Keg gaskets

[hilljack13]

I thought a few weeks ago someone posted a site with some cheap, but effective keg gasket/o-ring replacments that came in mulitiple colors. I thought I saved the site to my favorites. Did not .

Can someone post the link or something similar? I would like to start a bench stock and I like the idea of using different colors for gas/beer.

 

[day_trippr]

Don't have any links to colored O-rings, just advise to avoid silicone O-rings.
They are highly O2 permeable vs the standard Buna-N/Nitrile O-rings, and if you use silicone "keg lube", it will slowly dissolve silicone O-rings...

Cheers!

 

[Brushwood Brewing]

O-rings for the posts? My (semi-)LHBS has blue for beer and green for gas. The color differentiation has saved me multiple times...

 

[hilljack13]

I must be a complete idiot. I found the link in another post.

Realized Chrome's bookmarks are off the top of the browser so I missed it.

https://www.valuebrew.com/shop/keg-o-rings/5?via=hbf

 

[mac_1103]

Looks like the colored ones are silicone.

 

[day_trippr]

They usually are...

 

[Kickass]

https://www.captainoring.com/store/p143/cornykeg5sets_opickpl.html

I’ve used they and they work as advertised. One slide says they’re nitrile. I’m not smart on the materials side of things so maybe someone can add insight to what that means and what it’s O2 permeability is.

 

[day_trippr]

Nitrile = Buna-N, so that's a good thing if true...

Cheers!

 

[Broken Crow]

Thanks for that question! Until now, I had thought all coloured o-rings were silicone and dismissed them.
These pages have just started me doing a bit more research:
https://www.specialistsealingproducts.co.uk/o-ring-colour-identification/
https://www.globaloring.com/oring-colors/

 

[odie]

if you use silicone "keg lube", it will slowly dissolve silicone O-rings...

really? where did you get that info? But I can see the logic since somehting in the lube keeps it liquid and not solid.

I use keg lube. Don't know if it's silicone based but it's food grade.

And have the red (I think silicone) post rings and white lid rings, which I believe are silicone.

 

[Broken Crow]

really? where did you get that info? But I can see the logic since somehting in the lube keeps it liquid and not solid.

I use keg lube. Don't know if it's silicone based but it's food grade.

And have the red (I think silicone) post rings and white lid rings, which I believe are silicone.

It's news to me too but it makes sense of an issue I had that might be of interest to you... If I recall correctly, you have the same Chinese baby-kegs that I have 3 of; I regularly used keg lube and on one occasion of cleaning when I went to remove the lid, a ring of chunks of deteriorated o-ring were stuck to it... After I examined the o-rings on the other 2 I found cracks forming in one of them so I had to replace them all with Buna's. They were black so I had assumed they were nitrile or EDPM...oops. It is possible though it was an altogether cheaper material that I'm unaware of, but it was my call to do more research and at least try to know exactly what I'm using so I can avoid future issues.

 

[day_trippr]

really? where did you get that info? But I can see the logic since somehting in the lube keeps it liquid and not solid.

Simple: experience.

I bought a pack of baby blue O-rings maybe 15 years ago without knowing they were silicone. I have always used "keg lube" which is silicone grease, and one day maybe four months later one of my stout kegs had the gas QD stick fast and it took a pair of screw drivers to pry it off. I looked inside to find melted baby blue O-ring. When I looked at other gas QDs I found varying levels of the same deposits, probably varying by how much grease was used.

That was that for colored O-rings...

Cheers!

 

[Broken Crow]

Simple: experience.

I bought a pack of baby blue O-rings maybe 15 years ago without knowing they were silicone. I have always used "keg lube" which is silicone grease, and one day maybe four months later one of my stout kegs had the gas QD stick fast and it took a pair of screw drivers to pry it off. I looked inside to find melted baby blue O-ring. When I looked at other gas QDs I found varying levels of the same deposits, probably varying by how much grease was used.

That was that for colored O-rings...

Cheers!

Thanks for jogging my memory! It was about 3 or 4 months from first use to when my lid was glued by its own deteriorating cheap o-ring. It was your comments in other threads I searched on here about o-rings that led me to seek out Buna or EDPM replacements.

 

[odie]

I haven't had the chinese mini kegs more than a couple few years. They are rarely used so I'm not tracking o-ring problems yet. They are just for camping trips, or doing a hot rinse of my home draft systems.

 

[odie]

Simple: experience.

I bought a pack of baby blue O-rings maybe 15 years ago without knowing they were silicone. I have always used "keg lube" which is silicone grease, and one day maybe four months later one of my stout kegs had the gas QD stick fast and it took a pair of screw drivers to pry it off. I looked inside to find melted baby blue O-ring. When I looked at other gas QDs I found varying levels of the same deposits, probably varying by how much grease was used.

