Is my keg leaking gas?

[forcabrew]

i recieved my keg kit from kegconnection the day before thanksgiving. I just got around to fill up the co2 tank, clean up the keg, and check it to ensure its holding pressure. i cleaned the tank with oxyclean and washed it out with some water, changed a couple of orings that looked alittle old and lubed all the rings up. next i filled the tank with a water and star san solution. now to check the pressure with the star san in the keg i put the gas up to 12 psi. once it was at 12 i closed the gas tank to see if the pressure would stay after a while. left my house today this morning to visit inlaws, 5 hours later i return home to see that my psi regulater is now only reading 8 psi. now for the million dollar question do i have a leak? am i carbonating the star san with co2? is this common? if i have a leak where is it from?

thanks from a kegging newb whos hoping to put some beer in a keg for the first time this coming weekend

 

[Hammy71]

Sounds like your fine. Your carbonating the star san a little. The pressure will try to equalize. The head space had alot more CO2 than the liquid so it would be normal for the psi to go down. It's alot easier to check a keg if it's empty.

 

[the_mox]

If you think you have a leak, put some soapy water in a spray bottle, and give it a squirt and check for bubbles.

 

[forcabrew]

So I emptied my keg last night and filled it with 10psi of co2. Then left the keg connected to the co2 tank but turned the gass of to see if the psi would fall. I woke up this morning and checked the pressure and its still at 10 psi so I should be good to go this weekend right? Getting anxious to have beer on draft but want to ensure everything is in proper working order

 

[Yooper]

So I emptied my keg last night and filled it with 10psi of co2. Then left the keg connected to the co2 tank but turned the gass of to see if the psi would fall. I woke up this morning and checked the pressure and its still at 10 psi so I should be good to go this weekend right? Getting anxious to have beer on draft but want to ensure everything is in proper working order

Sounds perfect! After you fill the keg, give it a shot of co2 (you can set the regulator pretty high, like 20-30 psi for this), pull the pressure relief valve and then do it again. That helps purge the keg of any o2, and then you can take a spray bottle of star-san solution or some soapy water and spray around the lid to look for leaks.

You don't want to have a co2 leak and drain your tank!

Then you can stick it in your kegerator at 12 psi (or whatever pressure you're going to use) and you'll have tap beer before you know it!