Leaking Purge Vavle

qgriffith · Feb 15, 2009

First time kegging, and I picked up some Corny kegs from my LHBS. Today I moved my batch of beer from the secondary to the keg and pumped it full of pressure. It seems I have a small leak at the purge valve. Sadly my LHBS is not open today, and I think I bought their last keg. So till I can get me a new purge valve does anyone have any hints/tricks to get the leaking to stop short of replacing the purge valve? Im worried it may be a few days, or a week if I have to order one online till I can get a new purge vavle. Not sure what impact it will have on my beer. It needs to age about two more weeks till its ready to drink, but will the leaky valve cause oxygen to get into the beer?

Schlenkerla · Feb 15, 2009

I am new to kegging so take this advice with a grain of salt.

You are force carbonating right?

Try pop the the pressure release valve several times. Maybe there is some junk in it that's stopping it from seating. By doing so you may dislodge whatever is stuck in the valve.

You can also just kill the CO2 since there is a blanket of it on the surface of the beer. Let it sit until you can get a new poppet or swap out a lid. Leaving it as is no different than if you left it in a carboy.

You could put a piece of foil over the valve, better yet, put a large piece of saran wrap over the top to keep it dust free. You'll most likely need to pop the cover off to replace the valve if its bad.

Also what pressure do you have it set at right now?

Is it possible that its too high a blowing out CO2 to vent?

Another idea - Try pushing down on the center stem of the valve.

truckmann · Feb 15, 2009

Leaky valves suck. First off what style of relief valve is it? Hopefully it is the screw in replaceable style. If so unscrew it and see if there is any gunk in there causing leakage. You might also try putting a little keg-lub on the seal part of it and seeing if that helps.

truckmann · Feb 15, 2009

Schlenkerla said:
Also what pressure do you have it set at right now?

Is it possible that its too high a blowing out CO2 to vent?

Unless you have the pressure over 130 psi that should not be the issue.

qgriffith · Feb 15, 2009

Thanks for the replies it leaks as soon as I put more then 5 psi in the keg. Lucky it is the screw in type. I have taking it out and cleaned the area around where the vavle sits but to no luck.

bad coffee · Feb 15, 2009

Take the valve out, and stretch the spring, and lube the rubber gasket. it should help.

To get the spring off, take the ring off the valve, pop the plastic piece off, and pull the spring. Pull on both ends of the spring a bit (don't crank on it) until it stretches.

re-assemble and see if it works.

If not, Midwest Supplies has the cheapest place for replacements. CHI company has them for about the same price. But no beer ingredients...

B

Teddi Brewski · Feb 15, 2009

Hey, not to hijack the thread, but I've had this problem before, and realized I've got no rubber gasket at the bottom of my valve. Anybody know how to repair that rather than replace? Seems like it should be so easy but I haven't solved it yet. Thanks for posting this thread. The pressure release valve seems like the weak link of the whole keg to me!