That was that for colored O-rings...

Cheers!

Interesting. certainly a possibility. Or another factor was the cause.

I remember as a kid, those plastic worms would eat cheap plastic tackle boxes. That's how Plano became dominate...their boxes could stand up to the worms

 

[BongoYodeler]

Interesting. certainly a possibility. Or another factor was the cause.

I remember as a kid, those plastic worms would eat cheap plastic tackle boxes. That's how Plano became dominate...their boxes could stand up to the worms

"Standing up to the worms." Sounds like that should have been included on Pink Floyd's The Wall album.

 

[odie]

"Standing up to the worms." Sounds like that should have been included on Pink Floyd's The Wall album.

song was definitley in my head as I wrote that...

 

[micraftbeer]

Here's a collection of my experience and practice:

1. EPDM on the lid o-ring. Best for keeping oxygen out and biggest surface area for oxygen ingress. However, I did have one keg that somehow had a slight bend on the lid and needed one of those oversized o-rings, which was silicone. I decided that was preferable to leaking gas. And then I just don't use that keg in circulation much.

2. EPDM on the liquid posts. Just because I had them. I don't do any crazy "change them every 6 months" schedule, but I have found recently that my liquid disconnects are super hard to put on and take off. They've been on about 2.5 years. So I guess change them every 2 years????

3. Silicone on the gas posts. I figured I didn't need both Liquid AND Gas posts to be a unique color, so I just went with Green on the Gas post. Too many times got the wrong one connected and really ticked me off. I am 100% satisfied with these green o-rings, even though they are silicone. I've had these probably ~7 years without leak problems or getting hard/sticky/swollen like the EPDM ones on my liquid lines.

4. EPDM on most of the dip tubes. Just because I had them. But I did find one keg that I couldn't get a good seal and had a leaker. Inspecting the o-ring found the base one on the keg was slightly larger OD. I had the keg since new, so it wasn't some wonky repair. So if replacing dip tube o-rings, hold on to your old one until you try the new one. I found most places don't specify the size of the dip tube o-rings, but other sites do, and there appear to be 2 sizes.

 

[Skeeter686]

I remember as a kid, those plastic worms would eat cheap plastic tackle boxes. That's how Plano became dominate...their boxes could stand up to the worms

I do remember that!

 

[day_trippr]

As do I - and it's literally the plasticizer compounds that keep the "worms" limber that attack incompatible plastics.
Like using silicone grease on silicone O-rings...

Cheers! (the cure is ditch the plastics and fish with fur and feathers - and not use silicone O-rings )

 

[rodduley]

I kind of like the idea of a colored gas post O-ring to differentiate between the liquid. Does anyone have a good source for red O-rings for the gas post on a corny keg?

 

[passedpawn]

I replaced all of mine about 10 yrs ago. Also used paint marker to make it painfully obvious on rubber top.

Blue for beer, red for gas. I have not had any issues at all with them. If there is increased O2 transfer through them, it must be negligible.

 

[Broken Crow]

When I got my first couple kegs I was looking into the coloured o-rings out of concern for accidentally putting the wrong disconnect on, but it looked like they were all silicone so I stopped thinking about it. When this thread came up and I decided to look them up, I got a bit excited to find that decent o-rings just might be available in colours, so I've been following the thread, waiting for someone to post links I can bookmark for future shopping but.... I just had a bit of a realization this morning while changing out a keg.... Without thinking about, somewhere down the line I've gotten into the habit of not even looking at the top of the keg, but simply sliding my fingernail up from the base of the post till I feel the groove or lack of one. Now that I think about it, I do the same think when I'm cleaning and filling my kegs. I guess I don't actually need a visual aid.

 

[day_trippr]

Every one of my 16 cornelius kegs has a divot in the rubber handles on the gas post side

 

[Broken Crow]

Every one of my 16 cornelius kegs has a divot in the rubber handles on the gas post side

I never noticed! I just went and looked...though the older Cornelius (Super Champion I think..) have raised lettering 'IN' and "OUT" but with those I lack the sensitivity distinguish with my fingers, but even my new Kegland kegs have a ridge cut in by gas.
Thanks!

 

[day_trippr]

Another visual aid: I always orient the lid so with the bail pointing at me the post on the left is for gas.
Every keg with beer in it then spends its days with the gas on the left - whether it's in one of my three fridges or my keezer.
Makes things super simple and very nearly brainless

Cheers!

 

[HBT_Admin]

I like your idea of orienting your lids in the same manner each time. That makes it easier to keep straight.

 

[mac_1103]

Makes things super simple and very nearly brainless

I resemble that remark.

 

[day_trippr]

Given we play with extensive amounts of alcohol I always strive for processes that accommodate that fact