Are the posts on a corny keg identical?

I know the in has the short tube and the out has the long one, but are the posts the same? I thought I heard somewhere that the one with slots on it goes on a particular side. It's a ball lock keg. Reason I'm asking is I can't get the plastic hookup on the out side and it was difficult getting it on the in side. I didn't think it was possible at all to get it on the wrong one. Right now the post with the slots in it is on the out and the other is on the in.

 

Slots is Gas side. IN

They are not identical.

 

As BendBrewer said, they're not identical... Not 100% sure which is for which (I'm not using the keg for serving, but for fermenting/aging) but you can see a difference between the two posts. It is easy to see that they are different nut styles (one is 6 sided, the other 12) which is probably an easier way to identify which post is for which connection...

 

Not identical, as anyone who has put a liquid QD on a Gas post will tell you.

 

One of the posts is a tiny bit bigger and if you put the wrong disconnect on, it's hard to take off. I think it's the beverage side out that's bigger. Although I could have it backwards.

Don't forget one post side says "IN" and usually has a set of dots on the handle.

 

I believe the liquid out post has a wider barb than the gas in. I'm 51% sure that's right.

 

I now fall into that category

 

what about the poppets

 

The gas and liquid side poppets from the same keg should be the same, but poppets are not interchangeable beteen different keg/post types.

 

^ what P-J said. IDing the "groove/grove" is my failsafe when posts get mixed up.

 

The grooves remind me of a "fin". So I remember "IN's have fins".

For Coke/pin lock's, it's simpler: "IN" has 2 letters, 2 pins. "OUT" has 3 letters, 3 pins.

M_C

 

im a little confused here.
I looked at the parts list from nbrewer and it looks like all 6 of my poppets are the same type (TYPE B), but all my posts look different, some resemble type A and some type B.

Now, Yooper says the are not interchangable, and Im inclinded to believe her (cause its Yooper). But, why arent they interchangable?

sorry for my noobness

 

To complicate things more (not sure if it's been said yet, I may have even already said it...) but dip tubes are not even the same on all kegs! Some are notched so that they don't rotate as you tighten the post.

 

I just found out that one of the kegs I racjked to had 2 gas posts ! pretty confused when I tried to get that black disconnect on the gas post ! fortunately was able to lift another post from an empty ...

Now I must hunt for the keg (only 2 more) that has 2 beverage posts ..

THX for the pics , esp the groove identifier..

 

1 of 4 of mine has this. I wish they all did. Trying to hold the liquid out tube while tightening the liquid post is a pain!

My kegs all have a variant of the type A post from the picture above. Some are 12 point, but they all have a narrow "nut" section that is used to tighten. Not the double one or the higher one, just the plain narrow, small nut on the bottom of the post.

 

I too am guilty of this; ruined one of my kegs by putting the wrong post on the wrong side. Had to remove it with a hammer and ended up bending the post so much that it no longer held pressure. Make sure you keep them separate!

 

Remember to lube the post o-rings as well!
Dry o-rings will have you thinking you're on the wrong post...

 

Great info on ball lock kegs can be found here
http://hbd.org/carboy/ballkegclean.htm

 

I use this helpful mnemonic:
Groove - Gas - Gray
Blank - Beer - Black

 

Good idea

I put green tape on the gas side

 

I know this is an old post, but when I purchased my first keg the guy working at the shop put a blue o-ring on the gas post. I have done that ever since and it really makes things easy to remember.