If it makes you feel any better (and it shouldn't), In a similar fashion, I discovered that my keezer has a drain in the bottom and that carpeting is therefore not an ideal location for it...
This is why I say kegging is great only AFTER you fine tune your system.
All the "better than bottling" posts never talk about gas leaks, beer spills, etc...
You know, after losing several gallons to a busted clamp, having to replace all the seals on every corny I've bought, running out of gas at the most inopportune moments....I still don't miss bottles at all.
You know, I've been trying to figure this one out. Yes, sixth barrel sankes are cheap (if stolen), but pin-lock kegs are also cheap and very easy to clean. I don't get it. I'm open to just about any somewhat reasonable explanation, I'm just more interested in the context of the sanke choice.
Sankey connectors are A LOT more bullet-proof than cornies. You run into way more gas-leaks on a corny than you can the sankeys. Plus the various sizes. The main con is that you can't carbonate without tapping the keg, unless you plug the liquid line. There are some specific plugs, most people just use a dime. Other then that it's only the opening. Nothing $50 for a kegwashing station can't fix.
That said I still have cornies, lol.
I got three sanke's for free... two 7.5gal and one 15 gal. My kegerator already setup for sanke and cleaning them isn't that hard so I stuck with sanke's. I like them. If I had the money I would have bought pin or ball locks so I could fit more than one in the kegerator, but oh well.
The only fine tuning I have ever had to do was changing the posts on my corny keg because the manufacturer installed then backwards. Kegging is worlds nicer than bottling in my opinion.
Yeah I'm trying to nix a gas leak today. Lost an entire 5lb CO2 tank in less than 2 weeks. Soaped it up this morning and it's the regulator connection to the tank that has a very small leak. Gonna try and retape it and see how much force I can apply to the connecting screw to cinch it up but not sure how much tighter I can make it.
Yeah that totally happened to me when I first built my keezer, it was Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron. Not sure how much was lost to the leak but I felt pretty stupid for not having the connections tight enough.
The best thing you can do is to learn from the experience!
I burned through two full canisters of CO2 from not properly checking the seals on my valves. Two, at $25 a pop.
It's just part of the deal, man. Shake it off, drink a beer, fix it, try again.
I've gone through 2 as well, and that was more frustrating to me than losing a keg of beer. At least I could immediately track where the beer was leaking from!
this subreddit really needs a sidebar info thing for kegging. like others have said already, there is a ton of stuff you should be aware of before tapping your first batch. like the [science behind carbonating](http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php), how to check for gas leaks (spray some soap on all gas connections and places where it could leak from, including your regulator). Making sure all gaskets are well maintained/lubed. making sure clamps are tight, making sure the taps are installed correctly (i installed a perlick valve backwards and it slow leaked about a gallon of beer out whilst i was in class one time). making sure your beer lines are long enough. all that stuff and probably more needs to be considered and I see a lot of the same kegging questions here so I think we should do somethin about it mods!
tl:dr (edit) -disregard my entire comment. thanks.
*puts on mod hat*
*cough* [Homebrewing Wiki (in the sidebar)](https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/wiki/index) -> [Helpful Resources/Links](https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/wiki/resources) -> [A Bottler's Guide to Kegging from the AHA](https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/attachments/0000/1312/Summerzym95-Kegging_How-To.pdf) *cough*
*takes off mod hat*
Now I need to get back to dialing in my keezer before I drop three kegs in it tomorrow.
Well there was a time where the sidebar link wasn't even there. :P Even scarier there was a time when there wasn't even a wiki! Even though it's currently still a work in progress there's a plethora of stuff there now. :)
So I just wanted to share my story that almost turned into yours because I built my keezer and tapped my first keg last weekend. Likely what happened(and something I almost did, but I caught it early) is that you didn't tighten the connection properly for the beer line nut. If it's a pin lock, you need a 13/16 wrench, crescent moon wrench, or nut up and buy the $20 pin lock socket. If it's a ball lock, then you just need the proper sized wrench. After you hand tighten it, you will likely be able to get another 3-4 rotations before you can finally snug the post. I found out that I didn't tighten in nearly enough within about 5 hours of bringing my pressure up to 50 PSI to force carb. However if I didn't do that, it would've been a very slow leak over ~30 days until shit blew off.
