Corny Precautions Under Pressure

cycleguy04 · Dec 11, 2014

Two questions:

Can I remove the gas line at the quick disconnect while the keg is under pressure (if the answer to this question changes with the amount of pressure that is in the keg, please say so)?

Which o-rings require a little KY (if KY is a good choice of lube)?

LLBeanJ · Dec 11, 2014

Yes, you can remove the disconnect while the keg is pressurized.

If you're going to lube O-rings, you should do all of them. There are 5 total. Not a bad idea to lube the poppet seals too. I wouldn't bother lubing them unless you have a leak, however, as most of the time it's not necessary.

Don't use K-Y. It's water soluble. You should be using a food grade petroleum product. All the kegging vendors sell keg lube.

Snicklefritz · Dec 11, 2014

1. Yes you can remove the disconnect at any pressure. The pressure relief valve (if you have one) is meant to relieve pressure before anything bad could happen.

2. I've heard you can use KY but I don't. You want to use a food grade lubricant.

ThunderpantsBrewing · Dec 11, 2014

Yes, you can remove the gas disconnect. As long as your poppet re-seats correctly, you'll have no problems.

I've heard that you can use KY for kegging, but it seems strange to me, since I mostly use it in the bedroom.

I use this stuff: http://www.homebrewing.org/Keg-Lube_p_372.html

I use it on every o-ring on my keg, just to be safe.

cycleguy04 · Dec 11, 2014

Funny story. I asked my wife to pick up some KY for my keg. She jokingly told me that she thought she was being replaced by my beer making habit and asked which hole I would be putting it in.

cycleguy04 · Dec 11, 2014

So all five o-rings would be the lid ring, the two rings inside the fittings, and the two rings on the outside of the fittings. Does anybody want to chime in and say any of these absolutely should NOT be lubed?

Any reason why the poppet rings should NOT be lube?

So many differing opinions out there on how to do this. It's nice to hear them all and make my own conjectures.

atoughram · Dec 11, 2014

I believe that plumbers silicone grease is the same stuff as keg lube - and since its used for lubing the internals of faucets, I'd assume it's food grade.