thread right. of the three i put together last night, when i was testing them out one of the liquid posts was stuck "in". Does that mean its supposed to be a gas?

Click to expand...

Okay. First, look at the chime (that's the rubber bit on the top). Many of them are embossed with the word "IN" near the gas post. That is one way to tell.

Second, DO NOT force anything to thread. Many of these are threaded just a fraction biger and all you'll do is either cross thread a post or worse wedge a post in place.

Another tip useful on a few kegs is that the beer and gas dip tubes are "sometimes" sized differently. In that the liquid tube may fit down in either post but the gas tube will not. However, this is not always the case.

Finally, many kegs have an indention in the bottom inside of the keg for the dip tube to bottom out into. That would be where the beer tube goes and thus the liquid out post.

As for the poppet being stuck in (that's the small dot in the center of the post) it only means that you have a bad poppet. Spring may be compressed, dirty, or just flat worn out.

Once you do figure out the post arrangement, mark the kegs someway to make it easier to tell which is what. As I said before, colored electrical tape wrapped around the nearest chime handle is a common method.

There is another way...



The gas port has a smaller lip in the middle of the side of the post. The liquid port will have a bigger/fatter lip.



...but if you or someone else assembled your keg incorrectly, this wont help you...I've heard of people having to serve their keg while it is upside down in order to get the beer to come out the "gas" post.

Yeah, I think he is trying to re-assemble the keg himself.

As far as Corny kegs go I have found that the gas posts have slight "notches" in them while the liquid posts are just smooth.

i took them all apart at the same time, soaked all the parts at the same time, and then put them back together. so yea i probably mixed everything up. some of the posts do have have the "star" base for 16 point sockets, so according to the picture from nebben they are the gas ports. Ill also check on the lip as well and will also look for notches

If all else fails, you just screw on a post and try to hook it up to gas. If it doesn't go easily, try liquid. One of them should connect easily. Then you'll know which type of post you have, and you can connect it to the correct part of the keg body.

I use a black o-ring on the "out" post (matches black connector for liquid) and a blue o-ring on the "in" post (McMaster didn't have gray o-rings) so that I can tell which is which when I take it apart for cleaning.

Also, for the Firestone's (that have the offset well) you might have to peak inside to see where the well is. The long dip tube goes into the well.

nebben said:

There is another way...



The gas port has a smaller lip in the middle of the side of the post. The liquid port will have a bigger/fatter lip.

...but if you or someone else assembled your keg incorrectly, this wont help you...I've heard of people having to serve their keg while it is upside down in order to get the beer to come out the "gas" post.

Click to expand...

Also note there are notches cut in the gas posts (looks like a dremel cutoff tool has made a notch all the way around the post). Look at the cornelious posts in this link, you can clearly see the notch in the gas post on the left. There is also a notch in your 16-point gas post in the above picture.

http://stores.kegconnection.com/Detail.bok?no=399

Also, make sure the shorter dip tube is in the IN side and the longer dip tube is in the OUT side.

Hope this helps!

That pic just saved me some major hassle -- thanks!
When reassembling my keg (first time) I switched the posts while paying close attention to the the dip tube staying on the "out" side. I put gas connect onto the (wrong) post and actually hammered it into place like an assclown. Thanks for clearing this up for me, only cost me a whole tanks of co2 from the massive leak I gave myself

Also gas in may have little cuts horizontal on the part that you put the wrench on