Grrrrr....

[Broadway]

This thread is mostly a rant... I just gotta get this off my chest.

So, I brewed my latest batch... took especial care to do everything right that I f'd up in the first batch... and it all went awesome.

Then, I let it set in the fermentor for 2 weeks, until it calmed down and everything was a-ok with that... learned how the hydrometer worked, and made sure fermentation was done before I started kegging...

Bottled six bottles and then put the rest in the keggorator... checked a chart and figured out that a week at 16psi would carbonate the beer.

Set it all up in the keggorator at 50 degrees and 16psi...

And got called out of town for work... so, here I am in Kentucky.

4 days later I get a call from my wife (who is in Arkansas visiting friends)...

Apparently my Mother in Law came over to feed the cat, and noticed a pool of beer below the keggorator... and opened it up to find the floor of the keggorator covered in beer...

So, she cleans it all up, and wants to know what to do...

So, I, being the crazy man that I am, go off the handle, yelling about how (when I get back home from this work trip) I am going to take that keg, and whatever beer is left in it, and throw it through the window of the Homebrew shop from which I purchased it from... and about how I couldn't believe that he sold me a faulty keg, and about how beer was IMPORTANT, and shouldn't be leaking all over my dirty floor!

And a bunch of other stuff that isn't fit for public forums...

I ended up cooled down, and told her to tell Donna to turn off the gas, unhook the gas line from the keg, let out some of the pressure with the release valve, and wrap the bottom of the keg in towels, and throw some under the keggerator...

And, to please, please, please, check and see if any more leaked out after this point, when she came by to feed the cat again in the coming days...

So... after all that... and after a bit to think about it... do you think I just didn't get the seal good on the lid to the corney keg?

 

[homebrewer_99]

Maybe we should have a new catagory called "RANTS"? I know we have "Drunken Ramblings, etc".

Sounds like a leak to me.

One thing I do after gassing it up is lay the keg on its side for about 15-30 mins to see if there are any leaks.

 

[HemlockHomebrewer]

I had a similar issue recently. I'm no expert on keggerators, but this seems to be working for me:

I use priming sugar to carbonate the beer in the keg (about 3/4 cup for 5 Gallons). Then I set the keg's PSI to less than 5. I leave the CO2 tank open fully for the first couple days, then I shut it off and just open it as needed. So far, this is working -- the beer is carbonated by sugar and the CO2 tank is just for dispensing. Everytime I try to increase the pressure to more than 5 PSI, I just get a ton of foam.

Good luck!

 

[loxnar]

This thread is mostly a rant... I just gotta get this off my chest.

So, I brewed my latest batch... took especial care to do everything right that I f'd up in the first batch... and it all went awesome.

Then, I let it set in the fermentor for 2 weeks, until it calmed down and everything was a-ok with that... learned how the hydrometer worked, and made sure fermentation was done before I started kegging...

Bottled six bottles and then put the rest in the keggorator... checked a chart and figured out that a week at 16psi would carbonate the beer.

Set it all up in the keggorator at 50 degrees and 16psi...

And got called out of town for work... so, here I am in Kentucky.

4 days later I get a call from my wife (who is in Arkansas visiting friends)...

Apparently my Mother in Law came over to feed the cat, and noticed a pool of beer below the keggorator... and opened it up to find the floor of the keggorator covered in beer...

So, she cleans it all up, and wants to know what to do...

So, I, being the crazy man that I am, go off the handle, yelling about how (when I get back home from this work trip) I am going to take that keg, and whatever beer is left in it, and throw it through the window of the Homebrew shop from which I purchased it from... and about how I couldn't believe that he sold me a faulty keg, and about how beer was IMPORTANT, and shouldn't be leaking all over my dirty floor!

And a bunch of other stuff that isn't fit for public forums...

I ended up cooled down, and told her to tell Donna to turn off the gas, unhook the gas line from the keg, let out some of the pressure with the release valve, and wrap the bottom of the keg in towels, and throw some under the keggerator...

And, to please, please, please, check and see if any more leaked out after this point, when she came by to feed the cat again in the coming days...

So... after all that... and after a bit to think about it... do you think I just didn't get the seal good on the lid to the corney keg?

I had issues getting leaks from brand new kegs that were just rebuilt with new seals...homebrewer has some good advice about turning it on its side to see if its leaking...also i found that since i follow a few really easy steps i havent had a keg leak anything since....the first thing i do is i rub the smallest amount of olive oil on the main seal to the top of the keg (i usually just turn the bottle over so the inside of the cap has a little oil on it and pick it up with a qtip)....this helps ensure a good smooth seal and that no rubber is getting caught up anywhere...if you dont have any olive oil any food grade oil or mineral oil will do....the second thing i do is to pressurize it first then shut off my secondary and completely drain the keg once and then open the secondary to repressurize the keg...this ensures that if something wasnt sitting right the first time it will be this time. as always after pressurizing it just listening for gas sounds coming out of the top or spraying some starsan or some slightly soapy water around the seal from a squirt bottle can ensure you dont have any leaks if you do you will see bubbles form right away

not sure what everyone elses practices are with ensuring their keg is sealed properly but i do that now since the first time i used my newly rebuilt keg i had this problem....i simply took the lid off lubed it and pumped it with pressure twice to ensure a good tight fit. do these steps before you break that window oh and of course RDWHAHB

 

[Johnny_Crunch]

I also use soapy water in a spray bottle to check for leaks once I have pressurized it.