Picnic tap issue, new to kegging

[solavirtus]

I just got into kegging, putting together a bare bones setup with a CO2 tank, regulator, 5 gallon ball lock keg, and picnic tap. My first kegged batch started off good. Clean/santized keg, hooking up the gas, all that. I pressurized to 30 PSI, shook it up for a few minutes, let it sit for an hour in the beer fridge, then purged pressure and set to 10 PSI. A few days later, I go to pull off a half pint just to see where things are at. When I quit depressing the picnic tap, the beer didn't quit coming out! Eventually I wiggled it enough to get the beer to stop squirting out. I don't know what the deal is. And the next morning, I go out and it looks like there was a slow/small leak from the picnic tap, making a bit of a mess in my beer fridge.

Help! Any suggestions? Is there something I'm missing or doing wrong?




tl;dr - my picnic tap tends to leak, eventually quits, but not sure how to deal with it.

 

[wolfman_48442]

Are all the connections tight? The dispensing end of the picnic tap is just a rubber diaphragm that's screwed on. Open it up and make sure there's no gunk, and not obvious deformation or damage, then tighten it back down. Picnic taps will always dribble a bit after a pour, but only a few drops.
I've had hoppy brews that like to get particles into the tap and gunk it up for the first few pints, but then it runs fine.

 

[Homercidal]

Disconnect the tap and unscrew the valve. See if it's warped, cracked, etc. Maybe apply a THIN layer of some food grade lubricant.

Generally they are pretty foolproof.

Also, you didn't push the lever in the wrong direction, did you? I know that's kind of obvious, but leave no stone unturned, right?

 

[solavirtus]

The picnic tap is brand new, so I hope it's not something wrong with any of the hardware, but I'll check that out.

I definitely didn't push the lever in the wrong direction. Although when I was trying to get it to stop leaking I did a little bit.

 

[KevinM]

It does sound like something wrong with the diaphram, or just something stuck on it. Especially from the first post, if there was a bit of hop that trapped it open, it would have been still pouring, and if any of it stuck onto it, it would create a constant leak.

You may want to flush the tap with some hot water, see if you can dislodge anything that might have gotten stuck and try it out again.
Failing that, you can just pick up another tap for under 5 bucks from one of the LHBSs. (Jackson, Taylor, Lansing) Still waiting on Adventures in Homebrewing to finish opening on Jackson & Zeeb rd, off m-14.

 

[solavirtus]

Alright, I'll try my hand at taking the tap apart to clean it and see what the deal is.

No joke on the new shop opening up, Adventures is great, just too far away in Taylor.

 

[wilserbrewer]

My experience w/ picnic taps is that they are pretty foolproof, you either gat a defective unit or there is debris in there not letting it seal.

 

[kscaglio]

I just had the same thing happen, bought mine at adventures as well. When I went downstairs to get a beer a few minutes ago I have 3-4 gallons of beer on the floor of my keezer....not happy.

 

[solavirtus]

That sucks!

The connections all seemed fine so I took the picnic tap apart to see what was up. Everything looked fine, and I put it back together. I worked the lever of the tap back and forth a few times and hooked it back up to the keg. The last two pours came off with no weird spurting. There wasn't any gunk to clean inside the tap, so I'm thinking it might have been the rubbery parts of the tap needed to be loosened up to seal right or the spring wasn't seated just right and had to worked out a bit.

 

[Turlian]

I just had this same problem on Sunday. Bartender was serving my homebrew at my sister-in-law's wedding and somebody had to come get me since the picnic tap wouldn't stop pouring. Turns out the screw on top was about a half turn too loose, tightened it down and all was well.

 

[maconmatt]

I had this same exact problem at my last party. Had 2 kegs using brand new taps and only one of them had this problem. I still haven't taken a close look to see what was going on.

 

[tesilential]

Happened to me yesterday. Top half of picnic tap wasn't screwed in all the way.

 

[solavirtus]

when I cleaned and reassembled my picnic tap, I did screw the top back on tighter than it was before. It may have been loose enough to cause the initial problem, but I can't be sure. I'm glad it's not squirting everywhere anymore.... Thanks all!

 

[vkmaynard]

Same problem. Had to tighten the screw on cap.

 

[bearcamp]

Thank you search function. Had this issue tonight! Got new keezer and one tap was fine the other spewing beer out once I hooked the liquid quick disconnect. Thought my beer was overcarbed so I re-pressurized etc.. Just a quick fix and all I did is tighten the top of the picnic tap. All is well now. Thanks Homebrew Talk!

 

[Aunt_Ester]

Thanks! Problem solved!

 

[smpow]

I had this same exact problem at my last party. Had 2 kegs using brand new taps and only one of them had this problem. I still haven't taken a close look to see what was going on.

Been there - the quick tighten down fixed it up, but people were pretty clueless as to what was going on - it may have been late in the evening though!

 

[NavySur4]

If it still leaks after tightening the cap, try this:

- disconnect the hose
- remove the thumb lever by pushing down and sliding it off
- unscrew cap
- take off rubber piece
- make sure the plastic piece that runs through the spring and connects the thumb lever is all the way through the spring. There should be a lip on the bottom of the plastic piece that keeps it from sliding through.
- if it is slipping through, slide it out, tighten the spring until it fits correctly, then feed it from the bottom.
- reassemble

Yup, lost a 1/4 of a keg one night because of this.

 

[spaceyaquarius]

Same thing just happened to me, the cap wasn't tightened all the way. Saw liquid on the floor, only lost a few ounces thank Goddess.

 

[bradtate]

picnic taps are what $ 4 bucks replace it there throw aways , always disconnect your liquid side if your not there with picnic taps

 

[wilserbrewer]

My picnic taps have worked flawlessly for years, even while force carbing at 30psi...never leaked a drop. Luv em!!!