Beer Ruined By Non-rebuilt Keg

[Adzmax]

Well....I was bitten in the ass by being impatient!

The story go's I purchased 2 kegs ages ago from an ebay seller and when they arrived they had lemon syrup in them which I initially though was some kind of cleaning product. Anyhow after I realized it was in fact lift/solo syrup I cleaned the kegs thoroughly. No matter what I did it still seemed to have a lemon smell and I didn't replace the seals. I decided to keg my Nelson Sauvignon Ale which was a BAD move. It was fine for the first few weeks. I tasted it last night and it's ruined. It now tastes like Corrona with Lemon

I've since rebuilt my 2 new additional kegs and have seal kits for the other 2 and keg and line cleaning solution for them all but i thought I'd share my experience to hopefully prevent other keggers from making the same mistake as I didn't see too much info about how important it really is to replace the seals and use a good cleaning solution.

Just gotta transfer my Wheat Beer out of the other keg ASAP and and rebuild the last one tonight.

I'm just lucky a mate has a party in a few weeks that will empty the Corrona like beer...ah the shame...

 

[mfdes]

Other flavours that ruin your beer nicely are ginger beer and cola. The flavour will never depart those O-rings so change them all if the seller has not put new ones in for you.

MFS

 

[Cortez The Killer]

I must have been lucky

The 6 kegs I have all had residue in them - which I cleaned out with soduim percarb and boiling water - then rinsed with water - and a shot of idophor before kegging

I've only replaced 1 seal on one of the posts that had a nick in it

Cheers

 

[kook]

Other flavours that ruin your beer nicely are ginger beer and cola. The flavour will never depart those O-rings so change them all if the seller has not put new ones in for you.

MFS

Not to mention root beer.

I recommend soaking the poppets and PRV for a few hours in an alkaline cleaner too. Give them a good smell after rinsing and if they smell like soft drink it may be worth replacing them too.

 

[chovain]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but how often do you guys replace seals and poppets? Do you just wait until they go, or do you try to preempt it?

 

[newguy]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but how often do you guys replace seals and poppets? Do you just wait until they go, or do you try to preempt it?

I replaced all seals when I bought my kegs directly from coke. Every rubber part was replaced because no matter what I did to them, they still smelled like coke, root beer, or orange pop. That was 10 years ago. Within the last year I've had to replace some poppets, as their built-in rubber seal started to crack and come apart. If a gas fitting leaks, it's not that big of a deal. A leaking liquid fitting, on the other hand....

 

[chovain]

A leaking liquid fitting, on the other hand....

Yeah - a couple of my outlets are starting to deteriorate: They leak when I take the line off, but I can seal them again by pushing the valve down with my finger and letting it spring back up. I suppose it just needs a clean.

 

[paul]

Ive had this before also. Replace the liquid out poppet to get rid of the coke flavour.

 

[newguy]

Yeah - a couple of my outlets are starting to deteriorate: They leak when I take the line off, but I can seal them again by pushing the valve down with my finger and letting it spring back up. I suppose it just needs a clean.

Unscrew the post and then use a small screwdriver or a nail to push the poppet out. Mine usually seep like you describe if there is something caught in the poppet. This is usually a hair or some hop crud. Reassemble and screw it back on using teflon tape to wrap the threads and it will be okay. That is, if the poppet's seal itself is fine.

 

[milpod]

I always replace with a kit.Couldn't stand my time being wasted with "i hope its alright approach"

IF I go to the trouble of brewing it,fermenting at correct temp,I dont want it tasting like pop/coke from the keg.

I want it to at least be close, to what I want.

Cheers