Leaky Keg or CO2 Absorption?

I just received my new (used) kegs in the mail. When I received them, they were pressurized, so I proceeded to disassemble, scrub and polish them and put them all back together.

I replaced the main keg lid seal because it leaked after I got everything put back together, but none of the other O-Rings because they all looked to be in great shape. (He supposedly replaced them as part of the sale) I lubed 'em up, racked the Caramel Cream Ale over, purged the headspace and pressurized to 15psi and let it sit. I pulled the pressure release valve ever so lightly the next morning to ensure pressure and it was fine. I then checked it a week later by pulling on the pressure release valve and all I heard was a small quick 'Pssht.'

Question: Did the CO2 that I pushed into the keg get absorbed by the beer and am I being paranoid about it, or would it be an indication that it leaked?

Hmmm.

I would guess that because you had any phtttt at all, means that the keg was pressurized. Is there any way to determine if your overall tank capacity went down?

I don't wait for CO2 to absorb. I generally force carb by turning the CO2 up to 30PSI, laying the keg horizontal in my lap and shaking back and forth.

You'll hear the CO2 bubbling into the keg after you shake. It will slow down. Shake some more and the bubbling will resume. I repeat this over about 5 minutes.

Leave the PSI at around 30 and go do something else around the house (waste about 30-40 minutes) come back and repeat the process.

Then I set the pressure back to 12-15 PSI. Give it all an hour to settle and draw off a glass.

If you come back on 36 hours and have the same quick phhtttt... you probably want to do a quick seal check.

Take the keg and kick the PSI up to about 30. Mix up a couple cups of water and a couple tablespoons of liquid soap and using a paper towel. dab the soapy mixture over all the posts and the lid. IF there is a leak, you'll see bubbles.

OH AND ONE MORE THING: Use some keg lube around all of those seals. If you can't get lube, use some vaseline.

Hope this helps...

Absorbed. It takes a lot of CO2 to carbonate a keg. If you just want to let it sit while carbing, you'll have to keep it connected to the tank.

One more thing, people have said it, but no one has said why.

Push the presure up to 30 pounds PSI, whenever you open the big cover, to set the big o-ring. You don't need to leave it at 30 LBS PSI, but you need to set the seal. (You can leave it at 30, if you want to, but you don't need to.)

Oh, for the rest of you, PSI stands for Per Square Inch. Pressure needs to be expressed in a weight (or mass) times a volume. PSI is just a volume.) 30 PSI won't cut it. 30 what PSI? Pounds, grams, tons?

steve

actually...

PSI stands for: Pounds per Square Inch, so by definition, it will 'cut it'. pressure can also be expressed as bars or kilopascals, etc.

and also, if you have 'good' kegs, you actually shouldn't need to blast with pressure to seat the lid, it should seat by itself, when you rotate the bale (sp?) to clamp down.

with that said, i have many kegs that need pressure to seal. it just comes with buying kegs as cheap as i can... heh.

Yep, PPSI stands for Pounds Per Square Inch.

However, PSI stands for Per Square Inch. As In 14 pounds PSI.

steve

ummmmm.... everywhere i've checked and rechecked, states that 'PSI' stands for "Pounds per Square Inch"

look at wikipedia, google definitions, dictionary.com, etc.

Thanks everyone for your help!

I had assumed it was just absorbed by the beer, but I wanted to make sure. This is only my second kegged batch, so i'm still in the infancy stage of kegging.

FYI, I did hit it with 30psi to seat the lids initially. The first keg lid and o-ring did not seal properly so I changed o-rings, re-lubed with keg lube, hooked it back up and blasted it with 30psi again and purged. I then let it sit for a week (I don't have a CO2 manifold at the moment).

if your lids don't seal without pressure, check under the lip, where the large O-ring presses against the keg. you can't really visually examine it, but run your fingers over it, and feel for inconsistencies. i've found that some of my kegs that don't seal well have gunk built up there, and once i've scraped/BKF cleaned it off, it seals much better.

i personally just leave everything hooked up to the gas, so the beer will carb eventually.