What to do with a leaky keg?

[jacksonbrown]

One of my cornies has some serious sealing issues around the lip. I've replaced the ring to no avail. Can this be fixed at a reasonablt cost or am I better off just getting a replacement (LHBS has em for $25)?

 

[nealf]

Have you used keg lube to try to help it seal up? You could give that a shot... I usually use Vaseline since that part never touches any of my beer.

 

[mmb]

Is it dented up? You can always try a different lid or switching the orientation of the lid. I have some kegs that only seal with the lid on a specific way. Keg lube as well.

You can always use that keg as a secondary for bulk aging or dry hopping...

 

[remilard]

Is it dented up? You can always try a different lid or switching the orientation of the lid. I have some kegs that only seal with the lid on a specific way. Keg lube as well.

You can always use that keg as a secondary for bulk aging or dry hopping...

+1, you can also try a silicone o-ring. McMaster Carr has them. I don't have a part number, unfortunately. They tend to seal better.

If you can't get it to seal at all, try a different lid on it to determine if the lid or the keg is faulty. You can buy a used lid for less than a whole used keg.

If its the keg, personally I would get rid of it and keep the posts, dip tubes, lid, poppets etc as spares.

 

[jacksonbrown]

Good idea mmb. I have used lube and different lids and different orientations all to no avail. The wierdest thing is that a couple weeks ago, it was fine. Had some orientation issues but still held pressure. I dumpued in some fresh, active yeast to help with a diacytol problem and since then it won't hold pressure any more. There are some minor dents in the lip, two, both bent upward, so I'm guessing that's the issue.

 

[jacksonbrown]

If its the keg, personally I would get rid of it and keep the posts, dip tubes, lid, poppets etc as spares.

More good ideas. Thanks!

 

[azscoob]

I had a keg that wouldnt seal no matter what I did as far as lids and seals go. the leak was coming from a deformed keg opening. I used a small rounded brass punch and a tack hammer to tap out the dents along the sealing surface and it still seals great months later.

 

[david_42]

Bad cornies are very useful for growing Japanese radishes, if you're into really long radishes.

 

[3 Dog Brew]

Make sure you know for certain where the leak is coming from. I was having similar issues with a couple of my kegs but was able to resolve it. The point being that the leaks I was experience weren't always coming from where I thought they were.

How I did it: (Not a Novel by O.J. )
I purchased a tall enough plastic garbage can (~$20) and filled it with water. Each keg then got roughly 90% filled with water and pressurized to my serving pressure of 10psi. I reasoned that higher pressure might mask some leaks by deforming gaskets to make a seal.

In turn, each keg was submerged into the garbage can (having it 90% full helps keep it from wanting to float to the top as well as saving on gas) and I looked for gas bubbles. Some were faulty poppets and a few were faulty pressure relief valves. Some issues were resolved by re-torquing the dip-tube posts.

I was able to resolve issues with all 5 of my kegs (even the one that looks like it's from the '50s).

 

[fartingdog]

I had a keg that wouldn't seal no matter what- it now is a dedicated Star-San (w/ distilled H2O) container- very useful for sanitizing racking canes, tubing and other long items. Plus, you can get enough temporary pressure to push sanitizer for the beer lines.

All that, and it's a great resource for spare parts. It's now the proud owner of the faulty popits, dinged posts and so on.

 

[fretsforlife]

I had a keg that i bought from Kegconnection. It showed up under pressure, but as soon as i opened it, it never sealed again.. i dont get it either

 

[fretsforlife]

I know this is a little after the fact, but I just fixed the problem with my keg! all i did was, filled it with water to simulate a batch of beer, then I connected the gas and turned it on. it immediately started leaking around the lid. All I did (after lubing the o-ring), was slightly shifted the lid around with my fingers, and after about 5 seconds, it found its sweet spot and sealed right up. give it a go!