keg disaster

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Wort*hog

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Kegged four cornies last week. Put 30 pounds on each one and set them out in the garage. buddy came by tonight and though premature we had to try a keg out. Went for the red ale. Pulled the releave valve. slight phisssst! tried the other three kegs. one had a slight phisst and the others had no pressure at all. all had leaked off! Recharged two of them to 30lbs went out an hour later and no pressure. done gave all my bottles away. aaarrrggg! Do these things really work?
 
:confused: Are you leaving the gas on them? The initial 30# charge will be a tiny amount of CO2 (basically fills up the headspace) and will be rapidly absorbed into the wort where it will disperse and have a minimal effect. If you want the beer to carbonate you need to leave the CO2 hooked up so that it can continually supply CO2 while the beer absorbs it.

Also, the 30# deal is a rapid way to carbonate when you absolutely positively have to drink the beer by the next day. It's much simpler to just hook them up at the normal carbonation pressure and let them carbonate for a week or so at the final serving temp.
 
I'm assuming you have used kegs. If so, I'd replace your lid seal, and put some keg lube on it. If that doesn't work, you may need to replace the poppets, or replace PRV. I've found most of my leaks were due to lid problems, and most these are curable with keg lube.

I actually had one keg that had a crack near the lid--It was miniscule, but it was there, and it leaked all the gas. So I'm taking it to a welder and have them put a weld over the crack.

Hope this helps. Kegs are great once you figure out their little nuances.
 
At this time I am building a kegerator. I have only one ball lock to hook to the kegs The one we tried was flat. I think it leaked off before having a chance to carbonate. As demonstated by the leak off within an hour when I recharged. I just bought the kegs (reconditioned) they sat around for a few days and had a good charge under them when I went to use them. So I figgered the poppets were sound. I have four more kegs and four more batches of beer fermenting as we speak. If I had the fittings to hook everything up and keep a charge under them I would be OK But that is not the case. Off to my LHBS in the morning for rebuild kits for the kegs?
 
OK I get your Point. Didn't think of the small volume of the headspace. It makes sense now that you explained it. I'll go after covering all the bases tomorrow. and relax a bit.:mug: thanks guys
 
Do the soap test....if your not leaking from the cornies, then it's being absorbed by the brew. My biggest problem was getting the relief valve to seat properly and to quit hissing.
 
definitely check for leaks around the poppets, posts, and lid. also, if/when you get a manifold, check around all the connections. i had to eventually dunk mine in water to see all the leaks. you really don't want a leak, even a small one. it can drain a large tank of co2 fairly quickly. i had a leak when i first started kegging, and wound up going through 20 lbs of co2 for just two kegs. didn't quite realize it till the tank was empty... now that i have a dedicated kegerator and a 50 lb co2 tank that weighs 125 lbs empty, it's not something i want to have to swap very often...
 
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