swapping quick disconnects on kegs under pressure

[scopey]

Newbie question alert!!

OK, soon I'll be making the big step to kegging and have a question that I've not seen discussed: Is it possible to dis/connect the gas/beer quick disconnects when ball lock corny kegs are under pressure?

My kegs arrived from the vendor with pressure, and it seems I can't install either quick diconnect. In other words, I'll need to purchase a set of quick disconnects for each keg I own. Otherwise I'd have to release pressure on any keg that I planned to connect (via installing a quick disconnect).

Maybe the best solution is to have flare fittings everywhere, and hoses with matching (swivel?) connectors?

 

[Baldy_Beer_Brewery]

You should be able to install the QDs just fine. The only thing that you should not be able to do under pressure is remove the lid.

And it is good that you got the kegs from the vendor under pressure. That means you have no leaks.

 

[WenValley]

Both Ball Lock posts on your corney's have poppet valves that will maintain the keg pressure when there's no connector attached.

Take a minute to mark your gas in post and your beverage (beer) out post. If you get your quick connects swapped, you will have a hard time getting them disconnected.

Also it helps to remember that the gray quick connect is for gas (grey=gas) and the black quick connect is for beer (black=beer)

Good Luck.

 

[Baldy_Beer_Brewery]

My kegs arrived from the vendor with pressure, and it seems I can't install either quick diconnect. In other words, I'll need to purchase a set of quick disconnects for each keg I own. Otherwise I'd have to release pressure on any keg that I planned to connect (via installing a quick disconnect).

I just reread this. You will need a QD for each line, not keg. If you own four kegs and serve two of them at a time, you will need two gas in and two liquid out QDs.

Right now, buy all your kegs the same. Either all ball lock or all pin lock. I suggest ball lock.

I have swivels on my lines, but those are to swap my lines between QDs and my sankey tap. If you leave a QD on the keg post and remove the swivel fitting you will lose either co2 or beer and co2 depending on which you remove first.

 

[marzsit]

Newbie question alert!!

OK, soon I'll be making the big step to kegging and have a question that I've not seen discussed: Is it possible to dis/connect the gas/beer quick disconnects when ball lock corny kegs are under pressure?

My kegs arrived from the vendor with pressure, and it seems I can't install either quick diconnect. In other words, I'll need to purchase a set of quick disconnects for each keg I own. Otherwise I'd have to release pressure on any keg that I planned to connect (via installing a quick disconnect).

Maybe the best solution is to have flare fittings everywhere, and hoses with matching (swivel?) connectors?

i just re-read this myself... ball-lock and pin-lock connectors are designed to be attached and removed from soda kegs under pressure. but, you don't just force the connectors onto the keg posts on a ball-lock, you have to pull up the spring-loaded collar in order to retract the balls before the connector will go over the post. once the connector is started over the post, push down until you feel it click. it will take more force if the keg is pressurized, but that's normal.

all of my stuff uses flare fittings, but that's because it makes it easier to clean...

 

[scopey]

If you leave a QD on the keg post and remove the swivel fitting you will lose either co2 or beer and co2 depending on which you remove first.

Thanks for the great advice everyone. So I tried it again to install my new quick disconnects (QD's) onto a new (to me) keg that arrived already under pressure. It takes a bit of force, and as marzsit pointed out you have to pull up on the spring-loaded collar of the QD. Then, as predicted, because the QD wasn't connected to any terminated hose, most of the gas from the keg escaped. I can understand how, if there were beer in the keg when I'd connected an unterminated beer or gas line, I would have gotten a significant spray of beer too--fortunately I didn't, because the keg was empty (except for some dregs of sanitizer and some soda dreck--yuck!)

It really is funny, when you're learning about something new sometimes you will possess an uncanny sense of almost knowing how to do it before you learn it. Other times, like with me and kegging, it really takes a bit of force before my brain can finally wrap around it. But now, as my Dad would always say, my mind is like a steel vice! Nothing can make me unlearn it now, save the inevitable Parkinson's or Alzheimers'...

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

scopey - sprayed my living room from the kitchen while I was force carbonating once because I was brain dead tired. I just had the idea to make sure I got a good fit on my beer out QD, with no line attached. DUH.
Live and learn, but once you start kegging, you will love it.

 

[scopey]

Could someone help me outline some fool proof rules for proper swapping of disconnects of pressurized kegs that will result in no spraying of beer, leaking of gas, or gas/beer ending up in the wrong line? Here's what I understand so far, assuming QDs will already be outfitted with hose lines:

0) You'll need a set (gas + beer) of beer QDs for each tap. Extra kegs can be rotated in by swapping QDs.

1) Non-pressurized kegs, in an upright position, can be connected to unterminated gas/beer lines with no worry about leakage of gas or beer.

2) For pressurized kegs, make sure hoses are terminated (gas lines to closed distribution blocks or CO2 cylinders, beer lines to closed taps) before removing/installing QDs.

2a) procedure for swapping pressurized kegs-- gas or beer first? Foolproof way to avoid spraying or leaking (esp. beer into the gas line)

3) other good rules to follow?

 

[Baldy_Beer_Brewery]

0) Yes
1) Yes
2) Yes
2a) Doesn't matter IMHO
3) you got it covered with 0 through 2.

 

[marzsit]

as long as you keep the keg upright, you won't get liquid in your gas lines. fwiw, you should have check valves in your gas lines, just in case... one of the reasons that commercially-made gas manifolds seem expensive is because each individual shut-off valve has it's own internal check valve built into it. most of the homemade rigs that i've seen leave them out, which could cause problems..

 

[Blender]

I use just a bit of keg lube on the disconnects. It seems to help sometimes.