Carb stone in corny problem

[photogscott]

Stuck a carb stone line on the gas tube of a keg, start the psi at 2-4 but the keg lid won't seal. This is apparently because there is no head pressure to seal the gasket. Any tricks to using a carb stone on the gas line?

 

[Yooper]

Stuck a carb stone line on the gas tube of a keg, start the psi at 2-4 but the keg lid won't seal. This is apparently because there is no head pressure to seal the gasket. Any tricks to using a carb stone on the gas line?

Put enough on the keg to seal, and then start carbing. Do that first, before starting to carb. A couple of my kegs require a big blast of about 20 psi before they seal right.

At 2-4 psi, the keg will never carb.

Depending on the temperature, 10-12 psi is a more realistic carb pressure.

 

[ghosthef]

I push mine to 30 psi and spray some star San on top...and leaks are real apparent after that.

 

[JuanMoore]

IMO a properly tuned keg should seal even without any pressure. I know many will disagree with me on this, but all of my kegs now seal without pressure, and none of them started out that way.

Have you inspected the lid and keg where the o-ring seats to make sure there aren't any nicks/scratches/dents? Are you using keg lube on the o-rings? Have you tried flipping the lid around so it faces the other way? Sometimes the feet get worn or the legs get splayed, and they don't put as much pressure on the lid as they're supposed to. You can use some vice grips and channel locks to bend them slightly, or some people put a coin under each of the feet for a similar effect.

 

[JuanMoore]

Put enough on the keg to seal, and then start carbing. Do that first, before starting to carb. A couple of my kegs require a big blast of about 20 psi before they seal right.

At 2-4 psi, the keg will never carb.

Depending on the temperature, 10-12 psi is a more realistic carb pressure.

He's talking about using a carb stone. When using a carb stone, most people start at 2-4 psi, and then increase 1-2 psi every hour or two until it's at serving pressure. This is what many commercial breweries do, and it allows extremely fast carbonation without risk of overcarbing.

 

[Yooper]

He's talking about using a carb stone. When using a carb stone, most people start at 2-4 psi, and then increase 1-2 psi every hour or two until it's at serving pressure. This is what many commercial breweries do, and it allows extremely fast carbonation without risk of overcarbing.

Not if the keg won't seal..............................................

 

[photogscott]

Yes this is carbonating brewery style. I'm supposed to start at 2psi and step it up over several hours to serving pressure. O rings are lubed. I've switched lids, tried the coin trick but lids don't seal at low psi. I have several kegs and none seal without pressure.
Should I blast a lot of co2 thru the stone to seal the lid? I took off the carb stone line and now speed carbing the old fashioned way. Shake Shake Shake...

 

[Yooper]

Yes this is carbonating brewery style. I'm supposed to start at 2psi and step it up over several hours to serving pressure. O rings are lubed. I've switched lids, tried the coin trick but lids don't seal at low psi. I have several kegs and none seal without pressure.
Should I blast a lot of co2 thru the stone to seal the lid? I took off the carb stone line and now speed carbing the old fashioned way. Shake Shake Shake...

Ouch.

How about this? Give it a blast of co2 at 30 psi or so to seat the lid and make sure you don't have any leaks. Then carb.

I'm not a fan at all of the shake method. Either a carb stone, or a quick carb with 30 psi for 36 hours and then resetting to serving pressure would work. But shaking is a cause for foamy, sediment filled beer that will take long enough to settle out that you might as well have done a 36 hour carb method anyway, in my opinion.

 

[photogscott]

Morebeer sells a keg lid with a gas connect and carb stone line. Carb your beer and switch lids! That would solve lid sealing issues because you can give it head pressure 1st then switch to the carb stone. Nice but $60...

 

[JuanMoore]

There are also slightly oversize lid o-rings made of softer rubber that usually fix lid sealing issues. I've been able to tweak all of my kegs to seal with standard o-rings so I've never used them, but I know a lot of other people have had good luck with them. Here's one seller-

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/OVERSIZE-KEG-LID-SEALING-O-RING-P58.aspx

 

[IslandLizard]

Once it seals at 30psi, and you bleed off the gas, it starts leaking again, huh? If you've tried different lids, this sounds like a deformed or burred lip on that keg. Unless you have a keg that actually seals at 0 or very low psi, I'm afraid you can't use this carbonation method.

