Any tricks to getting a poppet off of a corny keg?

[linusstick]

Here's the situation. First off thanks so much for your help on the 4th (I had a keg that I couldn't dispense from and couldn't pour for my cookout). Anyhow, I figured I have something clogging the out tube so I am trying to pull the tube out and clear whatever is blocking it. Problem now is (2 days later) I can't get the damn thing off. I have a deep socket wrench that fits on the bolt perfectly. I have done everything including turning the keg on the side and pounding the socket wrench with a hammer. It just won't budge. My question is 2 parts. 1) Is there a secret trick to getting these things off? I tightened it myself when I cleaned the keg 2 beers ago but I can't get it to budge in the least. 2) If I can't get it off and have to face the music, can I at least be able to open the top (once it's purged) and at least pour from the top before I have to dump the beer? It's a shame because the beer smells fantastic and the little bit that I have been able to pour tasted great. I'd rather buy another keg if I have to and cut my losses than keep toiling over this bastard. Thanks

 

[lumpher]

i sometimes get hops clogging the out. mine screws right out

 

[Kaz]

Its the post that is stuck, just to clarify. Have you tried tapping on it with a wrench, give it some pretty good whacks but don't bang it up too bad. You could try running some hot water over it. I've had some that were pretty stuck but came off with some elbow grease. Even if it is damaged, you could still open the keg and siphon the beer into another corny. Just purge it well with CO2, rack to the new corny and get it on gas.

 

[linusstick]

i sometimes get hops clogging the out. mine screws right out

Mine used to screw right out. I must've tightened it too much this time

 

[linusstick]

Its the post that is stuck, just to clarify. Have you tried tapping on it with a wrench, give it some pretty good whacks but don't bang it up too bad. You could try running some hot water over it. I've had some that were pretty stuck but came off with some elbow grease. Even if it is damaged, you could still open the keg and siphon the beer into another corny. Just purge it well with CO2, rack to the new corny and get it on gas.

Hahaha thanks for the quick reply....when I said "I have a deep socket wrench that fits on the bolt perfectly. I have done everything including turning the keg on the side and pounding the socket wrench with a hammer. It just won't budge. " that pretty much covers what you are saying. What makes it so annoying is I'm the one who tightened it so hard in the first place. I can't accept that if I tightened it up too hard, that I have to get rid of the keg. At least it's good to know that I can just rack to a new keg since I was planning on getting another anyway.

 

[PJM]

Have you tried sticking a pipe on the end of your wrench in order to give you more leverage? That usually works for me.

 

[samc]

A long pipe over the end of a wrench gives you a lot more leverage then hitting it with a hammer. You can also use some torch heat if it is stuck from beer drying on the threads, however it sounds like you just went a wee bit to far on the tightening for that to be the issue.

 

[JRems]

Bring the whole keg to a garage and have them use an impact gun on it.

 

[Changeduser123]

This happened to me as well, and the issue I had was keeping the keg still while trying to unscrew the post. To fix this, I put a hammer (any pipe would do as well) through the handles of the keg, so that it could not move while on its side. This helped a lot. After that, just brute force to unscrew the damn thing.

Hope that helps.

 

[linusstick]

I got some advice to hook the gas up to the liquid out and turn to 15 psi. Anyone try this? Obviously the point is to blow whatever is blocking the tube out. Since the connections won't hook up to the opposite posts, I'm assuming you keep the connections where they are and just switch tubing