Occasional mystery gas leak in keg

[bjacokes]

I kegged up a beer about a month ago with a tank of CO2 which started at 950psi and slowly dropped to 900psi as the beer carbonated. It stayed right around the 900psi mark for a few weeks, over which time I poured several beers, but when I came back from a five-day holiday vacation it was suddenly at 450psi. I left the gas on and kept an eye on it over the next few days, but it has stayed at 450psi since.

I've kegged up 10-15 batches of beer before and never had this happen, so I'm wondering if anyone has suspicions as to what component of the system is most likely to cause this sort of problem (holding a seal for a long time, then randomly leaking for a period of time). I haven't been able to reproduce the leak, which is making it a bit more difficult than normal to track down the problem. My best guess is the gas post, but if anyone has had this happen before or has a guess as to the problem, I'd certainly appreciate the help.

 

[Boleslaus]

A kegerator me and my friend built at his place had a similar problem. Turns out it was leaking where the gas tube was clamped to the CO2 regulator. The stock clamps were plastic ones and weren't tight enough after being removed a few times. A standard metal clamp from the home improvement store fixed it. I've never had that problem on my set-up with metal clamps.

Hopefully it's that simple for you.

 

[Bobby_M]

I think you're just seeing temperature changes. Is this in a garage or something? Weigh the tank, it's the only way to know how much liquid CO2 is left.

 

[TrainSafe]

You could mix up a spray bottle of star-san to find the leak.

I'm leaning toward agreeing with Bobby. If the gas bottle is in the fridge, your 450 reading sounds about right. The pressure guage on the high pressure side is completely useless, since co2 is stored as a liquid. The pressure remains the same until the bottle is empty. It only fluctuates with temp variation.

I usually suggest a piece of duct tape over that guage.

 

[FattySparks]

Also, I have heard (no first hand knowledge unfortunately) that when the co2 tank starts to become empty, it loses pressure rapidly. So maybe you're almost empty.

 

[Golddiggie]

Since I've gone to using Oetiker clamps on all my gas and beer lines (also on my 1/2" ID silicone tubing) I've had zero leaks. It was a biotch to get the worm clamps to grab tight enough to stop leaks on the gas lines before. Plus, more than a few would jump as you tightened them up (the mechanism) so that you have to tighten slowly to make sure they were tight. Not to mention how many cuts those buggers gave me. Plus these clamps are less money and seal a full 360 degrees around the tubing (unlike worm clamps)...

I keep enough on hand to pretty much replace all of them at least once. With the crimping tool (you have choices/options there too) it's a snap to get them to clamp down. Far easier, IMO, than the worm clamps.

At least something you can consider. Oh and McMaster-Carr carries them in sizes other than what Keg Connection lists (like for the 1/2" ID tubing). :rockin: