Problem with seal on fermentation corny keg

[TAK]

I've recently started fermenting in a 10 gal corny. I hook up a blowoff tube to the gas-out disconnect. Problem is, I'm finding that without head pressure, the lid leaks. The gas is tending to prefer escaping from the rim of the lid, and my blowoff tube isn't getting much activity.

It's probably not a huge deal, but it's kinda annoying. If it's leaking, then it's not a true closed system, which was my whole purpose in fermenting in a keg in the first place.

Any thoughts on how to get a better seal without head pressure?

 

[Rockn_M]

Make sure that the large o-ring is in good condition and there is a lot of keg lube on the o-ring.

 

[m00ps]

yeah keg lube or replacing the o-rings sounds like your only choice. Whats the lid look like on a 10gal keg? Could you replace the entire lid with a new one (o-rings included) for a 5gal keg? They have new lids on a lot of sites

 

[day_trippr]

Try sticking dimes under both feet of the lid latch.
They'll increase the "squish" on the lid o-ring and might seal it up tight for you.
And keg lube is always a good idea...

Cheers!

 

[TAK]

Ya, I put a fresh ring on it, and that thing is lubed up like <insert joke here>.

Dimes. Now there's a thought. I'll try that on my next go at it.


Now I just have to find $0.20 to spare.

 

[BetterSense]

I ferment in 5gal corny kegs. About half of them leak around the lid when fermenting, bit I don't care. I don't think it's important for them to be sealed; when I fermented in buckets I just left the lids loose. I use cornys more because they fit in my freezer nice, are not plastic or glass, and I use the dip tube as a thermowell.

 

[Tegra]

I have switched to Sanke for fermenting. The Corny was to small and two ganged together was getting complicated. This allowed me to up my batch to 12-14 gal.

 

[pvpeacock]

You can also try extra thick o rings. I think Williams Brewing sells them.

 

[kombat]

I use cornys more because they fit in my freezer nice, are not plastic or glass, and I use the dip tube as a thermowell.

How does that work? The dip tubes are not sealed on the end, so they will be full of fermenting beer. A temperature probe pushed down the pickup tube will be in direct contact with the beer. Worse still, any beer in the pickup tube would be exposed to outside air (I'm assuming you have to remove the liquid-out post in order to access the pickup tube). Am I misunderstanding how you're using this?

 

[oakbarn]

We have fermented in our Corny Fermentors for years for Lagers. WE do nothing special and just make sure we leave about 2 inches below to gas out tube, We have just an open end on a regular Gas In Line. We do clean well after use. WE still have all the dip tubes in place. We dump the trub by the Beer Out. When we transfer to final, we simply dump the small amount of trub to a waste corny that has no lid (I picked up years ago for $5 as it was damaged). We can pre CO2 the final Keg and then transfer Keg to Keg with no oxygen. We have only had one issue when I connected the Gas Out blowoff to the Beer Out. My wort was in the bottom of my freezer fermentation chamber after it started fermenting. Lost 5 gallons.

I actually use some kegs that have "pressure" issues.

One way to seal is to pressurize to 30 psi then release pressure and put on blow off tube. We do not bother anymore.
We put the Gas In open end into a jug of Start San for air lock

 

[kombat]

We put the Gas In open end into a jug of Start San for air lock

I've done that before. Just remember to replace it with a regular CO2 hookup before you cold crash it. Sucked a couple quarts of StarSan into my keg.

 

[BetterSense]

How does that work? The dip tubes are not sealed on the end, so they will be full of fermenting beer. A temperature probe pushed down the pickup tube will be in direct contact with the beer. Worse still, any beer in the pickup tube would be exposed to outside air (I'm assuming you have to remove the liquid-out post in order to access the pickup tube). Am I misunderstanding how you're using this?

I seal off the end of the dip tube. A keg - lubed STC1000 probe fits right down it.

When it's time to transfer I swap in a "real" dip tube.

 

[kombat]

I figured it must've been something like that.

Off-topic: Is it OK if the STC-1000 temperature probe is in contact with liquid? Are they waterproof? I've noticed that my thermowell sometimes has a small amount of beer at the bottom a week of fermenting (apparently my thermowell has a tiny leak). Will this damage the probe, or are they meant to be tolerant of liquid?

 

[BetterSense]

I think they are for aquariums. So they should be waterproof.