Homebrewing Nightmare

[capt_yo55arian]

So I thought I was getting pretty good at this home brewing deal. Dialed in the Anvil Foundry, moved to BIAB, brew days are a breeze now.

Woke up this morning and decided to check the keezer for some reason, and... well, the keg of Kolsch that I just transferred a few days ago was floating. Thats weird... why would a keg be floating in my keezer? You mean to tell me the beer that I worked pretty hard on is now being used as a virtual beer bathtub? Great.

So, I guess this is the point in time to "relax and have a homebrew" which I did after brewing the Kolsch again.

As to why this happened? Hopefully you guys can help out with this and see if I'm right.. I'm assuming it was a failed o-ring on the dip tube..I uploaded a video and hope it plays, but there is noticeable pressure being released at the bottom of the liquid post. The kegs are about 1 - 1.5 years old, the o-rings honestly look ok...I'm going to swap them out, use some keg lube on them and monitor.. But any other suggestions would be great. Didn't expect my Saturday to end up like this.

 

[passedpawn]

Yep. Been there (multiple award winner here). It's worst-case scenario.

The key to survival is to close your brain to the misery. NO MOURNING ALLOWED. Get out your wetvac and clean it up, and brew again.

 

[Sammy86]

Man that sucks! I had the very same thing happen to me with a Kolsch!

My lost brew was due to new beer lines and me not connecting the tubing to the picnic tap securely. Lesson learned though! There is definitely something going on with that out post…seems like air coming out the bottom which I don’t know much but I don’t think that is good.

 

[passedpawn]

After you suck that out of your keezer, don't leave it in your wet vac too long. Or it gets tasty.

 

[capt_yo55arian]

Yep. Been there (multiple award winner here). It's worst-case scenario.

The key to survival is to close your brain to the misery. NO MOURNING ALLOWED. Get out your wetvac and clean it up, and brew again.

I had a “woe is me” moment but nobody in my family cared so I had to drop that real quick and get on w the cleanup and brew day lol

 

[capt_yo55arian]

After you suck that out of your keezer, don't leave it in your wet vac too long. Or it gets tasty.

View attachment 774451

Hah yea … keezer actually has a drain plug so was able to get 95% out, then wet vac’d the slush .. I should check that thing regardless

 

[bracconiere]

Yep. Been there (multiple award winner here). It's worst-case scenario.

The key to survival is to close your brain to the misery. NO MOURNING ALLOWED. Get out your wetvac and clean it up, and brew again.

thank god when i have a bev out poppet that goes bad i keep my kegs are in a fridge with crisper drawers...catches it and just pull and rinse..

 

[Sam_92]

I'm very sorry for your loss. Posts like this remind me why I love bottling.

 

[bracconiere]

I had a “woe is me”

but you took pictures as evidence! you've got a case in court!

 

[passedpawn]

I'm very sorry for your loss. Posts like this remind me why I love bottling.

Bottling has it's own travails. There are nightmares there, too.

 

[rmr9]

Well this thread caused me to run downstairs to my kegerator and stick my keg in a bucket…just in case

 

[pvtpublic]

This is why I force carb and use my counter pressure bottle filler as soon as possible. Keg systems are notorious for having leaks, just like my '99 Chevy.
Lagering is a different story, it's not under pressure, until it's ready to be bottled and served.

 

[capt_yo55arian]

This is why I force carb and use my counter pressure bottle filler as soon as possible. Keg systems are notorious for having leaks, just like my '99 Chevy.
Lagering is a different story, it's not under pressure, until it's ready to be bottled and served.

Honestly I don’t think this is an indictment on kegging. Personally I’d rather have this happen and learn from my mistake than deal w/ bottling. But to each their own! I just wanted to share my misery lol.

 

[spittiz]

This is why I force carb and use my counter pressure bottle filler as soon as possible. Keg systems are notorious for having leaks, just like my '99 Chevy.
Lagering is a different story, it's not under pressure, until it's ready to be bottled and served.

