Gas leak somewhere with new kegerator

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maldridge

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Hey fellas,

Got myself a keg king kegerator for Xmas last year, and it's almost time to keg a brew for the first time, I'm actually planning on doing it tonight.

After setting up the kegerator a few days ago and testing for leaks, I've discovered a small one, where exactly I'm not sure.

What are the best methods to find this leak? All connections on the gas bottle end have been disconnected and reconnected with plumbing tape.

Ive heard spraying the connections with soapy water can work, as you see the bubbles.

At the disconnect end, can I just dump those in a tub of water to see if there are leaks there?

I am running a non return valve from CB. My connections are the JG 'style' connectors that came with the kegerator, so I suspect these could be the issue.

I am also testing with the disconnects NOT connected to the kegs.

One more thing, if I keg the brew tonight, but can't carbonate it right away, will that be an issue? Am I risking infection? I was planning on connecting it, setting it at serving pressure (around 10-12 psi) and leaving for a week. If I do this with the current leak I'll have to keep upping the regulator to maintain pressure, and of course waste gas.

Any help appreciated.
 
When I checked mine for leaks I just put some detergent and water in a squirty bottle and gave each connection a squirt and yes, you can see the bubbles.

I had issues with the posts on my keg, if I wasn't careful, the out post wouldn't seal properly and would have a slow leak in it (after replacing seals). Found that by just putting some water on my fingertip and spreading that over the post. Now I just have to be careful when I change over a keg (2 kegs and 1 tap for now).

For your disconnects, I'd dunk them in water to see if any bubbles came up.

Keg your beer tonight and sit it in the fridge to chill it down overnight to the temperature you want, but connect it up to the CO2 and purge the head space to get rid of the oxygen that will be sitting there. That's what I do with every keg, not sure if it's overkill, but hey, nothings gone wrong so far (touch wood!!). Once you find your leak, your keg will be at the right temperature for carbonating, and then game on!

Cheers.
 
maldridge said:
Hey fellas,

Got myself a keg king kegerator for Xmas last year, and it's almost time to keg a brew for the first time, I'm actually planning on doing it tonight.

After setting up the kegerator a few days ago and testing for leaks, I've discovered a small one, where exactly I'm not sure.

What are the best methods to find this leak? All connections on the gas bottle end have been disconnected and reconnected with plumbing tape.

Ive heard spraying the connections with soapy water can work, as you see the bubbles.

At the disconnect end, can I just dump those in a tub of water to see if there are leaks there?

I am running a non return valve from CB. My connections are the JG 'style' connectors that came with the kegerator, so I suspect these could be the issue.

I am also testing with the disconnects NOT connected to the kegs.

One more thing, if I keg the brew tonight, but can't carbonate it right away, will that be an issue? Am I risking infection? I was planning on connecting it, setting it at serving pressure (around 10-12 psi) and leaving for a week. If I do this with the current leak I'll have to keep upping the regulator to maintain pressure, and of course waste gas.

Any help appreciated.
You heard right, soapy water spray should show any leaks as bubbles.

You can drop the disconnects into some water, yes, might be a good idea to use boiled water, or water with a sanitiser in it.

Check the ends of your gas tubing... make sure they're cut at right angles, without any burrs. I had a leak once just from the hose not being cut as neat as it could be.

Regarding kegging and not gassing - it's advisable to at least run some CO2 into the keg, purge the oxygen (oxygen will make beer deteriorate and possibly get infected), and then top up with CO2 - but you don't have to fully carbonate the beer. It's a good idea to at least keep the beer cold if you plan on storing it.
 
How do you know you have a leak if you havn't found it?When I got my kk kegerator, I had same problem. There was a leak in the gas splitter that came with it. Chuck it out anyway, they are shit,and get a jg one.Check all the conections with plenty of soapy water. Check them on keg, off keg, check the nrv.

Fine to set reg at serving pressure for a week, but unless you stop leak your really making things hard for yourself.

