Foamy keg!

Hey homebrewtalk members,

This is my first post and I want to thank all the members here for posting the endless amount of useful information that has allowed me to finally get into home brewing.

But now I have a problem. One that a great amount of internet searching hasn't been able to answer, so now Im posting.

I recently bought 2 used 5 gallon corny kegs. One works perfect, the other does not. One always delivers a volcano of foamy liquid. I believe I have ruled out all problems not associated with the keg. Under the exact same conditions (same psi, gas hose, liquid hose, temperature, connectors, etc....) the good keg works nicely but the bad one spews foam, and violently. I changed the o-rings, so I also ruled that out.

Any ideas what the problem might be?
Did I get a bad keg?

Thanks for your help

 

My first thought would be a bad seal at the o-ring on the liquid side dip-tube. I assume you changed all 5 o-rings? When you replaced the liquid side dip-tube o-ring, did you happen to notice if the mating surfaces on the keg and diptube had any nicks or scratches on them? Did you get the liquid side post fitting tightened down all the way after replacing the dip-tube o-rings?

Another possible cause would be the wrong poppet for the post fitting. Did you make sure the poppets all stayed with the same post fittings, or did they possibly get mixed up? If you have one of the longer styles of poppets in the shorter post fitting, the QD may not be able to depress it fully, causing a restriction and leading to slow foamy pours.

Lastly have you checked to make sure there aren't hop particles clogging the base of the dip-tube or the poppet? A partial clog can also create slow foamy pours.

 

Have you considered the poppet?

 

To clarify for the OP, that's the small O-ring under the flange of the Out dip tube. If that's missing or damaged it's absolutely the most likely cause of violently spitting foam when dispensing...

Cheers!

 

Thanks everyone!

I clearly dont know enough about my kegs. After dismantling, I found no oring at the flange of the dip tube. Sounds like adding one in will fix my problems, but if not, ill be back.

Thanks for your help,
Cheers!

 

Another case cracked by HBT!

Cheers!