Is a gushing keg....

...a guaranteed infection?

I racked the SNCA clone 2 days ago over to a keg for secondary. I've been venting regularly until tonight--I pulled the ring and got a HUGE beer shower. It won't stop gushing out. Last time this happened to me I had a harsh phenolic tasting beer. It has a hint of it right now that I can tell.

It is obviously the keg--even though I thought I cleaned and rebuilt it thoroughly.

Would this happen in 1 day? What else could it be?

No one????


Hopefully I am overreacting. I vented the keg last night until it stopped gushing, and vented throughout the day today...I think what happened is too much pressure built up inside it and it started carbonating the beer--too much.

It isn't gushing anymore. I think I lost about 2 gallons of it though.

wish I could help but I don't keg yet

It might be infected, but I'd say you kegged a little too soon or it warmed up over-night. I've only had one keg pressurize too much and that was barley wine. It turned out ok.

SOoo, basically what you have is a secondary without an air lock? Can't you put a hose on the inlet (gas) side, and an air lock on the end of the hose? Or some kind of fitting....

How did the foam smell? Did it have the nasty phenolic funk?

How long was it in your primary fermenter before you racked it into the keg? Is it possible it was still quite active still? That would be my first suspicion, however I can't speak from experience I haven't kegged yet (but that will change very soon, my keg system is in the mail!)
Good luck, Let us know how things work out.

Sean