Leaky Keg - Am I Effed?

So I have a batch of amber ale that I fermented for three weeks. I moved it into my freshly cleaned and sanitized 5 gallon corny keg. After I did that, sealed the keg, and purged all the air in favor of CO2, I noticed some bubbles forming on the "out" valve. I released any gas that was still on the inside of the keg, and a few bubbles still formed on the out valve. At this point, I realized I was fairly stuck since I didn't have another keg to put my beer into, or bottles to bottle my beer with. I also figured trying to rebuild the valve/post was a bad idea with beer just hanging out in the keg.

I left the beer in my keezer overnight and attached a disconnect to the out valve in a hope to control the leak (no idea if my logic is any good with this idea). Filled the keg with CO2 up to 14psi according and am letting it sit for a couple weeks to carb up.

Will this leak destroy my beer? Any way I can mitigate any damage the gas leak might be causing while I'm carbing my beer?

You won't ruin your beer- but if the out post is leaking, you'll run out of gas way before the beer carbs up.

I'd turn off the gas. I'd pull off that post, and reseat the poppit. That should do the trick. Then, put it back together and put the gas back on it.

i know a lot of people put the gas on the out post when force carbing. if i did that, would it be a temporary fix that would prevent any leaking?

You can try reseating the valve without taking the post off. Just release the pressure, use a sanitized instrument that will push the valve down and then release. Try re-pressurizing again. One way that I've gotten it to stop leaking is to turn the keg upside down. It may leak a little beer out, but if it's just not seated correctly, the weight of the beer, along with the pressure, could do the trick.

thanks guys. i'll give those ideas a shot.

BROWN said:

i know a lot of people put the gas on the out post when force carbing. if i did that, would it be a temporary fix that would prevent any leaking?

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only if the other post seals tight too.

its really not hard to fix the poppet with beer in the keg. i'd dab a little keg lube on it too.

throw a cobra tap on it, and call it good!

after the keg is empty, take the post apart, and check out the popet. sometimes a little keg lube on that part goes a looong way.