I have been given a King Keg which needs a bit of work on it to make it usable, it needs a new tap and float assembly, a new O ring for the cap and a replacement CO2 valve as the one it had has no pin in it for the gas bulbs, once I have replaced all these things I will have spent over £25, I can get a new basic barrel for not much more so are King Kegs that much better than a basic barrel?
King Keg worth it?
- Thread starter Worrywort
- Start date
Help Support The Homebrew Forum:
porter
Active Member
I can only speak from my own experience .If you can make it seal ,then good luck mate.
I have had nothing but trouble and have posted on here earlier but not got round to an update.
I took the KK back to my lhbs,they were great ,new o-ring,wrench and thought it was sorted.
The thing lost pressure over two days.I did all the so called fixes,new thicker o-ring,new s30 seals,more vaseline,less vaseline,ptfe tape,cap not so tight,cap so tight only a gorilla on steroids could undo it,sanding the rim perfectly flat and smooth.None of this made a bit of difference.
Despite all this my lhbs rang the distributor and arranged an exchange KK.Surely i can't be unlucky twice?
This one was better initialy,in that it held its pressure for longer but eventually over several days it leaks to zero.I went to the trouble of fitting a pressure guage as an instant visual of the pressure or lack of it.
I can take no more of this poorly designed piece of sh%t.I have owned "cheap" pressure barrels before and never had a leak or problem like this.I think everything i make will now go in bottles.
The whole experience has taken a lot of the fun and excitement of my return to brewing.
Sorry for the long rant ,good luck with it mate but my honest advice would be to bottle or by one of the £30 ones with the s30 cap.
I have had nothing but trouble and have posted on here earlier but not got round to an update.
I took the KK back to my lhbs,they were great ,new o-ring,wrench and thought it was sorted.
The thing lost pressure over two days.I did all the so called fixes,new thicker o-ring,new s30 seals,more vaseline,less vaseline,ptfe tape,cap not so tight,cap so tight only a gorilla on steroids could undo it,sanding the rim perfectly flat and smooth.None of this made a bit of difference.
Despite all this my lhbs rang the distributor and arranged an exchange KK.Surely i can't be unlucky twice?
This one was better initialy,in that it held its pressure for longer but eventually over several days it leaks to zero.I went to the trouble of fitting a pressure guage as an instant visual of the pressure or lack of it.
I can take no more of this poorly designed piece of sh%t.I have owned "cheap" pressure barrels before and never had a leak or problem like this.I think everything i make will now go in bottles.
The whole experience has taken a lot of the fun and excitement of my return to brewing.
Sorry for the long rant ,good luck with it mate but my honest advice would be to bottle or by one of the £30 ones with the s30 cap.
I had the same problem with my KK,but it stopped leaking when I put some ptfe tape around the top rim,I think it's hit or miss with most keg's,my wiko keg leak's from time to time as well,I would say give it a try,if no luck stick it on e-bay,you may get your money back,it is a good keg when it's not leaking,good luck
porter
Active Member
You're quite right,it does seem that all barrels can cause problems but the KK is quite infamous it seems for being good or just plain ****.
I think it's absolutely shamefull that at £50 new you end up having to buy extras to make them work.Something is very wrong with the basic design of these kegs.The bloody things only hold 10 psi so leaks should simply not happen unless they are manufactured by a complete chimp with poor machinery.At the very least they should be tested before being shipped out.
Rant number two over,aploigies to the op.
Well it looks like the tap and float assembly are OK so I will replace the cap O ring and the co2 valve and give it a go with a cheap wilco kit and see if it hold's the pressure.
I have heard the floats cause problems sometimes and do not work,I understand the idea of the float system but if the float was lower in the beer or allowed to sink would it be a problem , I intend to leave the beer to clear completely as I do with the basic bottom tap barrels I have.
Thanks for your advise
I have heard the floats cause problems sometimes and do not work,I understand the idea of the float system but if the float was lower in the beer or allowed to sink would it be a problem , I intend to leave the beer to clear completely as I do with the basic bottom tap barrels I have.
Thanks for your advise
porter
Active Member
Best of luck mate.Well it looks like the tap and float assembly are OK so I will replace the cap O ring and the co2 valve and give it a go with a cheap wilco kit and see if it hold's the pressure.