Most of the leaks happening are user error and would be easily avoided by being thorough and checking things like o-rings and tube connections every keg swap and so on. Keg systems need maintenance, but if you do it continuously it's no big deal and is a lot less hassle compared to bottling, at least if you brew frequently.

 

[monkeymath]

I had a “woe is me” moment but nobody in my family cared so I had to drop that real quick and get on w the cleanup and brew day lol

In spite of all the empathy I feel for your loss, it seems like your family supports you rather well given that you could just jump to re-brewing the beer.

 

[McMullan]

I'm guessing the post needed to be a tad tighter, to close the thread. Not so tight the o-ring gets over compressed/distorted, mind. I'm not a fan of these economy posts. I've had poppets jam open a couple times. Nice beer feature, which causes a great deal of excitement, but not really the aim. If it's an option I'd swap them at some point for authentic AEB posts or similar. Otherwise just take extra care when fitting. E.g. pressure test.

 

[redrocker652002]

Great subject. I am curious, how often should the o rings be swapped out? I have about 3 or 4 batches on my current, bought new, Torpedo 5 gallon keg. My kegerator is a converted fridge with no drip pan or safety net. So if this Oring should fail I will have 5 gallons of beer on my kitchen floor. That may put an end to my kegging as my wife will not be happy. LOL

Also, what is the AEB posts you are talking about? What makes them different that the post on my keg now? I looked them up, and they look very similar to what I already have.

Thanks.

RR

 

[Dland]

Sorry for the OP's loss. I did not quite get where beer leaked out; poppet, dispenser line or post seal?

For what it's worth, I don't leave lines hooked up except when dispensing.

Another good practice is to pre pressurize keg before crashing in keezer, either by spunding in keg or adding CO2 right after kegging to be sure of good lid seal and check poppets are tight.

 

[madscientist451]

Did the keg hold pressure when you added the CO2 for carbing? If so, the leak was more likely at one of the hose clamps in the beer line?
A good practice is to NOT connect anything to the "out" side of the keg while carbing. I crank up the pressure to 30lbs and disconnect the gas.
If you come back in a day or two and there's no pressure, you have a slow keg leak. Its an extra hassle, but worth it to save an empty C02 bottle or clean up a big mess.

 

[hottpeper13]

Don't know how often to replace the "O" rings, but as a retired industrial mechanic/ millwright i would put new ones on every time I took it apart. All my kegs are used with new silicone seals that I've never replaced(some are from 2013) because I use a keg washer on a 20 min cycle.

 

[Gozie Boy]

Until I swap out the vinyl gas lines in my main keezer to EvaBarrier, I usually disconnect them from the kegs when not in use to minimize oxygen ingress into the lines (I then purge the lines prior to reconnecting them to remove the contaminated CO2). While I'm at it I also disconnect the product lines. This has an added benefit of minimizing the consequences of any seal failures. A bit more work, but I sleep better knowing that I probably won't have floating kegs in the morning!

 

[Neldog0]

So I thought I was getting pretty good at this home brewing deal. Dialed in the Anvil Foundry, moved to BIAB, brew days are a breeze now.

Woke up this morning and decided to check the keezer for some reason, and... well, the keg of Kolsch that I just transferred a few days ago was floating. Thats weird... why would a keg be floating in my keezer? You mean to tell me the beer that I worked pretty hard on is now being used as a virtual beer bathtub? Great.

So, I guess this is the point in time to "relax and have a homebrew" which I did after brewing the Kolsch again.

As to why this happened? Hopefully you guys can help out with this and see if I'm right.. I'm assuming it was a failed o-ring on the dip tube..I uploaded a video and hope it plays, but there is noticeable pressure being released at the bottom of the liquid post. The kegs are about 1 - 1.5 years old, the o-rings honestly look ok...I'm going to swap them out, use some keg lube on them and monitor.. But any other suggestions would be great. Didn't expect my Saturday to end up like this.






View attachment 774447

Just a quick note;
I worked for a major soda company & had to work with Corny Kegs daily. Post seals were replaced every time. Top lid seal was replaced if it failed a pressure check. Any lines used were always pulled apart at the fitting. The line was trimmed and the reattached after cleaning the fitting.
If you follow the procedures of the two big boys of cola production you’ll have very little issue or none at all.

