Lager in Corny Keg that may or may-not hold pressure

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marnel

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Ok, i know people can and do lager in corny kegs, but I have a dilemma here. A buddy of mine recently was cleaning out his fathers attic and found an old corny keg lying around a decided if anybody could use it would be me. I gladly accepted because who doesn't like free stuff. The keg is a coca cola pin lock style and my system currently is set up for ball lock.

I've looked into replacing all the fittings and it's almost unpractical as you can buy a used keg for that cost. Even if I had a pin lock system i think the parts would need to be replaced since they are pretty well pitted (not sure if that's the right term).

My question is can i replace all the gaskets and just use it as a lagering vessel? I'm just not sure if it holds pressure or if that would even be a problem if it did not, I really just don't want to lager something for 3-4 months and find out it's oxidized :confused:
 
I think getting it to seal and being able to purge it with a shot of CO2 would do the trick. No need for a new setup just a single pinlock connector and some gaskets.
 
It should be easy enough to find out if it will hold pressure once you replace the gaskets and o rings simply fill it with water flip the keg upside down and see if it leaks water. The head pressure of the water should easily be sufficent to let you know if the keg is holding or not.

If you can not get the keg to hold pressure I would not use it for lagering but it would probably work ok as a primary for a week if it leaked.

Once you are fairly certain it won't leak water then an only then would I spend the $ for pin lock connectors.

Another money saving tip is if you have access to an air compressor, testing with compressed air is cheaper than testing with compressed
CO2.
 
Cool, i will try the water and see what happens!

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