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A. The rods that pull the lid up to seal it can be bent out a little, and by clamping the wire in a vise very carefully, you can take a big pair of pliers and just above on the 90 degree part from the bottom bend the wires down a bit. That will pull the lid up some to a lot depending on how far they were bent. Could be a bad o-ring also, they flatten out with use, or could have been damaged. I have seen bad lids and bad welds on the lid, but they are pretty sturdy and hard to bend (except for the bale). The seat for the o-ring on the keg can be bent and I have seen a lot of those. Bending the lid seat is a dangerous job, it can wreck a keg very easily, I have wreck probably over 100 kegs. I have also fixed a few 100. A person who use to work for me, of course Chaz now works at a brew pub, he said this of the kegs he could not get to seal around the lid will seal at least sometimes by using to 2 lid o-rings. I will have to check into that sometime. B. The pressure relief, if it is leaking take it out and make sure there is nothing stuck down in there where the valve seats. Check where the pressure relief is welded, I have had a few leak there (watch where the bubbles are coming from, the holes or around the base of the valve. Some bad pressure relief valves I could not see why it should leak, but it did and replacing it fixed it. I have fixed them but it takes time and equipment. Luckily they last a long time. C. Male quick connect on top of the keg. All threads are regular right hand threads so to remove them they need to be twisted counter clockwise. Under the quick connect there is a dip tube and a, the 0-ring seals the bottom of the connect to the keg and if leaking will blow bubbles out around the bottom of the quick connect and the keg. The o-ring at the top of the quick connect will seal so there are no leaks liquid or gas side between the female and male keg quick connects. The poppet is the little spring loaded item in the middle of the male quick connect on the keg. If it is leaking you will see bubbles around where the poppet and the quick connect meet. They can be slow and so you need to watch them carefully to make sure no bubbles are happening there. Close to the edge of the quick connect in the center can have been hit and bend the metal so there is an upset on the inside where the seal is , or a bill up of rubber or something else that will allow it to happen, or it could be a faulty poppet that needs replacing. If there is an upset from the metal a lot of times you can use a rotary tool to grind off enough that it will seat, all though some times it has not worked. And I have seen quick connects that have holes in them, so you need another male quick connect (I have only seen it twice).
14. Now I know the system is a lot of money, but the Pepsi kegs are starting to become scarce, and of course just like the 3 gallon kegs that are hard to find, when you do the price will reflect that. If you can not afford the system right now, what I would do is pick up a keg once in a while at $30 it is not out of reach for even the poor people like me. Billed up a stock pile and then when you can afford it you will have kegs at a reasonable price. I believe 10 is not enough, but each person has to make the decision as to how many they will want and if you make wine you will need some for it. I would want over 24 but I do bulk brewing and I need over 100 of them for myself. Lets say you buy to many after you get started and realize you have bought to many. There will be enough people looking for those kegs the selling price will be at least $65 and probably more so you will make money off of them when you get ride of them if you try. You do not have a lot to lose.
15. if you start kegging your beer will be better, it will store longer, you will save around 4 hours work each time you brew, once you have the equipment it is cheaper then bottling (just from the cost of the caps and corn sugar), you can take sediment free beer with you if you want in bottles, and you can filter your wine or beer to help fix problems 0r make sure you will not stir up the sediment when the keg is moved. You can bottle from kegs, straight from the keg, or use counter pressure bottle fillers and other special fillers. Some allow you to put sediment free beer in a plastic soda bottle, but that one can also be made very simply and easy. You just take the soda bottle cap and drill the right size hole for a tire stem then buy the stem ,pull it threw and make a air chuck connection for your CO2 line and you are in business without buying the expensive commercial one.
16. I am sure I have left something out, but at least this will give beginners and advanced keggers a little information that might help them.
Best of luck, Art Frewin Art’s Brewing Supplies artsbrew@qwest,net 1-801-533-8029 |