Cheers
 
All pretty good advice, it's not hard to find a leak. I'm not sure what you are using plumbing tape on though? Regulators seal on an o'ring not the thread, tape will most likely make things worse.

cheers Ross
 
I got frustrated with gas leaks, when I first got my keg set up, the first gas bottle was empty in less than a month.

That was mainly because I thought the J.G fittings were fool proof and if you cut your lines neatly and tighten any connections, it should be all good.

I don't trust them at all now.

Now my gas gets turned on at the beginning of a session and turned off at the end. Sometimes I don't even bother turning it on, I just rely on the gas in the keg to force beer out. Only needed to refill my 2.6kg cylinder once twice in the last 12 months.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

I will check that connection with plumbing tape, if it is meant to be sealed with only an o-ring and no tape I'll remove the tape.

I will also check my hose connections. I have a feeling there might be one disconnect that doesn't have the hose pushed all the way up, flush at the end of the barb. This would most likely cause an issue yeh? They were a pain to get on and I think I decided that was as far as itd go, although now with the clamp on it I dunno how the Fk I'll get it off...
 
maldridge said:
Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

I will check that connection with plumbing tape, if it is meant to be sealed with only an o-ring and no tape I'll remove the tape.

I will also check my hose connections. I have a feeling there might be one disconnect that doesn't have the hose pushed all the way up, flush at the end of the barb. This would most likely cause an issue yeh? They were a pain to get on and I think I decided that was as far as itd go, although now with the clamp on it I dunno how the Fk I'll get it off...
Hose doesn't need to be all the way up over the barb, no. It just needs to be a tight fit, so no gas escapes. With a clamp on, it should be okay - but soapy water test will tell.
 
i find the cheap (online or KK) push fittings are about 30-50% the quality of real JG ones... if the tube gets moved on an angle in the fitting (say by a door being closed on it) they tend to leak. wobble your tube in your fittings and listen for the leaks!

also the KK push fits and disconnects don't seem to seal to each other well, i know they're a flared and o-ringed seal, but i had to use plumbers tape on that joint!
 
maldridge said:
Hey fellas,

Got myself a keg king kegerator for Xmas last year,

I am running a non return valve from CB. My connections are the JG 'style' connectors that came with the kegerator, so I suspect these could be the issue.


Any help appreciated.
THIS. A thousand times this. Throw them out, seriously. Speaking from experience mate.
 
maldridge said:
They were a pain to get on and I think I decided that was as far as itd go, although now with the clamp on it I dunno how the Fk I'll get it off...
Hey mate, did you put them on by dipping the end in hot water? It softens the hose and allows it to be put on easier. To take my hoses off, I undo the clamp, put the fitting over a container and pour hot water from the kettle over it to soften the hose, makes removal a bit easier, just watch the hot water.. lol.
 
So last week I managed to fix the leak (I'm pretty sure).

I checked all the connections again, and made sure there were no leaks at the JG style fittings.

I figured out that once the gas in line was connected to the keg, there didn't seem to be any problems. I'm pretty sure there is only a leak when it's disconnected. That must also mean the other gas in connection DOESN'T leak, at currently it isn't connected to anything. Weird.

ANYWAY, so I'll worry about that later. For now I want to carb up this keg and get drinking.

I've set the reg to 12 psi on Thursday night, and I had a test today. There seems to be very little carbonation, if any at the moment. How long should I expect the keg to take to carb up under these conditions? (3 degrees, @ 12 psi?)

Hoping it won't be too much longer, I'd love to pour my first pint come friday!

Thanks for the help by the way everyone! Much appreciated!
 
maldridge said:
Any ideas on how long it should take to carb up at 12psi?
GIve it a week. 3 Degrees at 12 PSI will give you 2.6 Volumes, which my brewing reckoner thinks is suited to a Pilsener/Commercial Lager.

Without force carbing you've got to let it happen naturally. I've found that when carbing stuff this way, the first few days you won't notice much change, but give it a week or a little longer and it should be good.

I force carb my beers through the liquid out post (I've got a dedicated disconnect on my gas line for this) using the Ross method at 5 degrees. 3 Degrees is probably getting a little cold too, at that temp you're going to start to lose some of the flavour in your beer.
 
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