Leaking Keg?

[SONICYOUTH]

More accurately, leaking CO2. I have kegged (or tried to) my beer a few times now, and when I put it in my mini fridge, which can fit the CO2 and 5 gallon Corny, the CO2 is completely gone after a few days being at 10 or so PSI. I thought it was just the temperature in the fridge screwing with the gauge, but when I left the keg and CO2 at room temperature, it was fine for a week with no issues. What is going on?

 

[Chavi]

you can check to see if it is leaking by spraying some water on the top of the keg and if it is bubbling, you are leaking co2. It might be a simple issue where you need to replace your O rings or just adjust the lid of your keg a little in order to get a proper seal.

 

[zacster]

Yea, check your seal. Maybe some food grade grease made for the seal is in order too. I have a new to me used keg and I have a hard time making the seal just right, but once it is it stays sealed and doesn't leak.

 

[DBbrewing]

I usually spray the top of the keg with starsan and watch for any bubbles.

 

[zachattack]

I thought it was just the temperature in the fridge screwing with the gauge, but when I left the keg and CO2 at room temperature, it was fine for a week with no issues. What is going on?

So it was fine at room temperature? I'm confused by this statement. If it doesn't leak at room temperature either you bumped one of the posts bringing it into the fridge, or like you said the tank pressure dropped when the CO2 cooled. Did it actually run out of CO2, as in you couldn't dispense beer?

 

[SONICYOUTH]

Correct. Nearly full tank outside the fridge for a week, then it went in the fridge, and no beer would come out.

 

[bluemoose]

Was the keg connected to the beer line both in and out of the fridge?
Did you hit it with higher pressure to seal the top?

 

[SONICYOUTH]

I put it at about 30psi and didnt snap the lid shut till I heard it snap into place, or however you want to describe the sound affect. And yes, all the lines were in the fridge. That's what's making this difficult: I have no idea what is going on it that fridge that is different than outside of it. It should all be the same.

 

[Golddiggie]

Are you using all the same fittings and hoses both when the keg is inside the fridge and outside? Or is there a hose setup inside the fridge that you connect the CO2 tank up to?

Try charging the entire system to 30psi and listen for leaks. You can also spray every coupling, joint, etc with StarSan and watch for bubbles. I would even charge the keg and then disconnect it to see if it has any leaks.

If the system is using worm clamps, I'd replace them all with Oetiker clamps.

 

[RogueGoose85]

This happened to me and was solved this week.

Spray test didnt work for me, it was faulty o-rings (ball keg o rings for pin lock posts), and thus was leaking co2. new pin-lock o rings, and heavy lube will do the trick, should you have similar issues

 

[SONICYOUTH]

Cool. I'll test it out.