My first attempt at kegging, comments?

I just filled my first corny keg a few hours ago and plan on doing the following unless my plan is faulty.

I set the CO2 pressure at 10 psi since I have the corny in my hatch way which is around 35 - 45 degrees.

Now I did not leave the CO2 tank connected as I'm afraid of leaks, so my plan is to check the pressure several times a day and if need be add more.

I assume as the co2 gets absorbed I'll continue to add more daily.

Taste beer in 5 - 7 days.

Sound like a plan?

Leave it connected and just take some soapy water and pour/spray it over anything that can leak and look for bubbles. Once finished grab a hose and rinse the heck out of it. If it is leaking, then it is leaking and you need to fix it. If it isn't leaking then you are gravy. This will keep the pressure constant and allow for the beer to absorb the CO2 and become constant rather than absorbing, balancing and then getting repressurized and having to rebalance.

The beer at about 12psi should taste good in a week, but much better in two to three.

Matt Up North said:

Leave it connected and just take some soapy water and pour/spray it over anything that can leak and look for bubbles. Once finished grab a hose and rinse the heck out of it. If it is leaking, then it is leaking and you need to fix it. If it isn't leaking then you are gravy. This will keep the pressure constant and allow for the beer to absorb the CO2 and become constant rather than absorbing, balancing and then getting repressurized and having to rebalance.

The beer at about 12psi should taste good in a week, but much better in two to three.

Click to expand...

Done, CO2 attached, sprayed soapy water no bubbles so far.

What worried me was how sensitive the connectors are to leaking i.e. if you put pressure on the tubing and moved the connector say to one side a little I can hear gas leaking. The connectors have to be just so.

I have brand new connectors and the keg is the pin type.

It could be the position of the connectors or it could be old orings not sealing well in the connectors. I would go with matt's post and make sure the connector is positioned right. Plan on replacing the oring seals to prevent this in the future.

beerthirty said:

It could be the position of the connectors or it could be old orings not sealing well in the connectors. I would go with matt's post and make sure the connector is positioned right. Plan on replacing the oring seals to prevent this in the future.

Click to expand...

Will do PS new o rings all around plus food grade lube/sealer.

dmako said:

What worried me was how sensitive the connectors are to leaking i.e. if you put pressure on the tubing and moved the connector say to one side a little I can hear gas leaking. The connectors have to be just so.

Click to expand...

You should look into that. Connections should not be so susceptible to leaks. Where is it leaking? Quick-disconnects? Flare nuts? One common mistake people make is using teflon tape or such on flare connections - unnecessary and a possible detriment.

Another thing I did when I got my system: after doing the soap test, I pressurized the system dry. After shutting off the CO2 at the tank, I let it sit for a couple of days to make sure I didn't lose any pressure.

ChrisS68 said:

You should look into that. Connections should not be so susceptible to leaks. Where is it leaking? Quick-disconnects? Flare nuts? One common mistake people make is using teflon tape or such on flare connections - unnecessary and a possible detriment.

Another thing I did when I got my system: after doing the soap test, I pressurized the system dry. After shutting off the CO2 at the tank, I let it sit for a couple of days to make sure I didn't lose any pressure.

Click to expand...

The quick connects tend to leak. I have two that both exhibit the same leak.
One QC is setup to a gauge while the other goes to my CO2 tank. If attached and I were to say put some pressure on then to the side, I can hear hissing. It seems like the spring within them does not exert much pressure to form a tight seal.

Now I dry tested my system and after days the pressure remains constant it just when the QC are on I become concerned.

this: http://www.northernbrewer.com/default/pin-disc-1-4-mfl-gas.html

The white part in this pic is where it leaks.

When I originally started kegging I didn't have hose clamps and was using old kegs that hadn't traded out the gaskets. Get a gasket set and replace all of them including the bleed valve (unless it is in good shape). Then after you finish the beer inside, clean it really well and as mentioned above, be sure to pressurize it dry for a couple of day or a week. You will be able to really find the leaks if there are any.

Lastly, don't forget that there are two ends to a leak problem. The keg and the other end of the hose (regulator, tank connection, hose). Good luck and remember that there aren't always leaks, just often

Follow up

It seems that was the gas in pop-it gasket. I guess a true dry test should be done with the CO2 left attached as the leak only occurred when the quick connect was attached.