Saving a flat beer keg.

So on our first kegging attempt we ran into a bit of a problem and we need advice. We kegged a “December”fest but we didn’t have a CO2 tank at the time and had to natural carbonate it. We threw in the sugar and let it sit for 3 weeks before we had the rest of our equipment. Since it was our first time we didn’t really know what to look out for and it turns out we have a bad O’ring and the keg leaks (we figured that out quickly when we pressurized the tank). We tapped the beer and its flat as we expected. What are my options for saving the brew. Can you force carbonate it even though its got priming sugar? I'd like to not throw it out if possible.

After three weeks, I doubt it's got priming sugar in it now. That's all fermented out. So you basically got a tiny bit more alcohol in it and conditioned it an extra three weeks. Fix your o-ring, put the pressure to it and carb that puppy up.

And you didn't "have" to naturally carbonate it. It would've been just fine sitting in the fermenter until you got your tank. More conditioning time is a good thing in almost all cases.

Replace the o-ring and force carb.

sometimes for whatever reason keg o-rings dont want to seal unless you get a little pressure to seat them properly first.

Think of it as your beer has been sitting in a second secondary for three weeks and just force carb it and start drinking

I didn't think about that, but he's absolutely right. Your o-ring is probably fine. You have to put a little pressure in it to seat the lid or it won't seal. Since you didn't have a CO2 tank, you weren't able to do that.

We actually tried seating it but to no luck. Thanks for the info.