First keg not a good experience....

[Johow]

So this morning I filled my first keg with my new IPA. I have a brand new slimline torpedo ball lock keg. I cleaned it and sanitized it, hooked it up to my co2 with sanitizer inside. It seemed to hold pressure. I sprayed sanitizer on all of the connections and saw nothing that looked like a leak. Bagged up 2 ounces of citra in a sanitized paint filter bag, tied some dental floss around it and pushed it into the keg and looped the line around the gas in post. Racked my beer in there. Lubed all te o-rings and put the lid in. I pressurized the tank before setting the latch and brought it up to 20 lbs where I was going to leave it for 24 hours or so. Tonight I just opened the keezer to take a look and the gauge is a big fat zero. I had just filled the tank before hooking this up. S#%t!!!, so I have a leak somewhere. Now it's too late to fill the tank until tomorrow.... Hopefully my beer will hang tight and not fowl on me until I can fill the tank and figure out where the leak is. Very frustrating because I thought I was getting away from bottling frustration and life would be good.

 

[kh54s10]

The good news it the beer will be fine. The bad news is you have to get your tank filled, then find the leak.

 

[day_trippr]

Dumping that much gas in so short a period, my first guess is the regulator does not have a captive O-ring on its coupler stem and the required gasket went missing.

Next guess would be a barb/swivel nut connection to the low-pressure regulator output missing a nylon flare gasket...

Cheers!

 

[Hoppity]

Check everything from the tank to the keg. Used tank, regulator and lines or new?
Agreed, beer is fine.

 

[Johow]

I did check to make sure all the gaskets were installed and I had the system pressurized prior. When I filled the keg though, the only fittings I sprayed were at the keg so I'm pretty sure it is at the reg/tank. I'll find it tomorrow morning for sure. I hadn't even installed the beer out line.

 

[Thorrak]

I had a similar experience (albeit over a much longer period of time). I ended up buying a small spray bottle, filling it with a soap/water mixture, and spraying down all the parts I had connected to gas.

I ended up finding that one of the o-rings on a keg wasn't sealed properly (use keg lube!), one of the worm clamps I had wasn't tightened down enough, and the arm that connected from my CO2 tank to the regulator itself was leaking where it connected to the regulator. I would recommend doing the same, testing everything, and seeing where the bubbles appear. You'd be surprised!

 

[estricklin]

Sorry this happened! I can't give you any more advice than what's already been said here, but just saddle that horse back up. I lost a bottle my first kegging experience too.

 

[55x11]

So this morning I filled my first keg with my new IPA. I have a brand new slimline torpedo ball lock keg. I cleaned it and sanitized it, hooked it up to my co2 with sanitizer inside. It seemed to hold pressure. I sprayed sanitizer on all of the connections and saw nothing that looked like a leak. Bagged up 2 ounces of citra in a sanitized paint filter bag, tied some dental floss around it and pushed it into the keg and looped the line around the gas in post. Racked my beer in there. Lubed all te o-rings and put the lid in. I pressurized the tank before setting the latch and brought it up to 20 lbs where I was going to leave it for 24 hours or so. Tonight I just opened the keezer to take a look and the gauge is a big fat zero. I had just filled the tank before hooking this up. S#%t!!!, so I have a leak somewhere. Now it's too late to fill the tank until tomorrow.... Hopefully my beer will hang tight and not fowl on me until I can fill the tank and figure out where the leak is. Very frustrating because I thought I was getting away from bottling frustration and life would be good.

was the keg under pressure?

I hate to ask this stupid question, but are you sure the tank regulator (and the valve) is actually open? You could have had 20 psi (I assume that's what you mean by 20 lbs) in the line and headspace but once it gets adsorbed into beer, it will drop unless the tank supplies more pressure.

The entire tank emptying overnight - that's a pretty big leak. You should be able to hear it.

 

[Johow]

was the keg under pressure?

I hate to ask this stupid question, but are you sure the tank regulator (and the valve) is actually open? You could have had 20 psi (I assume that's what you mean by 20 lbs) in the line and headspace but once it gets adsorbed into beer, it will drop unless the tank supplies more pressure.

The entire tank emptying overnight - that's a pretty big leak. You should be able to hear it.

Yes, I pressurized it and then popped the valve a few times to purge he tank after filling it. It was at 20psi and the valve was open. The tank and regulator in question are just a 20 oz paint gun tank and mini regulator. I had been using it on a portable system prior to acquiring this keg. I'll fill it in the am and spray everything down with soapy water to find out what's happening.

 

[55x11]

Yes, I pressurized it and then popped the valve a few times to purge he tank after filling it. It was at 20psi. The tank and regulator in question are just a 20 oz paint gun tank and mini regulator. I had been using it on a portable system prior to acquiring this keg. I'll fill it in the am and spray everything down with soapy water to find out what's happening.

20 oz is just over a pound. If the tank wasn't completely full to begin with, and you tested it on starsan-filled keg first and then on your keg, it could have easily consumed most of it. I assumed you ran through like 5 lbs of CO2 overnight.

 

[Johow]

I filled the 20 oz tank just prior to filling racking the beer so there is definitely a leak that I have to find.... I'll definately run down a 5 lb tank one of these days soon though....

 

[ChuckO]

Bagged up 2 ounces of citra in a sanitized paint filter bag, tied some dental floss around it and pushed it into the keg and looped the line around the gas in post.

Don't quite understand this, how did you loop the floss around the gas in post? If the dental floss goes past the o-ring seal to the post it will deform the o-ring enough to leak.

 

[SGTSparty]

Any chance your keg just wasn't quite sealed? Lots of people have said there can be a learning curve on the torpedos sealing those. If you checked all your connections prior to racking your beer and they were all fine, then you racked and still went flat is it possible that the keg just didn't re-seal? I've only used cornies so this might be off base but from what I've read on these kegs it can happen.

 

[Johow]

Well it seems I failed to tighten the clamp on the grass hose at the regulator sufficiently.as soon as I connected the regulator and turned it on I could both feel and hear the leak. Don't know how I missed that the first time. Anyway I sparged down all the fittings and re-lubed the o-rings. As for the dental floss supporting my dry hops, I've heard of this method several times and that is part of why I was sure to use liberal keg lube on the lid ring, that does not appear to be leaking. When I closed it up, I made sure to pressurize the tank before I latched the lid as I believe this to be the manufacturers recommdation.

 

[Johow]

Well, I went and filled my little 20oz tank, hooked everything up, sprayed down to check for leaks and then got busy painting the inside of my house. Went back to check later in the day and guess what, empty again. As soon as I picked up the tank I knew where it was leaking. I had just bumped one of the fittings against the keg when I put it in the keezer and it loosened enough to let all the co2 out. I decided right there that I wasn't going to mess with that anymore. Went to the LHBS and bought a 5lb tank and regulator. It's been several days now and no leaks and I'm enjoying the fruits of my labor. Carbed up nicely and flowing smoothly. I'll continue to use this small tank and regulator for my portable system but the larger tank is much more practical for home use.

 

[SGTSparty]

Glad you figured it out. Also really glad it was a 20 OUNCE tank. I had been reading that as a 20 Pound tank. Would have cost you 16 times as much in wasted CO2

 

[55x11]

Don't quite understand this, how did you loop the floss around the gas in post? If the dental floss goes past the o-ring seal to the post it will deform the o-ring enough to leak.

it doesn't deform it much and you can get a perfect seal.

 

[Johow]

It's been sealed up nicely for a week now, unfortunately it's also about to kick...