I have heard the floats cause problems sometimes and do not work,I understand the idea of the float system but if the float was lower in the beer or allowed to sink would it be a problem , I intend to leave the beer to clear completely as I do with the basic bottom tap barrels I have.
Thanks for your advise
A good tip with the float is to put a smidge of vaseline on the clear plastic bit before pushing it well into the rest of the float.
I think the idea behind the top tap and float is a good one in that your beer is being drawn from the top due to the float system so i suppose your beer should be clear and you aren't drawing any sediment off.
Good luck mate and enjoy your beer:
I thought I would update this thread.
I replaced the tap as it would not stop dripping no matter how hard it was turned off (I don't like barrel taps anyway)put a new seal in the cap and replaced the co2 valve.
I tested it first by injecting it with co2 and checked for leaks, there was a leak around the tap which was caused by a bit of rough plastic around the seal this was fixed and tap re fitted.
After filling with gas again there was no sign of any leaks, the barrel was left like this for a day and still had good pressure.
I filled the barrel last week I checked today and the beer has carbed up nicely and pouring fine.
so I think the trick with all these barrels is to test the barrel first before filling and it should work ok.
I replaced the tap as it would not stop dripping no matter how hard it was turned off (I don't like barrel taps anyway)put a new seal in the cap and replaced the co2 valve.
I tested it first by injecting it with co2 and checked for leaks, there was a leak around the tap which was caused by a bit of rough plastic around the seal this was fixed and tap re fitted.
After filling with gas again there was no sign of any leaks, the barrel was left like this for a day and still had good pressure.
I filled the barrel last week I checked today and the beer has carbed up nicely and pouring fine.
so I think the trick with all these barrels is to test the barrel first before filling and it should work ok.
Worrywort, I think you're right about testing and taking care. I've three KK Top Taps and find they're really good. Vaseline is handy stuff. After giving all a really good clean and sterilisation I smear it thinly around the top sealing ring, the threads on the top of the keg, both threads on the tap and around the small O ring that seals the pipe into the back of the tap.
Generally careful not to overtighten the top lid or the tap threads, just enough to seal.
Beer carbs up nicely, especially if kept cold. Usually I'm more than half way down the beer before I need to start injecting some CO2 to keep the pressure up.
Generally careful not to overtighten the top lid or the tap threads, just enough to seal.
Beer carbs up nicely, especially if kept cold. Usually I'm more than half way down the beer before I need to start injecting some CO2 to keep the pressure up.
carlsenior
New Member
I had the dreaded sealing problem with my King Keg, here's how I solved it -
a)using duct tape I fixed a sheet of medium grade abrasive paper to a flat surface (I used the underside of an offcut of kitchen worktop that had been in the garage)
b) using a marker pen colour the sealing face of the King Keg completely
c) invert the King Keg and place the sealing face carefully and flatly down onto the abrasive paper
d)holding the Keg by the handles and applying slight downward pressure rub the sealing face of the Keg in a circular motion on the abrasive paper (be careful not to rock the Keg) just take your time it could be a long process
e)examine the sealing face at regular intervals until all the marker pen has been removed (where the pen has not been remove will show the low spots in the sealing face)
f)complete the above steps with fine abrasive paper again until the face is clean of marker
This should then give you a flat sealing surface for the "O" ring, when the Keg is clean ready for filling lightly smear Vaseline on the sealing face before fitting the lid, be careful not to overtighten the lid.
worked well for me I have just read a post using a similar method, great minds must think alike :clap:
a)using duct tape I fixed a sheet of medium grade abrasive paper to a flat surface (I used the underside of an offcut of kitchen worktop that had been in the garage)
b) using a marker pen colour the sealing face of the King Keg completely
c) invert the King Keg and place the sealing face carefully and flatly down onto the abrasive paper
d)holding the Keg by the handles and applying slight downward pressure rub the sealing face of the Keg in a circular motion on the abrasive paper (be careful not to rock the Keg) just take your time it could be a long process
e)examine the sealing face at regular intervals until all the marker pen has been removed (where the pen has not been remove will show the low spots in the sealing face)
f)complete the above steps with fine abrasive paper again until the face is clean of marker
This should then give you a flat sealing surface for the "O" ring, when the Keg is clean ready for filling lightly smear Vaseline on the sealing face before fitting the lid, be careful not to overtighten the lid.
worked well for me
I have just read a post using a similar method, great minds must think alike :clap:
