Poppet problems...

[gonzoflick]

I just bought two cornies from a friend who never brewed and just had them laying around. They hold pressure and the O rings seem newish. My question is, what are the signs I will see of these kegs having bad poppets? I dont have the start type socket to unscrew the one post so I cant look myself. Through two batches they have poured OK beer but its seemed to take a little longer than normal to force carb them. Any suggestions or symptoms I should be looking for?

 

[Orpheus]

I just bought two cornies from a friend who never brewed and just had them laying around. They hold pressure and the O rings seem newish. My question is, what are the signs I will see of these kegs having bad poppets? I dont have the start type socket to unscrew the one post so I cant look myself. Through two batches they have poured OK beer but its seemed to take a little longer than normal to force carb them. Any suggestions or symptoms I should be looking for?

The best way to tell if they're good is to pressure test them. This is quite simple. Take an empty keg, put on the lid, and pressurize it to 30 psi. Then take a soapy solution (I just use dishwashing liquid and water like I do for the BBQ) and spread it around the poppets and lid. If you get any hissing and/or bubbling, there's a problem.

I just got a "star" wrench set from Target for $9.99 just for the one keg I have with the star shaped poppet. Works perfectly to get it off.

 

[david_42]

The poppet is the spring-loaded valve inside the plug. If it isn't leaking, it's fine.

 

[kornkob]

However, you don't want to put beer in a keg you haven't disassembled since there's only one way to know that there's not a colony of nasties living in one of those valve heads: by putting eyes on it.

That 'star' style socket-- you can find it on any wrench. Local hardware should have them for about $6 (less in the cheap bin) and it's probably 7/8" or 3/4"

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Sometimes both sizes as the gas in and liquid out sometimes use a diff size rench. The double ended box wrench's with both sizes on them work great.

I'd have to go get the wrench to confirm the size though, it's oacked away at the moment.

Definately take out the poppets and sanitze them and clean out any other gunk in there. If they are used, unclean sodo kegs they will have lots of syrupy gunk in there.

 

[user 4295]

Here is a great resource for Kegging and Carbonating. There are two common sizes of keg fittings that you will encounter, 7/8" and 11/16". On some kegs the gas in side will have twelve points and the liquid side only six points. On other kegs, both the gas and the liquid fittings will have six points, but the gas in fitting will have little notches machined into the corners of the "flats", for lack of a better word. A twelve point socket will fit both a twelve point "star" fitting and a six point fitting, but a six point socket will only fit a six point fitting. I hope this makes sense.

This is assuming we are talking about ball lock kegs. Pin lock keg fittings are a whole different animal and require a special socket with grooves cut into it to fit around the pins.