 

[capt_yo55arian]

Did the keg hold pressure when you added the CO2 for carbing? If so, the leak was more likely at one of the hose clamps in the beer line?
A good practice is to NOT connect anything to the "out" side of the keg while carbing. I crank up the pressure to 30lbs and disconnect the gas.
If you come back in a day or two and there's no pressure, you have a slow keg leak. Its an extra hassle, but worth it to save an empty C02 bottle or clean up a big mess.

I had about 5 psi the first night of a cold crash, second night I decided to take a small taste (hooked up QD) then put 30 psi on it. Didn’t remove QD. I should have been more careful w/ pressure test and keg maintenance.

 

[capt_yo55arian]

Sorry for the OP's loss. I did not quite get where beer leaked out; poppet, dispenser line or post seal?

For what it's worth, I don't leave lines hooked up except when dispensing.

Another good practice is to pre pressurize keg before crashing in keezer, either by spunding in keg or adding CO2 right after kegging to be sure of good lid seal and check poppets are tight.

Looks like a post seal. Yea I’m def going to remove lines going forward as well.

 

[JAReeves]

After you suck that out of your keezer, don't leave it in your wet vac too long. Or it gets tasty.

View attachment 774451

Nice pellicle, I think there is a forum for that.

 

[Nate R]

what is the AEB posts you are talking about? What makes them different that the post on my keg now? I looked them up, and they look very similar to what I already have.

AEB is the brand- an Italian made corny keg system. Top of the line system if you will. Also more expensive. The poppets look the same from the outside, but inside are more robust. Also a little harder to clean, but worth it.

Here are the AEB kegs:
https://www.morebeer.com/products/corny-keg-ball-lock-5-gal.html
Holy crap these got expensive. I got mine for $100 new shipped like 3 yeara ago from morbeer on a special. Yowza

 

[McMullan]

In terms of AEB posts, make your own mind up, but I doubt Pepsi or Coca-Cola would have used anything as 'economical' as the '3rd party' offerings on home-brew peripherals imported from China in recent years.

AEB posts don't fall apart when removed from a keg. In fact, it takes some effort to disassemble them. Not that they need to be disassembled.

 

[Nate R]

In fact, it takes some effort to disassemble them. Not that they need to be disassembled.

Hmmm... i don't think i've ever gotten mine apart. I didn't know they did come apart! Either a clean in place loop clean, or a full soak (and i would poke the little poppet down with a snall blunt tool). I will have to try to dissassemble next time.

 

[Smudgey]

View attachment 774447

Been there. Its just a different drinking experience. Looks like plenty of long straws available...

 

[capt_yo55arian]

AEB is the brand- an Italian made corny keg system. Top of the line system if you will. Also more expensive. The poppets look the same from the outside, but inside are more robust. Also a little harder to clean, but worth it.

Here are the AEB kegs:
https://www.morebeer.com/products/corny-keg-ball-lock-5-gal.html
Holy crap these got expensive. I got mine for $100 new shipped like 3 yeara ago from morbeer on a special. Yowza

First time hearing about AEB. This is something I have to look into. I assumed all new kegs were Chinese imports.

 

[bracconiere]

Been there. Its just a different drinking experience. Looks like plenty of long straws available...

so like a 'casket' style pour?

 

[pvtpublic]

so like a 'casket' style pour?

Casket ale, what a concept!

 

[bracconiere]

Casket ale, what a concept!

...traditionally served from a reused mountain dew 2-liter..

 

[matt_m]

I've had it happen twice. Fun.

 

[balrog]

I don't leave lines hooked up except when dispensing.

This.
While I'm not a fan of the constant connect/disconnecting, I'm less a fan of Murphy's Law, to which I seem to fall victim. Of course, plenty of folks hook up multiple keezer gas/liquid connections, submersion test the snot out of them, and have no issues. I'm looking at you @day_trippr .