 

[photogscott]

The problem is initiating the seal when head space psi is 0. with the carb stone your supposed to slowly increase psi from 0 to 12 or whatever carb level you serve at

I'm kegging 10gal in a few days and I'll try to blast it to set the lid seal and see what happens.

 

[photogscott]

There are also slightly oversize lid o-rings made of softer rubber that usually fix lid sealing issues. I've been able to tweak all of my kegs to seal with standard o-rings so I've never used them, but I know a lot of other people have had good luck with them. Here's one seller- http://www.williamsbrewing.com/OVERSIZE-KEG-LID-SEALING-O-RING-P58.aspx

I think I'll try one of these in my next order. Thanks!

 

[butterpants]

Morebeer sells a keg lid with a gas connect and carb stone line. Carb your beer and switch lids! That would solve lid sealing issues because you can give it head pressure 1st then switch to the carb stone. Nice but $60...

Yea I saw that in their catalog this week. Looks kind of slick

 

[bcrawfo2]

Couldn't you pressurize the keg thru the beer/out port? Then raise the pressure on the stone.

 

[photogscott]

Couldn't you pressurize the keg thru the beer/out port? Then raise the pressure on the stone.

Yeah that's the game plan. Without head pressure carb stones create foam which leaks out the lid. Makes an interesting looking mess! Hopefully co2 through the beer tube will seal it.
I know many read this, roll their eyes and think 'just put the gas on at 12 and leave it for a week. Many times I need it fast for bottling, growlers and this week, a big party. I'm excited to be able to precision carb in a day. It's just $15 for a stone and 70¢ for tubing!

 

[Yooper]

Yeah that's the game plan. Without head pressure carb stones create foam which leaks out the lid. Makes an interesting looking mess! Hopefully co2 through the beer tube will seal it.
I know many read this, roll their eyes and think 'just put the gas on at 12 and leave it for a week. Many times I need it fast for bottling, growlers and this week, a big party. I'm excited to be able to precision carb in a day. It's just $15 for a stone and 70¢ for tubing!

Oh, I don't think anybody rolls their eyes and are critical. What you're doing might very well work for you and that's great.

I carb beer in a hurry often, but my "hurry" may be defined differently than yours. I stick my beer in the kegerator, and put it on 30 psi for 36 hours, then purge and reset to 12 psi. It's then ready in about 48 hours. Of course, my husband drinks it uncarbed (and even sometimes still not cooled) in about 6 hours after I keg it sometimes. He seems to like flat warm-ish beer. He likes it better 24 hours later, but he's always pouring a glass of beer long before I deem it "ready"!

 

[fifthcircle]

I put mine in on the gas at 50psi, and let it cool/carb for 24hrs. Usually drinkable in 24, and I drop the pressure to serving then.

I was wondering what that carb stone business was all about. Seems superfluous to me, but I also can't tell the difference between 2.2 vol CO2 and 2.8.... :cross:

 

[photogscott]

Precision carbed in 10 hours isnt superfluous to me. Cranking up to 30-50 psi means something else to think about. Bottling over carbed beer is impossible and requires degassing. $15 is money well invested for me plus carbonating like the big boys allows me to pretend!

 

[fifthcircle]

I get that, I just didn't realize they were actually useful. Ignorance is bliss at the fifthcircle brewery! I might look into one in the future, when I have my other processes all figured out.


As for the keg not sealing with low pressure, I do not have any problems with any of mine. I routinely fill with cold water/oxiclean and pop the lid on to shake it up, without any pressure, and they never leak.

I think the you should take a keg at at time, toss some water in it to take up the space, and get a spray bottle of StarSan.
Hook it up to the gas, and slowly add in a little pressure.
Spray down the top and figure out where the leaks are at.
With everything properly aligned, there really shouldn't be a leak at all, anywhere, even at low/no pressure.
Keg Lube on the Orings might help, but it really sounds like something is bent or totally worn out.
Order some new parts as needed.

 

[photogscott]

I have a half dozen kegs. None of them seal tight at 2psi. Up the psi somewhat and they are tight and hold pressure forever. I think thats just how old kegs are. Gas can leak where liquid can't so when I shake my kegs with starsan, no leaks. It appears that Williams Brewing holds the patent on oversized O rings. I cant find them anywhere else!