Help before I loose an eye!

My Cornelius keg was delivered, but not the CO2 tank. I did get one of the keg chargers that work on the 16 gram cartridges. My plan was to charge the keg with the cartridge and pump some sanitizer through it and then put my brown ale in for conditioning, so that I could free up the carboy. Carbonation can wait until I get my tank.

With the lid off the keg, I attached the charger to make sure the CO2 was getting in. I gave the trigger on the pull and nothing happened. I gave it another pull and the top blows off the disconnect and puts a nice dent in the sheetrock in the ceiling. (Don’t want to think of what would have happened if I were looking down at it!) Only the very end of the thread on the disconnect look bad and it screws back in fine. My guess is that it was not screwed all the way in at the factory. Also I don’t see anything there that would depress the button on the keg fitting to allow the CO2 into the tank. This is my first time using a Cornelius keg, so before I hurt myself can someone give me some help?

My guess is that no CO2 was getting into the keg because the connector was not seated properly. All of that pressure had to go somewhere.

Those cartridge CO2 dealies are regulatorless IIRC. Very High pressure.

close call. Never heard of that before.

Yeah, the chargers put out about 600psi. You don't need to leave the lid off to know it's getting in... you'll hear it.

You have to make sure that connector is all the way down on the post. Pull up on the locking ring, push down hard, release the ring. It would help to lube up the Oring.

As for the part that would open the valve on the ball lock, keep looking, it is a little spring and a small peice of either metal or plastic that goes in the middle. Take the beer out QDC apart so you know what you are looking for. You should be missign two parts, spring and a little post with a rubber gasket on it, it is doubtful that the gasket came off.

Better wear safety glasses next time or you will look like this

Cheers

Same thing happened to me a couple weeks ago, and I posted it here.

I had to buy a replacement ball lock but the second one did not blow up on me. I also attached the gas cartridge to the ball lock before attaching to the keg, if that helps.

Coyotlgw. Wish I had seen your post before my experience. I may have been more cautious. I ended up making the trip to my LHBS and getting another disconnect. No problems with the new one. My guess is that it was what olllllo and Bobby suggested. The connector was not seated all the way down. I did find a spring on the floor, but not the post.

Does someone make a disconnect that will withstand the pressure of a keg charger? I’d hate to take this to a party and have a friend fiddle with it and get hurt. Could happen pretty easily after a few beers!

I think the best thing would be to leave the connector and charger on the keg the whole time. Just put a little tag on it that says DO NOT TOUCH. Of course, we know what happens when you tell rebels what to do.

anoldur said:

I’d hate to take this to a party and have a friend fiddle with it and get hurt

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Just make a sign:

"[insert name of guy that always get's loaded and annoying here],

DO NOT LOOK INTO GREY CONNECTION AND PULL BLACK TRIGGER"

and remind him that he is not supposed to do so once he is moving to the "loaded" stage.

:cross:

anoldur said:

Coyotlgw. Wish I had seen your post before my experience. I may have been more cautious. I ended up making the trip to my LHBS and getting another disconnect.

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Yeah, mine was https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=35249

I had planned on making it a poll, with the choices of:

a) yeah, I have seen that happen before
b) no, that is a first
c) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA You dumb bastard, coyotlgw!