1st time kegging, doing something wrong!

Any help would be appreciated. I came home last night to an unpressurized keg, and an empty CO2 tank, so I need to figure out what went wrong, and what I can do to fix it.

I ordered the kegs online back in early December, and they came pressurized. The day before kegging (this past weekend), I checked the pressure-relief valve and they were still pressurized. I took one of them them apart, and the keg appeared to have new o-rings, which they should according to the company I bought them from. I compared them with a new set I have and they looked identical. No cracks or issues that I could see. I cleaned everything, filled it with Starsan, attached both the gas and liquid lines (with a picnic faucet) and pressurized it. It seemed to be holding pressure fine, so I let it sit pressurized over night.

The next day, I opened the faucet to empty the Starsan, and had no issues. I racked the beer into the keg, sanitized the lid and o-ring, and pressurized. When I first hit it with CO2, it was leaking out of the lid, so I opened it to re-seat it, and the leak stopped as far as I could tell. The following evening, no pressure, empty CO2 bottle, a very small amount of beer in the liquid line.

So how do I figure out where the leak is? As far as I know it could be anywhere from the regulator to the faucet. My biggest concern now is the possibility of oxygenation since there's no pressure, but hopefully there's just enough to not let anything in.

Thanks!

It could very well be that the lid was not properly seated. It's recommended that you blast the keg initially with a higher PSI to ensure that the lid seats properly. Also, are you using keg lube? It's cheap for a tube and you will never have to buy more than one.

Another thing you can do to check for leaks is to get some soapy water in a spray bottle and spray all of your junctions in the gas line from the CO2 bottle to your regulator and from there to the keg. If you see it bubbling up anywhere, you have a leak.

I have a similar issue with my secondary regulator/CO2 bottle. I have to figure out where the leak is.

What I do is after putting keg lube on is lift up on the lid and hit it with 10-20 psi to seat it. After that then I push down the lock. I have had leaks where I shut the lock and then pressurized it and it was a severe leak so I caught it before I lost all my co2. Good luck finding the problem and hopefully your c02 doesn't cost too much to fill.

Gotcha. So keg lube and hit it with gas before seating the lid. I'll also check all the lines for leaks. Thanks!

If you've got your starsan in a spray bottle, it works great for spraying around and looking for bubbles since it foams up so well. I've had the same thing happen a couple of times, and its always frustrating. For me it always seems to wind up being either the keg lid or the pressure relief valve. A little lube and a little extra pressure at first sealing generally takes care of the lid, and using the relief valve generally gets it to seat, but I'm at the point where I'll normally double check with a squirt or two of starsan before I toss it in the keezer.

erikpete18 said:

If you've got your starsan in a spray bottle, it works great for spraying around and looking for bubbles since it foams up so well. I've had the same thing happen a couple of times, and its always frustrating. For me it always seems to wind up being either the keg lid or the pressure relief valve. A little lube and a little extra pressure at first sealing generally takes care of the lid, and using the relief valve generally gets it to seat, but I'm at the point where I'll normally double check with a squirt or two of starsan before I toss it in the keezer.

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Awesome. I was going to go ahead and use Starsan since I could use that on the lid without any worries. I'll give it a try tonight and see if I can get it figured out. Thanks everyone!

Doh just yesterday I realized my keg was resting against my high pressure gauge in the fridge, which caused it to leak, and I losed a few pounds of co2 how ironic right after posting to here.

Here’s my suggestion for pressure checking your setup. Hook your regulator up to the cylinder and pressurize only your gas line(s) up to the kegs but don’t hook the lines up to the keg. Soap test your connections and then shut the gas off at the tank and see if the pressure left in the lines bleeds off or stays constant. If the pressure holds, pressurize your lines again and this time hook your keg up, soap test and shut the tank off again to see if there is bleed off, and finally do the process with the tap line. This isolates the leak a little better and narrows down your search.

sigmund said:

Here’s my suggestion for pressure checking your setup. Hook your regulator up to the cylinder and pressurize only your gas line(s) up to the kegs but don’t hook the lines up to the keg. Soap test your connections and then shut the gas off at the tank and see if the pressure left in the lines bleeds off or stays constant. If the pressure holds, pressurize your lines again and this time hook your keg up, soap test and shut the tank off again to see if there is bleed off, and finally do the process with the tap line. This isolates the leak a little better and narrows down your search.

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Awesome. This is exactly what I was thinking. I'll be trying this out tomorrow and see how it goes. I did take my keg to a friend's house, and had him pressurize it, so I know there's no issue there. I think I just need to tight the clamps on the gas line. Or maybe even the connection to the regulator.

Thanks!