HiImBrian
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2014
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- 273
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We've had an exceptionally cold last couple of days out here in Colorado and unfortunately for me I don't think kegerators were meant to operate at below freezing temps. A couple days ago I kegged a chocolate espresso stout that I've been waiting over 2 months for. I turned my CO2 up to 20psi and shut off the valves to the other two kegs (only have one regulator for now and didn't want to over carb). The next day I came home from work to find my kegerator covered in sticky stout and the surrounding walls all splattered with delicious chocolatey nectar. Upon further investigation I found that the inside of the kegerator was completely clean and my brand new keg of stout was now bone dry along with my 5lb CO2 tank that was over half full.
I have drawn a few conclusions as to what might have happened and would love to hear other ideas to keep this from happening again. Keep in mind, ALL beer was dispensed from the keg and there was some definite force behind it.
1) The beer in the keg could have froze up a bit and expanded causing excess pressure to overpower the tap handle and spray beer everywhere. This doesn't explain the empty CO2 tank.
2) The CO2 tank could have expanded somehow and blew out the regulator causing a sudden rush of pressure into the keg and shooting beer everywhere.