Corny poppet valve

I kegged my stuff last July 4. I hooked up the CO2 and let the keg sit at serving pressure (about 12 lbs). Tried it on friday and the beer was a bit flat. I cranked it up to 20 psi, shook the corney a few times during the night. Saturday, I pulled a glass, was satified with the carbonation, so I lowered the psi down to 5 psi. Well, sunday night, when I went to pour a glass....nothing. I look at the regulator on the CO2 and the tank was empty. Today I went and exchanged the CO2 tank, hooked it up and pressurized it to 20 psi. The poppet valve was leaking. So, I pull a valve from another tank, put it in and put 20 lbs to it.....leaks even worse. So, I pull the lid from the other keg, exchange it with the one on the keg, install the original poppet valve and gas it. I leak checked it with some soap, maybe still leaking from the poppet (seems to push out the soap from the bleed holes every once in a while, but may just be air trapped under, not sure). Anyway, I've left it at 20 psi, turned off the CO2 bottle and will check to see if it is still holding 20 psi in a few hours. I was wondering what pressure is a poppet valve supposed to release at? The ones I have are not new, but have been used a couple times..... all the kegs had CO2 pressure in them (hadn't been used in a couple years) so I thought they were probably good.

Allan

When you say poppet, are you referring to the pressure release valve in the lid instead of the ones in the posts? It should take decent amount of pressure to get that to release by itself considering cornies are rated to 120 PSI. I'd say to just get new valves and install them, they're cheap.

The poppet valve is the little circle in the middle of the gas in and beer out posts that seals the gas and beer in when there are no disconnects connected. You're probably talking about the overpressure or purge valve in the center of the lid.

A picture would help.

Yeah, you guys are right. It's the pressure relief valve. An update. I checked a few minutes later and the soap was foaming like crazy. I've since taken the last valve (the worst looking one, looks like a pit bull chewed on the pull ring) and installed it. So far I haven't had any leaks. I'm gonna leave the CO2 turned off and check the pressure in the am. I'm on 24 hour call this week, so no drinking for me until Monday evening anyway. Still wish I knew the pressure these were designed to release at.

Allan

Allan,

All my pressure relief valves leak. They're very temperamental. I find they're like the toilet lever, if you jiggle it a little bit it will seat properly and it won't leak. Even though mine initially leak, when I turn them and set them properly, I lose no CO2 whatsoever.

I always place a little keg lube on mine since they are rubber...

Been thinkin' about takin' the grab ring off of them. When I screw them in, they still look like the ring bottoms out on the threaded piece. Maybe that's why the crappy lookin' one seats.... somebody bent the hell out of it so it would seat. But, without the ring, I wouldn't be able to play with them if they did leak. I'm gonna buy new ones next order for supplies, anyway.

Allan

How many kegs do you have? I have 25. I DO NOT completely re-assemble them when not in use.

Screwing in the pressure relief valve and using the poppets and o-rings while not actively using the keg with brew in them is just wasting the useful life of the rubber components.

Remove all the o-rings and lube them then place them in a plastic bag. This will keep the rubber lubed and out of the air, thus extending their shelf life.

You can reassemble the kegs with the dip tubes in place as well as the posts, also minus the o-rings, so you don't lose any parts.

Barring that, you could always use an on-hoff switch...

I got 3. I used to do some extract and partial mash brewing years ago. I started purchasing things for an AG system when I met my wife online..... 4 years later, 2 round trips to the Philippines, all sorts of immigration stuff and a baby daughter later, I finally got round to finishing the the AG setup. I had cleaned, sanitized and pressurized the kegs before putting them away. Your routine of taking the kegs apart and lubing everything sounds good, but when I put mine away, I thought the best thing was to pump 'em full of CO2 to keep the stainless from rusting. Dunno if I'd want to store 'em long term dissasembled.

I want to buy a few more kegs. I know my wife would kill me if I had 25, though..

Allan