What the hell happened?!

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kenpotf

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I had my beer on 10 psi since last Sunday. I posted on here about it not carbing at all and I decided to increase to 25 psi for 24 hours. I woke up this morning to turn it back down to 10 and the damn thing leaked everywhere. I'm pretty sure the beer is ruined. I haven't let out the CO2 from the keg yet if there's even any in there. I went ahead to try to turn down the pressure anyway, but there was no response from the regulator. It was almost like there was nothing going into it. I think the CO2 may be out, but I don't know how to tell if my regulator still says that there's something in it.

Do I need to dump this, or more importantly what in the hell happened?

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/JU4zFlcqtOBMsaSPGnUGanda8EEN_bfQG6I8VJj-EWk?feat=directlink
 
I think I know what's wrong. The pressure from the keg is causing the beer to leak out at the faucet on the hose side. I have a 3/16 hose attached to the barb with a clamp around it. Is that what caused my problem? I think the beer is fine although I lost a lot from the leak, but overall there isn't 5 gallons in the bottom. Also, I still wonder why my canister seems to not have any gas in it since I just had it refilled last Saturday.
 
Make sure you take off the liquid side when you force carbonate. Should just have the gas side hooked up. How long did you keep it at 25psi.
 
LOL! I didn't know that bit of the story :) It was on for about 24 hours. I still have CO2. I didn't realize that I had to hit the pressure relief valve on the canister to hear any gas. I backed my screw all the way out and then hit the valve. I put the screw back in and it started pressurizing again. I think I just have a mess from the leak at the faucet. I moved the clamp closer to the adapter and tightened that down. After reattaching the liquid line and pouring, I don't have anymore leaks. I was so worried that the beer was ruined, but in reality there's still co2 in the canister so it should have been safe.

Thanks for the tip on removing the liquid line. I'll be doing that next time :)
 
Beer should be fine.

If you are going to be impatient (as I am) about carbing, but don't want to shake, ramp up the psi to 54 or so after your keg is cooled, and disconnect the liquid and the gas.

Let it sit overnight, hook it up to gas at 13psi (don't bleed any pressure off) and it will be perfect in a day or 2.
 
That brings up another question. Should I leave the beer line off now even though I dropped it down to 10 psi or should it be okay at this point? It's not leaking at the faucet anymore from what I can see, but I'll be checking on it occasionally.
 
Really the line should be fine alot higher than that.

I want to say mine doesn't leak at 40psi or so, but then again I don't leave it on for long at that pressure.
 
Do you use clamps to attach it to the barb? If you do, do you have the clamps really tight? I was afraid I'd cut into the jacket of the hose if I did it too tight.
 
Mine came with the **** clamped out of it, so I didn't do it.

Those hoses are tough. Even if you somehow cut through, just cut 2 inches off and try again. Push the envelope.
 
LOL! Thanks! All of this could've been a lot worse! I tightened the crap out of it, so hopefully I won't have this happen again, but next time I'll definitely remove the liquid line. I won't learn anything if I don't screw it up, right? :mug:
 
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