Keezer advice

[Scele]

I recently built myself a small keezer (build thread incoming soon) and just experienced a leak that drained a 5lbs bottle of Co2 overnight. I suspect that I bumped the regulator when I was putting a new keg in there yesterday and failed to tighten it properly.

This made me wonder, those of you who have keezer/kegerator setups, do you set and forget, or turn the gas on when you know it will be in use?

 

[MrE_the_Great]

I set and forget. I have a manifold on the inside of my keezer so I can turn off/on individual lines if needed, but I generally leave the regulator alone if it's stable.

If all your connections are secure and your quick disconnects good, and your posts/poppits...etc, you should not be loosing CO2 when the keezer isn't in use. You have a leak somewhere that needs addressed.

 

[Scele]

I set and forget. I have a manifold on the inside of my keezer so I can turn off/on individual lines if needed, but I generally leave the regulator alone if it's stable.

If all your connections are secure and your quick disconnects good, and your posts/poppits...etc, you should not be loosing CO2 when the keezer isn't in use. You have a leak somewhere that needs addressed.

Working through the possible bad guys now:

- Put pressure on the regulator, connected to a 4 way manifold to see if it drops off in a few hours. I already went over every connection in the regulator with star san at 30 PSI.

- If pressure does not hold, it means there is a leak in my manifold.

If pressure holds, it was probably a bad seal between the regulator and the Co2 tank, that I fixed when I connected my second tank.

OR

A leak in one of my kegs, most likely the one I connected yesterday. At which point I need to check the kegposts, the quick connects and lid.


Did I forget anything?

 

[MrE_the_Great]

Your plan sounds like a good start.

Don't forget that the regulator shouldn't "fall." Before opening the regulator valve or manifold, make sure the CO2 tank is connected and open. Then open the regulator valve to you desired pressure. Then open the manifold as needed. This should stabilize the regulator. You'll see the needle move when gas is pouring into the kegs, but it should normalize back to the original setting and hold there. As you pour pints, the needle will again move a little but stabilize at the original setting quickly.

I was working with a friend to find a leak in his set up...we found one at the otiker clamps he used...wasn't crimped properly. Check the worm gear/otiker clamps as well.

Good luck!

 

[Scele]

Your plan sounds like a good start.

Don't forget that the regulator shouldn't "fall." Before opening the regulator valve or manifold, make sure the CO2 tank is connected and open. Then open the regulator valve to you desired pressure. Then open the manifold as needed. This should stabilize the regulator. You'll see the needle move when gas is pouring into the kegs, but it should normalize back to the original setting and hold there. As you pour pints, the needle will again move a little but stabilize at the original setting quickly.

I was working with a friend to find a leak in his set up...we found one at the otiker clamps he used...wasn't crimped properly. Check the worm gear/otiker clamps as well.

Good luck!

Thanks. At the moment I'm seeing the level drop a bit in my tank, even with the valve off, but that's probably just cooling the tank down to 42 F since it's sitting in the keezer, once I have it stable I'll keep going through the tests.

So far I haven't seen a single bubble though. It was holding fine for about 3 weeks until I bumped the regulator while putting in a keg yesterday, guessing I may have cracked the seal, figured I had it fixed after tightening it, and been wrong.

 

[BlueHouseBrew]

Since you have everything, including the tank, in the keezer, one quick check you can do to see if you have a leak (but not pinpoint it) is to open the keezer slowly in the morning and take a whiff of the air inside. CO2 has a very particular smell/feel to it. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, release some from a valve or quick disconnect and take a good whiff.) If you have a leak, you will probably be able to detect the CO2 clearly (assuming the keezer is sealed well and you don't frequently open it.)

In terms of places to check. I've ended up with quick disconnects that had a slightly larger inner diameter than they should have. They didn't always leak, but if the gas line fell just the right way it could angle the disconnect and would cause a leak. (So there would be no leak on the manifold system with no kegs hooked up, an no leaks on the disconnected kegs, but when everything was joined together, there would be an intermittent leak.) When you look for leaks on the disconnect-post connections (with soapy water, etc.), wiggle the disconnects a bit. If they are loose, or your post o-rings are worn or in need of keg lube, you may spot the leak.

 

[Scele]

New data, my brother just pulled a pint off a blond ale that was a recent addition to the keezer, it had gone sour since I had the leak. When I removed the liquid out it looks like it had trouble closing. I'm rechecking now using a different keg of amber I had in there for 2 weeks without any problems.

@Blue Thanks for the tip on the posts, they have been very difficult to fit on the keg posts. I was planning on replacing them. Seeing as they were cheap 2 packs for the gas and liquid, I may just replace both.