Hey all- made my first brew and it didn't turn out the way expected then had kegerator stop working. It is full and beer is still in the line, I've turned off c02. Will it spray all over if I disconnect lines? After disconnect do I just get something to poke down in gas line to let out gas? Any help is appreciated!!
Emptying full Corny keg?
- Thread starter Jrhuebner
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Disconnect and it shouldn't spray everywhere, maybe a little drip is all. Then if the lid has a pressure relief valve you can pull that, if it doesn't then you can push the gas poppet down with a screwdriver or other tool. Make sure you do the gas and not the liquid. You don't really need to let the gas out from the sounds of it though.
Maybe you should wait a bit. I have had several beers that I initially thought were failures that improved over time.
The beer should not spray out when you disconnect the lines. There are valves in the quick disconnects. Your keg lid may have a pressure release on it, just pull the ring to let the gas out. If not, you can reduce the pressure by letting it push beer out through the lines, or carefully depress the pin on the gas in post.
But give it a chance, or tell us what is wrong, maybe it can be saved.
The beer should not spray out when you disconnect the lines. There are valves in the quick disconnects. Your keg lid may have a pressure release on it, just pull the ring to let the gas out. If not, you can reduce the pressure by letting it push beer out through the lines, or carefully depress the pin on the gas in post.
But give it a chance, or tell us what is wrong, maybe it can be saved.
jmcquesten
Well-Known Member
On a side note, awesome that it's your first brew and you're already kegging. What happened with the kegerator? Did actual fridge stop working or is there a keg/co2 type issue?
jmcquesten
Well-Known Member
He's got two problems. First, his kegorator isn't working and I was asking what the problem with that is. It could be anything from a bad compressor to a bad kegging hardware, it wasn't specified. Second, his beer sucks. He didn't say why or how the beer sucks, so I couldn't offer any suggestions about that.
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BitterSweetBrews
Tim Trabold
As others have said, disconnecting the keg will not shoot out all over the place. The poppet in the connector should seal it back up. If you need to release or vent the gas and don't have a PRV on the lid slowly push the gas poppet in with something like a small screwdriver (slowly, so it doesn't spew all over the place if it is really full). You probably already know this from when you bled the keg.
With that said, I agree, don't dump it, wait for a while. Wait a couple months if you can. Or bottle it and wait.
I would say that if you plan to leave it in the Keg, pressurize it before disconnecting it.
On additional note, if the kegerator is out, it should not hurt the beer if it comes to room temperature. But try to keep it in a cool place.
With that said, I agree, don't dump it, wait for a while. Wait a couple months if you can. Or bottle it and wait.
I would say that if you plan to leave it in the Keg, pressurize it before disconnecting it.
On additional note, if the kegerator is out, it should not hurt the beer if it comes to room temperature. But try to keep it in a cool place.
Thanks everyone! Yeah it just tastes sour, maybe had a sanitation issue and know to be smarter next go around. As far as the keg goes I made the mistake of buying a nolstalgia and has been a nightmare ever since. The tap just stopped working. The tap lever won't even pull forward to release the brew. Heck of a lot of other issues but I won't get into them. If you have any tips please share but I plan on calling them to share my dissatisfaction.
If the tap seems stuck, it might just be that the tap needs cleaned out. Maybe some trub or hop material made it through the line and got caught up in the tap. You should be able to disconnect the keg, disassemble the tap and clean it and hook everything back up and see if it flows again. As far as the sour taste, could be a number of things but like others have said, I would let it sit for awhile and see how it is. Maybe the sour taste is even coming from what is blocking the tap, and once that is fixed you might enjoy the beer.
I know many homebrewers dump beer they are not happy with, but I think even if it's not a great beer or what I was hoping to make, it's still beer and it's still drinkable. Grab a few drinking buddies who like sours and ask them to taste it. Maybe they will help you empty the keg and you can try another recipe.
I know many homebrewers dump beer they are not happy with, but I think even if it's not a great beer or what I was hoping to make, it's still beer and it's still drinkable. Grab a few drinking buddies who like sours and ask them to taste it. Maybe they will help you empty the keg and you can try another recipe.
Appreciate it and your recommendation did did the trick! Weird because this is the first brew through, it does have a higher sugar content so that probably did it. Unfortunately I came to the decision to dump annnnnnnd sprayed beer all over the f*ckin place lol! I'll get this brewing down eventually. Why did It spray out the liquid line like That? Pretty sure the gas was out but it was spouting out like crazy. Any way to prevent this in the future so my man cave doesn't smell like a redemption center?!
MrFancyPlants
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Is it a ball lock keg? sometimes if the poppet isn't put together properly it can unseat and spray, but if you release the pressure first, even this should not happen.
McKnuckle
Well-Known Member
Next time:
Turn off the gas valve feeding the keg. Remove the gas line from the keg. Pull the release valve and vent the head space pressure (pfffftt). Pull off the liquid line in a smooth, quick motion. Lift the keg out, open the top, dump it out. Shouldn't get more than a couple of drips this way.
Turn off the gas valve feeding the keg. Remove the gas line from the keg. Pull the release valve and vent the head space pressure (pfffftt). Pull off the liquid line in a smooth, quick motion. Lift the keg out, open the top, dump it out. Shouldn't get more than a couple of drips this way.
If the beer was infected, you are going to want to make liberal use of boiling water and StarSan to make sure your fermentor and keg don't infect your next batch.
NickTheGreat
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That's weird you sprayed beer everywhere. The poppet may drip some beer, but I'm picturing something out of Looney Tunes.
Sounds like a doomed batch. Get everything disassembled, cleaned, sanitized, and get to brewing!
Sounds like a doomed batch. Get everything disassembled, cleaned, sanitized, and get to brewing!
Morrey
Well-Known Member
A pressurized keg can make a mell of a hess for sure! I had a ball lock keg carbing and conditioning in an outside freezer with ATC, and had a picnic tap on the liquid out so I could sample and tell when it was ready to bring inside and be served. I took off the gas QD, purged the PRV a bit, then took off the picnic tap ball lock QD. The poppet must have gotten stuck and beer spewed to the ceiling. I immediately popped back the picnic QD in place and took into the house. I got my kegerator's liquid QD all ready for a wild swap, then when I took off the picnic QD this second time, nothing happened. I figure the poppet had gotten hung up and replaced it when the keg kicked. But oh what a mess we made!
Morrey
Well-Known Member
Good point, and a place that many infections can lurk is in the dip tube of your infected keg. Since you know you have a problem, and infected beer has been in this keg, I'd break the keg down to component level for a thorough cleaning. The dip tube can hold beer if you don't handle it correctly, so the easy way is to take it all apart, soak in PBW or similar, then sanitize before reassembly.
When I clean a non-infected keg I fill with hot water and PBW, then depress the liquid out poppet with a blunt object until cleaner squirts out of the top of the valve. Do the same thing when you empty the cleaner from the keg so the dip tube will drain. Then rinse and do the same steps with fresh rinse water.