 

[Neldog0]

While you may not have liked my response, these corny legs were made for the soft drink industry. Having worked with these kegs for delivering pre-mix to picnics & public events, the last thing we ever wanted was to have to go back an replace the soft drink & CO2 supplies. This would have been very costly. I supplied you with the method to insure that there was no loss of CO2 or product. In my 35 years of home brewing I never had a beer or CO2 loss following the cleaning & seal replacement method. The seals on the corny legs are very inexpensive & well worth replacing to save the cost of beer & CO2 loss.

Everyone has there own method for home brewing so enjoy your efforts, relax and have a homebrew

 

[Draft Master Flash]

This same thing happened to me with an Alt. It was caused by a universal poppet in my out post. Somehow the poppet managed to turn a little sideways and enable the beer to leak out. I can remember checking my keezer that morning and nearly hitting the roof! Later on I found out it was only a little over a cup of beer that leaked out though. I was able to save the keg by just plugging in the out line but that was the last time I'm ever going to use universal poppets. I was in the process of carbing the keg by hitting it with 25 psi once or twice a day then detaching the co2. At the time I was in fear of draining my co2 tank in case of a co2 leak that had gone unnoticed. Didn't want to have to replace a drained 20 lb co2 tank again! Since then I have been just keeping the co2 at 10 psi with both lines connected and waiting for my beer to slowly carb. Also I don't use universal poppets anymore but only use the actual poppets that are made for the particular post.

DMF

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I have had that sideways o-ring problem, fortunately not on a keg of beer. I only use them on utilities like tap cleaners, and stick to the oem style poppets on my kegs...

Cheers!

 

[Neldog0]

This same thing happened to me with an Alt. It was caused by a universal poppet in my out post. Somehow the poppet managed to turn a little sideways and enable the beer to leak out. I can remember checking my keezer that morning and nearly hitting the roof! Later on I found out it was only a little over a cup of beer that leaked out though. I was able to save the keg by just plugging in the out line but that was the last time I'm ever going to use universal poppets. I was in the process of carbing the keg by hitting it with 25 psi once or twice a day then detaching the co2. At the time I was in fear of draining my co2 tank in case of a co2 leak that had gone unnoticed. Didn't want to have to replace a drained 20 lb co2 tank again! Since then I have been just keeping the co2 at 10 psi with both lines connected and waiting for my beer to slowly carb. Also I don't use universal poppets anymore but only use the actual poppets that are made for the particular post.

DMF

I only have used the oem posts on my corny kegs. The poppets get very unpredictable when you mix between oem & universal.

I have 15 corny kegs I use. Of these I only replaced three post sets with universal style. I found that I had to make sure that the poppets were made for those posts & I also had to replace the dip tube & gas tube using the same ones made by the replacement company. Once I did this, those kegs worked fine with no leaks. The other thing to keep in mind is that the plastic ball locks can wear out without any symptoms. I don’t mess around with it. If I suspect a problem with a ball lock I connect them to my cleaning set up see if their is a leakage issue. The best ball locks I have are stainless steel. These ball locks have lasted now for 15 years with no leaks.

Relax, a lot of this is figured by mistake. My advantage is that I worked in the fluid power industry for 27 years. My philosophy is simple: don’t get too frustrated, have a home brew. Any mistake we make can be fixed.

 

[Closet Fermenter]

Rather than disconnect all gas lines, beer lines, etc., I have just been flipping the gas line off after each fill. (The small one in the line, not the tank valve.) I don’t have a sophisticated setup, just kegs in a cooler with party taps. I started doing that after I had a party tap leak about 1/4 keg of carbonated water, (best possible loss ever!). Also, I get some condensation issues from lifting the lid on these muggy days in the South, but I’d rather be mopping up water than beer. The small utility area where my cooler is located just wouldn’t accommodate taps. Towers would hit the wall when I raised the lid, and through a collar taps wouldn’t allow me to pass by.
It is still possible to lose a little beer this way if faucet failed, or the post seal leaks, but only to the extent of the residual dispensing pressure in the keg. I would think that leaving the connectors on the keg would reduce wear on the seals and reduce chances of a leak if you should forget to remove them after say, 3 or 7 seven beers.