Difficult time with my ball-lock coupler...

I've had my kegerator for about a year now and still can't figure out the beer-out coupler. It is extremely difficult to seat and then even more difficult to take off. I've tried putting on and taking off the coupler with no pressure in the keg, with reasonable amounts of keg lube, different ball-lock couplers, and switched the post o-rings. The kegs are 5 gal, ball-lock, corney kegs. The couplers are your typical black, ball-lock, plastic type. Anyone else have this problem or any ideas? Thanks!

At the risk of being offensive -- are you sure your using the right couplers? They are not interchangeable. I once put the wrong coupler and it took me about 4 hours to get it off.

Try pulling the ring up and pushing the balls into the walls, then attaching it. Keg lube on the o-ring is also good.

david_42 said:

Try pulling the ring up and pushing the balls into the walls, then attaching it. Keg lube on the o-ring is also good.

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That just sounds......well, wrong.

It sounds like you have an in post on your out tube.

Does the grey one fit on it?

I do have one keg on which it is a real PITA to get the liquid disconnect attached. I've never inspected it since I've gotten good enough at getting it on there as it is, but there is definitely something different about that liquid post.

EDIT: At least in my case, it's definitely not a gas post. Though, I have accidentally put a gas disconnect on a liquid post...that sucked.

Spyd3r said:

It sounds like you have an in post on your out tube.

Does the grey one fit on it?

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At the risk of sounding really stupid, are the posts and couplers different sizes? I tried putting a grey on my Out post (12 point star shaped) and it went on & came off really easy.

I'll have to try it on my other keg... as soon as I can get the black coupler off.

david_42- I'll try the balls to the wall theory next time as well...
hercher- I'm pretty sure i've got the right couplers. Its not a pin-lock keg. Check out the photos and go easy if I've proven myself to be that much of an idiot!
Beer out is on the lookers left

Yes, the "in" and "out" posts are different. The black QD fits the "out" and the grey QD fits the "in". If you cleaned the kegs and put them back on the wrong post, that would explain your problem.

When I break down the kegs, I put the posts and diptubes together, so I don't mix them up. The "in" set up fits in a small bowl of star san, and the "out" set up is in a different bowl with the long diptube next to it.

They're hard to tell apart, but the gas ("in") post has notches on the bottom.

sea2summit3 said:

At the risk of sounding really stupid, are the posts and couplers different sizes? I tried putting a grey on my Out post (12 point star shaped) and it went on & came off really easy.

I'll have to try it on my other keg... as soon as I can get the black coupler off.

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The liquid post has a bigger 'ridge' going around the outside. It's a fairly subtle difference. If you didn't know about it, it would be very easy to put the gas post on the liquid side, vice versa. At least, that's how I always tell them apart, I don't know if they are different diameters, too. Based on how difficult it was to get the gas disconnect off the liquid post, I have a feeling they may be slightly different in diameter, as well. I couldn't find a picture, but if you had two of them next to eachother, you could see the difference.

Actually, I didn't even know about the notches that Yooper mentioned. Here's a picture:

Great thread guys.... I've got a 3 gal corny that I have great difficulty putting the gas in connector on. The liquid connection is just fine, the gas connection it's hard to get it to lock on or get back off. I've often wondered about my posts but the notch picture is a world of help.

However I find I have the notched gas in posts right where they should be... Anything mechanical or physical I should inspect?

sea2summit3 said:

At the risk of sounding really stupid, are the posts and couplers different sizes? I tried putting a grey on my Out post (12 point star shaped) and it went on & came off really easy.

I'll have to try it on my other keg... as soon as I can get the black coupler off.

Click to expand...

Yeah dude, you have an "in" post on your "out" tube...just as I suspected.

FYI, I know this is probably not an exact science, but my "in" post is 12pt and my "out" post is 6pt. That helps me from mixing them up.

Just took a closer look at my kegs and I have the grooved 12 point post on my beer out. Could have swore thats how I got them from Chicompany. I feel life is about to get a whole lot easier... Thanks! :fro:

Thanks for putting this thread up. I had the same issue here as well. I'm going to look at the posts and see if the place I bought them from incorrectly assembled them.