What NOT to do with a keg...

[slowjeep]

Oh boy did I make a mess yesterday! I am new to kegging, so that will be my excuse. I thought I could save some time by combining the secondary and carbonation steps by just using the keg(with no airlock) to do secondary. In (my) theory, the CO2 released from secondary would carbonate the beer, and I would save 2 weeks time. I also dry hopped right into the keg. It makes sense right?
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WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! First of all, the hops clogged my tap. They clogged the whole out port. They even clogged the pressure relief valve. I honestly cannot believe how much foam came out of that keg. Then when the pressure relief valve stopped hissing air, I thought it was safe to take apart the outlet post. I couldn't figure out why the relief valve on my regulator went crazy when I hooked up the CO2, but I thought it would be safe to take apart the post anyways. WRONG! I got to witness the (hopefully) rare inside-the-kitchen-beer-geyser. Luckily my chest and face contained most of the blast, but sadly very little beer was caught in my mouth. I was able to reassemble the post and at that point I called it a night.

So, my dilema is: I have 5 gallons of very angry beer and a clogged outlet port. And a clogged pressure relief valve. Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

Take a screwdriver, and release the pressure from the gas IN poppet valve. That would be one way to relieve the pressure if that is what you are trying to accompish. Then you can take your pressure relief valve off clean it and reinstall it, afterwards you can release pressure daily until your carbonation levels come down.