Anyone ever lost beer?

[ScottM]

Got a real strange issue here. I filled up a corny with my Grolsch last Thursday. I had 4 pints on Thursday, 7 pints on Friday, none on Sunday, 3 on Monday, none on Tuesday, 3 last night and 4 tonight.

By my rough math I get 21 pints.

If I round that up to 25 to take account of the loss due to dumping/testing/line cleaning etc I'm still well within the volume of a corny.

However, it just ran empty tonight on pint no.4. I have absolutely no idea what's caused this and I can't find any leaks. Am I underestimating the loss due to a seconds runoff before each pint is poured? What sort of experiences have you had when using a corny keg system?

I've checked as much as I can for leaks. Tomorrow I'll need to go full scale and check with sterilising fluid as there's definitely something not right. The only thing I can think of is the tap was slightly open while stored in the back of the kitchen... and running off down the back of the cavity. Other than that I'm absolutely at a loss. For an immediate check I've turned off the gas, tomorrow I'll see if the regulator is holding firm.

I now have shut-off valves so I'm hoping this has been a one off. I'm absolutely gutted though as the beer was AMAZING and I'm left with my bottled dross till I get round to a BIAB batch (which is now looking like this weekend lol).

 

watch out watch out there's a humphrey about.... ..
i think youv been humphreyd
regards mick... :hat: ..

 

[keith1664]

Your cornie holds 19 litres which is roughly 33 pints, you can account for 25 which leaves you 8 missing. That's enough for quite a noticeable puddle so you can discount a leak.
This leaves 3 options.
1. It wasn't full to start with.
2. Someone's been helping themself to your beer.
3. After a few your counting skills go awry.

I find the best solution to empty cornies is to have a lot more of them full of beer.

 

[abeyptfc]

yeah I think the 7 pints on Friday may have been 11 or 12!

 

[chrig]

Is it a true pint glass or could you be 5-10% over each pint?

 

[ScottM]

Hhahaha cheers guys. I have a beer imp in the house

I believe the glass may in fact be a metric pint. It's a peroni glass I've been using for the most part. Happy to call it a pint though.

The place where I store the taps has a hole in the corner under the counter that goes directly under the house (waste pipe cavity). The beer could easily drip down there without anyone noticing... even high volumes.

I'll be checking the gas pressure when I get home, that should show any leaks that I have. If there isn't a leak then it can only be a few things adding up against me as any single issue wouldn't account for that sort of loss.

1. I've probably had a couple of pints over my estimate (even although I did aim high lol)
2. Due to all the line switching/testing I've probably wasted a bit more than I estimated (again, I thought I aimed high lol)
3. I wasn't really sure how high to fill the corny so I went to the internal weld at the top. This is possibly under 19L

So let's say I had 17L in there (surely that's shooting WAY low), I've drank 25 pints and I've lost 5 pints to waste. Let's also assume that the glass is a full 568ml pint and I've been brimming it on every scoosh. I make that 31 pints or 17L.

I'll be very surprised if all those factors come into it, but with no leak it's really the only thing I can think of. I'll be keeping a close eye on my next keg though :lol: