Pressure barrel woes

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I recently bought my first pressure barrel in part to overcome the effort of bottling day and in part for ease of storage. When it arrived I noticed a split in the 2" gasket. No problem, the supplier immediately sent a replacement gasket.
Now, two days before I need to barrel (dry hopped so don't want to leave it any longer) I tested it for leaks, expecting that if there were any it would be the tap or cap and a little adjustment would get it airtight again. Nope, it was in the shell of the barrel where the two halves are joined. Ok, so I shouldn't have left ot til 2 days before to test, but hey, at least I found out with water and not beer!
The supplier has offered a full refund, and I have given them the batch number for reference.
I am already but off PBs. I'm not one to give up easily, but I'm thinking of just sticking to bottles now.
I can still use it as an FV as the pinhole leak is on top between the handle and neck(unless I have to send it back to the supplier).
Has anyone else had such a brief encounter with PBs?

 

[Banbeer]

I got fed up with bottling so decided to go down the Corny route, I bought my first one as a kit (brand new) and added to it with a second hand one from a forumite. Today I've just bought my third Brand new one from one of our sponsors @Brew2bottle Homebrew (excellent service and great price) I've no idea what a PB costs or King keg but hearing so many bad things about them and at £79.95 for a new corny (ok you need C02) I think the price is great.

 

[Anto2006]

Ahh, same boat by the sounds... I had one from wilko for two weeks to start there was no 4” seal on the cap! So they gave a 5£ refund which was ok So I brought a seal online Then I used 5 c02 bulbs trying to keep pressure! I gave up n brought new bottles 26£ eBay.. that hurt but There was no way I could drink 40 beers in two days...Wilko gave a full refund 35£ +5 for seal lol I also brought a few swing tops.. now I have enough for two brews n just store in cardboard boxes in the garage, but yea I’m gunna buy a corny soon I think, I’m normally pretty good with things like valves n taps, but I’m gunna stay away from plastic PB’s Goodluck

 

[terrym]

I recently bought my first pressure barrel in part to overcome the effort of bottling day and in part for ease of storage. When it arrived I noticed a split in the 2" gasket. No problem, the supplier immediately sent a replacement gasket.
Now, two days before I need to barrel (dry hopped so don't want to leave it any longer) I tested it for leaks, expecting that if there were any it would be the tap or cap and a little adjustment would get it airtight again. Nope, it was in the shell of the barrel where the two halves are joined. Ok, so I shouldn't have left ot til 2 days before to test, but hey, at least I found out with water and not beer!
The supplier has offered a full refund, and I have given them the batch number for reference.
I am already but off PBs. I'm not one to give up easily, but I'm thinking of just sticking to bottles now.
I can still use it as an FV as the pinhole leak is on top between the handle and neck(unless I have to send it back to the supplier).
Has anyone else had such a brief encounter with PBs?

Some people have good experiences with PBs, some not so good
I originally had four basic PBs.
Three failed within about 18 months of purchase. Splits in the shell or pinhole leaks.
Thats on top of cracked caps and other leaks from gaskets
I am now on the last one.
My advice to you, and anyone else, is to stay away from PBs, and in your case either stay with bottles and/or put your refund money towards a corny system.

 

[AnimatedGIF]

I got fed up with bottling so decided to go down the Corny route, I bought my first one as a kit (brand new) and added to it with a second hand one from a forumite. Today I've just bought my third Brand new one from one of our sponsors @Brew2bottle Homebrew (excellent service and great price) I've no idea what a PB costs or King keg but hearing so many bad things about them and at £79.95 for a new corny (ok you need C02) I think the price is great.

I am now thinking a corny instead. I recently bought a tap to put on the dining room wall from the understairs cupboard which is perfect temp for ales. I was originally going to botch it to the pressure barrel. Now I am thinking corny + CO2. At least it would be less of a botch than my original plan.
Is it easy to get hold of tye CO2 cylinders required?

Ahh, same boat by the sounds... I had one from wilko for two weeks to start there was no 4” seal on the cap! So they gave a 5£ refund which was ok So I brought a seal online Then I used 5 c02 bulbs trying to keep pressure! I gave up n brought new bottles 26£ eBay.. that hurt but There was no way I could drink 40 beers in two days...Wilko gave a full refund 35£ +5 for seal lol I also brought a few swing tops.. now I have enough for two brews n just store in cardboard boxes in the garage, but yea I’m gunna buy a corny soon I think, I’m normally pretty good with things like valves n taps, but I’m gunna stay away from plastic PB’s Goodluck

Thanks! As above, I am now thinking corny. In hindsight, plastic PBs seem a false economy. I have seen people on here saying that they sometimes do not last longer than 2 years.

 

[AnimatedGIF]

Some people have good experiences with PBs, some not so good
I originally had four basic PBs.
Three failed within about 18 months of purchase. Splits in the shell or pinhole leaks.
Thats on top of cracked caps and other leaks from gaskets
I am now on the last one.
My advice to you, and anyone else, is to stay away from PBs, and in your case either stay with bottles and/or put your refund money towards a corny system.

Thanks, I think that is sound advice and that is what my plan is. By the time I would have bought 2 or 3 PBs to past a short time I could by then have bought a corny to last so much longer!
Despite the pain of bottling, I do like the end result of having easily transportable beer, as well as the simplicity (apart from bottling itself!)

 

[Clint]

Yep..good money after bad...they’re ****! I’m bottling for the foreseeable then looking into cornies.

 

[johncrobinson]

All the problems with king kegs reported on multiple threads on this site put me right off buying one.
I mean really right off

 

[AnimatedGIF]

Yep..good money after bad...they’re ****! I’m bottling for the foreseeable then looking into cornies.

Me too!

 

[Clint]

If you’re willing to mess about and try to fix them...they’re not really good for purpose as they come.

 

[Banbeer]

Is it easy to get hold of tye CO2 cylinders required?

I got mine from Hobby Weld, look them up, they have agents working all over the country, not cheap £65 deposit for the tank 6.35kg and £35 for the refills but I got great service and delivered for £10. I've been using my cornies now for around 3 weeks and force carbed 2 cornies and the C02 hasn't moved on the gauge.

 

[Banbeer]

@Brew2bottle Homebrew have brand spanky new 19L cornies for £79.95 (free delivery), great value, ordered one today.

 

[BrewMeHappy]

I've only had one dodgy PB and that was a tap on a Rotokeg which kept seeping no matter what i did to it. I have about 4 Kingkegs with taps at top and bottom and I've never had an issue with them.

I say about 4 as I dont know as they are in the garage unused and I can't remember how many I have. No particular reason other than I prefer bottles and the PBs also dont fit in the fridge. They are great for gatherings though when people just pour their own beers.

I'll perhaps use them again in the future but not sure. The other issue is my two local HB shops have closed down over the past few years so getting a gas refill would mean a 35 mile round trip to the nearest one.

 

[AnimatedGIF]

Thanks @Banbeer, I shall give that a look. Next challenge: how to explain this to the wife when the delivery is dropped off It's going to happen though, so I may as well purchase sooner rather than later.

The other issue is my two local HB shops have closed down over the past few years so getting a gas refill would mean a 35 mile round trip to the nearest one.

I'm hoping my Local Homebrew shop survives the lockdown. I emailed last week but haven't hear anything back

 

[RGeats]

I got mine from Hobby Weld, look them up, they have agents working all over the country, not cheap £65 deposit for the tank 6.35kg and £35 for the refills but I got great service and delivered for £10. I've been using my cornies now for around 3 weeks and force carbed 2 cornies and the C02 hasn't moved on the gauge.

Banbeer. The CO2 is liquid, the pressure you are seeing is the vapour pressure of the gas, which depends on the temperature you store it at. The pressure won't fall until you have used all the liquid and only have gas left. At which point you will not have much left at all. If you want to know how much gas you have left you have to weigh the bottle (and regulator) empty or full, and then weigh it at intervals to work out how much of the 6.35kg you have left.

 

[Banbeer]

Banbeer. The CO2 is liquid, the pressure you are seeing is the vapour pressure of the gas, which depends on the temperature you store it at. The pressure won't fall until you have used all the liquid and only have gas left. At which point you will not have much left at all. If you want to know how much gas you have left you have to weigh the bottle (and regulator) empty or full, and then weigh it at intervals to work out how much of the 6.35kg you have left.

Thanks for the info mate, every day's a school day.

 

[RGeats]

No worries. It's just a pain when the pressure starts dropping, then the next day you are out of gas and have to get more at short notice!

 

[MmmBeer]

My first four kit brews went into a Wilko PB, the third of which became infected by something nasty that formed butyric acid in the beer. I cleaned and sanitised the bejesus out of that barrel, using everything from steam to oxy to caustic and gallons of starsan. Both times since that I have used that hateful thing, I got the same, butyric acid.

So still using bottles, but covetously eyeing cornies. I may have a conditioning fridge soon, (if I can fix it) which could be converted into a kegerator.

 

[BrewMeHappy]

Thanks @Banbeer, I shall give that a look. Next challenge: how to explain this to the wife when the delivery is dropped off It's going to happen though, so I may as well purchase sooner rather than later.


I'm hoping my Local Homebrew shop survives the lockdown. I emailed last week but haven't hear anything back

Hopefully they will be fine especially if they have an online shop. You only need to read on here and look an the internet at the various shops and they are all mega busy.

 

[G-Force]

I've had a few of the 2" Cap cheap PB's and never really had any issues. Even adapted one to use with low pressure CO2 and an inline cooler. if you can be bothered with the faff of getting the seals right on them I think they are decent value. as someone has said though the challenge is chilling your beer when its in something that big.

does anyone have any advise for cleaning and sterilising a Sanky style keg, that you cant get your hand in?