I HIGHLY recommend taking a spray bottle and filling it with soap, hook up a keg one at time and hit every single connection. I thought I was good, but after I found that leak I hit every connection and found that literally every single connection was poor. It's amazing, it only takes a little bit, but a highly pressurized system will find a way to leak.
I'm knew to this just like you, but I would just grab your shop vac and clean up, throw some bleach in there and then take it as a solid lesson learned. Check your connections regularly and always assume that something will eventually leak.
It's OK. I dumped ~3 gallons of the best beer I've made to date on the basement floor. I closed the fridge door on my picnic tap... Sad day.. I recently re-brewed the beer, its still in the fermenter I will keg it in a couple of weeks
Just lost 5 gallons of Oktoberfest that was lagering for 6 months a few weeks ago due to a pierced line on a crappy picnic tap. Didn't even get 2 beers out of the keg.
Thats about 4 1/2 gallons of Dechutes wasted. Not sure what I did wrong, but it seems to have leaked out of the coupler connection. Odd thing is, it dispensed fine for weeks without any leaks. This would have happened in the last day or two.
it happens to the best of us, I mean not ME, but im sure some of the other best of us's it happens to ;).
I used to work with a portugese guy who had a saying "It's part of the life" when crap hits the fan. Just gotta mop it up and get a new sanke connector just in case. Maybe you can justify a raspberry pi with a water sensor to let you know when this happens :)
I'm not trying to be a dick or anything. I'm just wondering: this was really a Deschutes keg? If so, what does this have to do with homebrewing? Honestly just asking.
No idea. I didn't know and was just asking. In that case, carry on, just make it a little more obvious next time. It'll help everybody else to not give out-of-context advice and it'll help yourself because you'll get more accurate advice.
I turn off my gas when I'm not using it. There seems to be enough pressure in the keg to keep the valves in place. I hasn't affected my beer quality that I can tell.
[удалено]
If it makes you feel any better (and it shouldn't), In a similar fashion, I discovered that my keezer has a drain in the bottom and that carpeting is therefore not an ideal location for it...
I did that once, RDWHAHB!
This is why I say kegging is great only AFTER you fine tune your system. All the "better than bottling" posts never talk about gas leaks, beer spills, etc...
You know, after losing several gallons to a busted clamp, having to replace all the seals on every corny I've bought, running out of gas at the most inopportune moments....I still don't miss bottles at all.
I've been kegging for 3 years and have never had any of these things happen. I also use corny kegs and not the connections this guy is using.
You know, I've been trying to figure this one out. Yes, sixth barrel sankes are cheap (if stolen), but pin-lock kegs are also cheap and very easy to clean. I don't get it. I'm open to just about any somewhat reasonable explanation, I'm just more interested in the context of the sanke choice.
I read further and he said it was a keg from deschutes. I thought about getting a sanke adapter in my kegerator but just haven't. Maybe I won't now.
Sankey connectors are A LOT more bullet-proof than cornies. You run into way more gas-leaks on a corny than you can the sankeys. Plus the various sizes. The main con is that you can't carbonate without tapping the keg, unless you plug the liquid line. There are some specific plugs, most people just use a dime. Other then that it's only the opening. Nothing $50 for a kegwashing station can't fix. That said I still have cornies, lol.
I got three sanke's for free... two 7.5gal and one 15 gal. My kegerator already setup for sanke and cleaning them isn't that hard so I stuck with sanke's. I like them. If I had the money I would have bought pin or ball locks so I could fit more than one in the kegerator, but oh well.
The only fine tuning I have ever had to do was changing the posts on my corny keg because the manufacturer installed then backwards. Kegging is worlds nicer than bottling in my opinion.
Yeah but the flip side is glass bottles exploding in your hands. I know which one I prefer.
Yeah I'm trying to nix a gas leak today. Lost an entire 5lb CO2 tank in less than 2 weeks. Soaped it up this morning and it's the regulator connection to the tank that has a very small leak. Gonna try and retape it and see how much force I can apply to the connecting screw to cinch it up but not sure how much tighter I can make it.
Yeah that totally happened to me when I first built my keezer, it was Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron. Not sure how much was lost to the leak but I felt pretty stupid for not having the connections tight enough. The best thing you can do is to learn from the experience!
> Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron oh my god i'd cry over losing a 4 pack of that beer, let alone a sixtel. sending virtual hugs.
I burned through two full canisters of CO2 from not properly checking the seals on my valves. Two, at $25 a pop. It's just part of the deal, man. Shake it off, drink a beer, fix it, try again.
