Kegging - Lost Pressure

Riverevir · Mar 23, 2018

Hi all - I'm brand new to kegging and I've had my share of struggles. Beyond being a bit ignorant and making some rookie mistakes, I have had a heck of a few weeks with my two sons and when I went to pour some beer last Friday, the tap had nothing to give me. As far as I can tell, the CO2 tank went empty. I've seen some notes about making sure the tank is fully open, and I suspect that something wasn't air tight on the keg or the tank. I'll refill the tank and work to figure out where the leak is at, but in the meantime I've been curious about my beer.

So it was carbed, then lost carbonation (pulling the release valve sent no pressure out) and as a result I'm guessing I've got a leak somewhere. The real question I've got is am I wasting my time re-carbing that beer? Is it going to be oxidized/gross when I get the keg issues fixed?

It's a blonde ale in the low 30's of IBUs - it did have a dryhop with some Cascade. I'm imagining some flavor change but will it be worth carbing this? I've got my next batch fermented and ready to go - having only one keg, I could either bottle it or clean the keg and add the new batch in. Opinions wanted! Hoping others can share they've lost pressure and still had a good beer as a result.

Yooper · Mar 23, 2018

Oh, it should still be good! It depends on how much oxygen ingress there was, but my guess is that the beer will still be good to drink for a good while yet.

balrog · Mar 23, 2018

Beer likely is fine, unless you are pumping O2 into the keg (doubtful)
You will have to find the persnickity leak tho and that can be a bear. Could be in the supply side, the lid gasket, poppet, who knows. I use StarSan in spray bottle and try to find leaks but that's not always 100% certain to see a really slow leak.

I actually pump up the kegs and remove the tank. If cold, and carbed, and no leaky, then it will supply beer and I can hook up tank and charge keg again.

I've found keg lube is very helpful with slow leaking kegs, on poppets, lids, and o-rings on quick release posts.

[Edit: annnnnd Yooper beats me to it again]

mirthfuldragon · Mar 23, 2018

Been there, done that, and my tripel was fine. We've all been there. Hunting leaks sucks. Start with the tank and regulator. Open the tank, turn up the pressure to ~20psi, and turn off the valve between the regulator and the keg/keg connection, then turn off the CO2 tank valve, so that you are left with ~20psi sitting between the closed tank and the closed supply valve. Then come back in 20 minutes. The pressure should be about the same, otherwise you have a leak at the tank connection or in your regulator.

Then start hunting leaks downstream from the regulator.

Morrey · Mar 23, 2018

I lost a whole tank of CO2 once when the pressure relief valve on the keg was not seated properly and was causing a loss of gas. As far as finding a leak - take pressurized keg, fill a bath tub full of water, and submerge. Its easy to see a stream of bubbles this way. If there is no keg problem, hook the keg to gas and submerge the whole shooting match in the tub trying not to submerge the gauges on the regulator. This method almost always ends up finding the leak if star-san spritz fails to detect it.