the beer that may break me

[adz1179]

So a while ago i brewed an IPA with 100% MO, target for bittering, amarillo for the rest, wyeast 1318 London ale 2. it was the best beer i had made to date.

i brewed a few lagers over the recent cooler months and once it warmed up i set about making a pale ale version of the above with centennial and amarillo and swapped the 1318 for the 1272 american ale 2.

Attempt 1: brew day a few weeks ago, smacked the yeast pack at the start of the day, went about my usual schedule. All good, hit my numbers, nice and clear wort into my no chill cube to cool down. yeast pack had not swelled, bugger, press on she'll come good. next morning, still no swell. my local brew shop was closed and i had no dried yeast on hand. bugger it, its worked before. into the fermenter and pitched.
24hrs later, nothing. 48 hrs later: still nothing. 72 hrs later: infection set in. funky stuff, out on the lawn. lesson learnt, dried yeast packs in the fridge just in case.

Attempt 2: as per the above, only this time the 1272 swelled within a few hours. all good. hit my target fg, dry hopeed at 1gm/l (as per normal). the smell and taste of my final few samples was amazing, as when i was transferring to the keg... couldnt wait. Kegged last saturday.

fast forward to this afternoon, i was out the back working and i thought i would have a checky pour, to see how it was carbing up. nothing. the sound of a blown keg. ohshit. dont tell me. opened up the fridge to this:



that dark stuff at the bottom of my keezer is 20lts of the finest smelling beer i have brewed.

collected it all up



and found a nice spot down the back behind the herb garden to say goodbye



So im down about $80 bucks in ingredients (with delivery) and two brew days wasted.

im not sure where in the keg this leaked, its never been a problem before.. what is a good way to find the problem? was going to fill it with water and push some gas through to see if this would show me where the problem is... unless there is a better way?

attempt numer 3 next weekend. i will prevail goddammit!!

 

[Spiesy]

Damn. That sucks mate.

 

[mr_wibble]

Check the beer-out post is not loose with respect to where it screws onto the keg.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

That made me want to cry

 

[lukiferj]

I would try and find the cause before putting more beer in. Might be worth checking/changing the seals and using a bit of keg lube in the mix.

 

[Dan Pratt]

damn.... :angry2:

I made a darkside Fatyak for a mate who chipped in for my brew rig. I tried it after a day of carbonation to check the beer and it still required more CO2. The next morning the entire 20lts was on the floor....GONE! To my own amazment I was quite calm and accepted the loss, thinking of it now reminds me of teh bottles we made, yummy beer.

I ordered a keg repair kit and replaced the orings on my kegs and moved on.

 

[Grainer]

:blink: These are the storeies of my brewing nightmares... I am nearly getting close to finishing my rig and sorta excited but dreading my 1st brew day on the rig

 

[adz1179]

Sound advice here. thanks fellas. im still mourning.

 

[Linford]

Spewin mate. Just means ya gotta spend another day drinking home brew and makin it again! Could be worse......

 

[Adr_0]

Sadface.

 

[Mardoo]

Perhaps use colored water to help you find where the leak is coming from? Bit of food coloring, some dark blue water (seems like it'd stand out better than other colors). Not a kegger yet, but that occurred to me reading your sad (really sad) story.

 

[wombil]

I have had leaks but not that bad thankfully.
Now; I have one of those squirt bottles that spray household cleaner etc filled with nappy san suds and when I fill kegs I connect up to gas at 200 Kpa and spray all the top of the keg and joints with the soapy suds and the smallest leak will show up.If all ok a quick wipe with a cloth and set the pressure back to 70 Kpa and yr laffin.

 

[Camo6]

Sorry for your loss mate.

To push out all that beer I'd be looking at your out post, disconnect, beer line or tap. I'd leave your beer line off and pressurise the keg with a few litres of water inside. Leave it on the concrete for a while and check for leaks. If it doesn't leak plug in your beer out disconnect and recheck. Maybe check the keg welds too incase there's a crack.

 

[Adr_0]

I have had leaks but not that bad thankfully.
Now; I have one of those squirt bottles that spray household cleaner etc filled with nappy san suds and when I fill kegs I connect up to gas at 200 Kpa and spray all the top of the keg and joints with the soapy suds and the smallest leak will show up.If all ok a quick wipe with a cloth and set the pressure back to 70 Kpa and yr laffin.

What wombil said. Star san would work wonders, probably twice as strong as you would use for normal sanitation purposes.

In the gas industry we use something called 'Snoop', which is just a surfactant/detergent. Sure enough, a tiny leak on a thread or fitting is picked up instantly as a big clump of bubbles forms.

Still very much sadface for your loss.

 

[yum beer]

Ashes to Ashes, Beer to Mud....that sucks man.

 

[MrTwalky]

I'm having a moments silence in memory of all the brews lost in the quest for satisfaction.

I'll also be having nightmares tonight... :unsure:

 

[431neb]

Much torment has been suffered at the hands of a dodgy beer out connector. I have one and it has wasted litres of beer, stout and cider. I'm new to kegging so it took a while to find the culprit. No amount of cleaning and keg lube could stop it. Weird thing is, I still can't determine exactly why it leaks but it does, every time on every keg. Only the severity of the leak varies.

 

[of mice and gods]

I agree with the consensus that you're probably looking at something between the beer out post & the tap. You would think it'd be able to push all of the beer out through the lid, blow off or gas out (due to no diptube).

Have a go with the coloured water or suds spray and observe the keg under pressure.

Al

Sorry to hear about the wasted beer.