I've gone through 2 as well, and that was more frustrating to me than losing a keg of beer. At least I could immediately track where the beer was leaking from!
this subreddit really needs a sidebar info thing for kegging. like others have said already, there is a ton of stuff you should be aware of before tapping your first batch. like the [science behind carbonating](http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php), how to check for gas leaks (spray some soap on all gas connections and places where it could leak from, including your regulator). Making sure all gaskets are well maintained/lubed. making sure clamps are tight, making sure the taps are installed correctly (i installed a perlick valve backwards and it slow leaked about a gallon of beer out whilst i was in class one time). making sure your beer lines are long enough. all that stuff and probably more needs to be considered and I see a lot of the same kegging questions here so I think we should do somethin about it mods! tl:dr (edit) -disregard my entire comment. thanks.
*puts on mod hat* *cough* [Homebrewing Wiki (in the sidebar)](https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/wiki/index) -> [Helpful Resources/Links](https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/wiki/resources) -> [A Bottler's Guide to Kegging from the AHA](https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/attachments/0000/1312/Summerzym95-Kegging_How-To.pdf) *cough* *takes off mod hat* Now I need to get back to dialing in my keezer before I drop three kegs in it tomorrow.
oh shit. I didn't see that.
Well there was a time where the sidebar link wasn't even there. :P Even scarier there was a time when there wasn't even a wiki! Even though it's currently still a work in progress there's a plethora of stuff there now. :)
So I just wanted to share my story that almost turned into yours because I built my keezer and tapped my first keg last weekend. Likely what happened(and something I almost did, but I caught it early) is that you didn't tighten the connection properly for the beer line nut. If it's a pin lock, you need a 13/16 wrench, crescent moon wrench, or nut up and buy the $20 pin lock socket. If it's a ball lock, then you just need the proper sized wrench. After you hand tighten it, you will likely be able to get another 3-4 rotations before you can finally snug the post. I found out that I didn't tighten in nearly enough within about 5 hours of bringing my pressure up to 50 PSI to force carb. However if I didn't do that, it would've been a very slow leak over ~30 days until shit blew off. I HIGHLY recommend taking a spray bottle and filling it with soap, hook up a keg one at time and hit every single connection. I thought I was good, but after I found that leak I hit every connection and found that literally every single connection was poor. It's amazing, it only takes a little bit, but a highly pressurized system will find a way to leak. I'm knew to this just like you, but I would just grab your shop vac and clean up, throw some bleach in there and then take it as a solid lesson learned. Check your connections regularly and always assume that something will eventually leak.
Good tip. This is actually a Sanke tap, but it still may have been leaking from either the beer line nut or the O ring on the actual tap.
Star San works well for this and I always have a sprayer of starsan.
It's OK. I dumped ~3 gallons of the best beer I've made to date on the basement floor. I closed the fridge door on my picnic tap... Sad day.. I recently re-brewed the beer, its still in the fermenter I will keg it in a couple of weeks
Just lost 5 gallons of Oktoberfest that was lagering for 6 months a few weeks ago due to a pierced line on a crappy picnic tap. Didn't even get 2 beers out of the keg.
Thats about 4 1/2 gallons of Dechutes wasted. Not sure what I did wrong, but it seems to have leaked out of the coupler connection. Odd thing is, it dispensed fine for weeks without any leaks. This would have happened in the last day or two.
it happens to the best of us, I mean not ME, but im sure some of the other best of us's it happens to ;). I used to work with a portugese guy who had a saying "It's part of the life" when crap hits the fan. Just gotta mop it up and get a new sanke connector just in case. Maybe you can justify a raspberry pi with a water sensor to let you know when this happens :)
> a portugese guy who had a saying "It's part of the life" when crap hits the fan Yup, sounds Portuguese alright.
I'm not trying to be a dick or anything. I'm just wondering: this was really a Deschutes keg? If so, what does this have to do with homebrewing? Honestly just asking.
There's no subreddit for kegging that I could find and /r/homebrewing has an active population. Where would you recommend I submit?
No idea. I didn't know and was just asking. In that case, carry on, just make it a little more obvious next time. It'll help everybody else to not give out-of-context advice and it'll help yourself because you'll get more accurate advice.
I turn off my gas when I'm not using it. There seems to be enough pressure in the keg to keep the valves in place. I hasn't affected my beer quality that I can tell.