New Keg Setup - Questions!!

[dinokath]

Hey all again,

Just got all my parts in for my new quad corny kegerator project (sweet) and have some questions on the ball lock valves, poppets, o-rings, etc.

What I have, as best as I can tell, are old Firestone kegs. The liquid dip tubes are bent and have flanged lip on the end that goes under the ball valve and one had a plastic gas dip tube and the other had a stainless steel gas dip tube.

My questions are as follows:

- O-rings - what I see on the net are rounded o-rings for the liquid dip tube but what came off there was very clearly 'squared off' o-rings. Does it matter what I replace them with?

- Gas side dip tubes. Any advice there? Some sites say to drill them out, some say to replace with plastic available on Austinhomebrew.com. Confused? YES I AM!

- Poppets. How hard do you push on the center? I pushed pretty hard and had a tough time getting them out. Got two of the four I was working on out but the other two are stuck? They sat in Oxyclean for a couple hours.

- Poppets. How the hell do you get them back in there? Just jam them in? How far?

Thanks in advance all! The plan is to have this bad boy up and running very soon. I have four batches ready to go in there!!

 

[OntarioBeerKegs]

- O-rings - what I see on the net are rounded o-rings for the liquid dip tube but what came off there was very clearly 'squared off' o-rings. Does it matter what I replace them with?

The ones on the net will work just fine. Personally I have no issues using ones from the plumbing store, if it works for my drinking water it will work for my beer.

Gas side dip tubes. Any advice there? Some sites say to drill them out, some say to replace with plastic available on Austinhomebrew.com. Confused? YES I AM!

Dip tubes for me only serve one purpose, they hold the o-ring at the right spot that will make the post assembly airtight.

- Poppets. How hard do you push on the center? I pushed pretty hard and had a tough time getting them out. Got two of the four I was working on out but the other two are stuck? They sat in Oxyclean for a couple hours.

Poppets are the most frustrating part of corny kegs I deal with. They seem to be the first thing to rust/jam or break and the last thing that wants to seat and be airtight. If/when you start to hoarde parts do not forget to give these a spot in the collection of spares. use a center punch and a hammer to get them out if you need to, if it has seized up it probably has more hunk and rust in it then you will want to salvage anyhow.

- Poppets. How the hell do you get them back in there? Just jam them in? How far?

I can usually just put the poppet in a detached post then flip the post onto the threaded port of the corny, with just one or two threads screwed on shake the still loose post so it pops into place and looks flush in the hole it should be seated in, tighten.

Above was just my observations, you will find many ways to do the same things.

 

[user 21663]

Here are the part numbers for O-rings from Mcmaster Carr that I use:

Dip Tube O-Rings
5/16" ID x 1/2"OD x 3/32" width
9452K172 BunaN #109
Pkg 100/$1.89 (yes, these are the same ones the shops sell for fifty cents EACH.)

Post O-Rings
7/16" ID x 5/8" OD x 3/32" width
9452K23 BunaN #111
Pkg 100/$2.15

Lid O-Rings
3 1/2" ID x 4" OD x 1/4" width
9452K218 BunaN #417
Pkg 10/$12.50



Do the dip tubes on the gas side not come out? Mine come out, I clean and inspect them, and then put them back in if they look good.

The poppets on my kegs have little feet on them. If they are not straight, it may be getting caught in the post. The springs on them are pretty stiff. I believe the poppets shouldn't take a lot of force to put back in. Just make sure they are not bent and are going in straight.

 

[Chenslee]

Careful with the poppets. Not all posts are created equally. Some older kegs, and the newer Italian kegs have poppets that DON'T push out. You have to extract them by carefully prying the poppet legs. It took me forever to figure this out.

Williams is one of the few sites that lists the parts for the newer kegs and actually has pictures so you can tell what the hell you have: http://www.williamsbrewing.com/KEG_PARTS_C78.cfm?Page=2

I was disturbed by the "squared off" tube o-rings too when I first got my kegs. It's just because they have been compressed for a long time. They are just mashed round section o-rings.

 

[dinokath]

Dan, Steve and Chens - THANK YOU!

All three of your posts were very helpful and very much appreciated. I popped out the other two with the centerpunch in one whack and no damage. Trick is keeping it centered and pushing down on the poppet a ways. I used a small deep well socket (1/4 drive and 1/4 size, I think) to push the poppet back into the valve. When I reassembled everything, I simply slid the poppet into the valve and it seated correct (so far, pressure testing with new gaskets is currently underway. 0 PSI loss in 30 minutes!) but one popped didn't want to seat right with the little legs in the valve so it leaked when I soap and watered the fittings with pressure on them. Removed it and seated it with the socket as mentioned above and it sealed up just fine after that.

Is that little rubber gasket on the poppet replaceable? I haven't seen any products listed to replace that gasket. I went to Home Depot and brought some of the o-rings with me and matched them up to what they had (except the lid. May have to get that one online!). Thank you for that advice. 10 for $1.29 isn't as good as 100 for $2.00 but is WAY better than $.50 each! 10 should last a really long time for four kegs.

Good call on hoarding those poppets and good advice too. Thanks y'all. It is greatly appreciated!

 

[Chenslee]

I don't think the poppet rings are replaceable. It's a shame to have to toss the whole stainless spring assembly just to get some new rubber.

Also not replaceable: the o-ring on the check valve pin inside the ball lock quick disconnect. I tore down every piece of recent keg acquisition and learned the hard way how far you can disassemble a QD. Williams Brewing and CHI Company have the replacement pins, but at around $1.50, it's almost worth just buying a new QD. I do recommend disassembling your QD's. (like I know what the hell I'm talking about, I haven't even started brewing yet!) There is room in there for crud to hide.

Oh, and one more thing. Don't neglect to pull your gas side poppets too. The NASTIEST chunk of muck I found in some used kegs was INSIDE the gas side post. Hard and big enough that I doubt any kind of caustic was going to get it out.

 

[dinokath]

Thanks Chen. I pulled all the poppets apart and was really shocked at how much crud was inside the gas side too. I am new to kegging so I had no frame of reference but I figured since it was gas it was clean(er) at least. Nope!

How do you take apart the QD? I just got a brand new setup so the only used components were the corny kegs but going forward, it sounds like cleaning everything is a great idea. Thanks again!

 

[Chenslee]

Use a quarter or a REALLY big screwdriver and unscrew the cap. Inside there are just three pieces.

 

[specialized]

where does everyone recommend to buy new poppets? i have one where a piece of the rubber flaked off. it's still holding pressure, but i suspect it won't for long.

 

[Chenslee]

So far Williams Brewing and CHI Company have my vote. The are the only two places I've found that list the A.E.B. style poppets for newer Italian kegs like mine. Williams also has those sweet-tits paintball tank regs.