Woes with leaks and aeration
Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 8:35 pm
I am having a problem with one of my kegs.
It is a pin lock keg; I bought it (used) near the end of last year. It was holding pressure when I bought it and I did not take it apart for several months. At that time, it was still holding pressure.
After a thorough cleaning and sanitizing I filled it with beer. Afterwards, the keg would not hold pressure. I could find no audible leaks and could not see any bubbles form when I spritzed the various sealing locations with a Star San solution. However, when I connected my gas fitting to the gas post, I could hear gas leaking from the fitting. The beer would also serve very frothy and muddy-looking (it's a dark lager) and there is definitely a lot of air coming out with the beer. You can see the bubbles in the fluid line when serving.
Tonight I replaced the poppet valves and the o-rings on the posts. Now the keg seems to be holding pressure (I'll know better after it has sat off the cylinder for a while) and I no longer hear the gas leaking when the gas fitting is connected. However, I STILL have the same aeration problem when serving. I also cannot detect a leak, either audibly or by spritzing Star San. I was serving with a picnic tap; I switched to a different picnic tap that I had been using with a different keg with no issues but I still have aeration problems. I even squirted Star San into the relief valve when the keg was on the cylinder but did not see any evidence of a leak there, either.
What should I try next? Do I need a different leak detector? I have had minor keg leaks before but nothing that caused such aeration issues.
It is a pin lock keg; I bought it (used) near the end of last year. It was holding pressure when I bought it and I did not take it apart for several months. At that time, it was still holding pressure.
After a thorough cleaning and sanitizing I filled it with beer. Afterwards, the keg would not hold pressure. I could find no audible leaks and could not see any bubbles form when I spritzed the various sealing locations with a Star San solution. However, when I connected my gas fitting to the gas post, I could hear gas leaking from the fitting. The beer would also serve very frothy and muddy-looking (it's a dark lager) and there is definitely a lot of air coming out with the beer. You can see the bubbles in the fluid line when serving.
Tonight I replaced the poppet valves and the o-rings on the posts. Now the keg seems to be holding pressure (I'll know better after it has sat off the cylinder for a while) and I no longer hear the gas leaking when the gas fitting is connected. However, I STILL have the same aeration problem when serving. I also cannot detect a leak, either audibly or by spritzing Star San. I was serving with a picnic tap; I switched to a different picnic tap that I had been using with a different keg with no issues but I still have aeration problems. I even squirted Star San into the relief valve when the keg was on the cylinder but did not see any evidence of a leak there, either.
What should I try next? Do I need a different leak detector? I have had minor keg leaks before but nothing that caused such aeration issues.