PSI levels in King Keg

[Alimac019]

Hey guys,

I finally feel I've got my King Keg as airtight as can be. I have fitted a pressure gauge and it isn't showing any leaks, so feel very pleased.

I barrelled a NEIPA yesterday, primed it and injected a CO2 bulb too just because I know this beer type needs a little extra love. My initial reading before bed was around 7 PSI, this morning it is reading around 12 PSI.

Does anyone know of a pressure/PSI 'limit' as such for these King Keg barrels? Is there a certain reading where I should be worried and let some pressure out?

Thanks!

 

[Rodcx500z]

Most pb's are rated at 15psi max, my 3 have this stamped on them, wilko one's dont know about king keg, it should have a built in prv

 

[Alimac019]

Yeah I've done a bit more of a dig around and 15psi seems to be the ballpark for maxing out. Hopefully the valve works correctly on this barrel. If it starts to head towards those upper levels, I think I'll draw some out manually.

 

[Alimac019]

 

[Alimac019]

I drew off a few pints, it fell down to about 10psi, now it is climbing quickly again towards 15psi. Not sure if maybe I should crack the lid open and let some pressure out.

 

[Sandimas]

I'd let some out, priming alone will take it to about 10+ PSI. As you only primed it yesterday it'll still be steeply increasing pressure and will do for 5-7 days, then start to level off.

The pressure relief valve should work once it reaches it's limit, but if it doesn't you could have one helluva mess on your hands and pictures of exploded kegs have been posted on here over the years.

I don't think you needed that bulb of CO2.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I drew off a few pints, it fell down to about 10psi, now it is climbing quickly again towards 15psi. Not sure if maybe I should crack the lid open and let some pressure out.

It will be fine. The kegs will just quietly hiss to themselves when they reach release pressure.

 

[foxy]

This is happening to a quite a few of the higher pressure rated FermZilla. This is off Homebrewtalk

There is a similar one on a Scandinavian web site which exploded at 10 PSI, a recent Australian one where a piece of plastic penetrated the users neck centimeters from his jugular.
I have been using air to pressurise my kegs, I have been trialing with water and it works. Leaving a pressure barrel to naturally carb I would be using an inline pressure release valve there are adjustable which you should be able to get from your home brew store.

You can set it at whatever pressure you want, saves you having to keep an eye on it and releasing manually.

 

[Alimac019]

Thanks for your feedback guys.

This morning I looked at it and the pressure had gone off the charts, as in potentially close to 17/18psi. I went into my shed to find my keg lid spanner thing, as I walked back in, the barrel let out an almighty screech, with CO2 flowing out of the valve area somewhere. Has settled out at 6psi now and no longer leaking anywhere. All a bit crazy haha.

 

[terrym]

Hey guys,

I finally feel I've got my King Keg as airtight as can be. I have fitted a pressure gauge and it isn't showing any leaks, so feel very pleased.

I barrelled a NEIPA yesterday, primed it and injected a CO2 bulb too just because I know this beer type needs a little extra love. My initial reading before bed was around 7 PSI, this morning it is reading around 12 PSI.

Does anyone know of a pressure/PSI 'limit' as such for these King Keg barrels? Is there a certain reading where I should be worried and let some pressure out?

Thanks!

I suggest next time you let the priming sugar do its job without using a bulb at the outset. At or before about 15psig whatever PRV you have fitted should vent to protect the PB, and so any gas you injected may well be lost
But you haven't told us how much sugar you used. My guess (I dont have a PI) is that any more than 130-140g will take you up to near 15psig.
And as I say on here regularly (although there are some that disagree) PBs are fine for low carb beers but not really suitable for high carb beers like lagers, some IPAs, and wheat beers, due to the need to operate the PB at a pressure well within the limit. But the homebrew shops dont tell you that because they want to shift product. The analogy is that you don't drive your car so that it is near redlined all the time, because if you did it wouldn't last very long.

 

[Alimac019]

Yeah it has all been a bit of an experiment to see what the very limits of these PBs are. I have a corny keg setup, but impossible to get any CO2 right now, so would use that in future for beers like this.

I popped in 115g of priming sugar and then the CO2 bulb. I was just super paranoid about oxidising this beer, maybe I should have purged the barrel with CO2 instead of injecting it when sealed.

Seems like the valve has done the trick, will monitor it over the next few days and take a sample or two to see if it has correctly primed.

Thanks again folks

 

[Rodcx500z]

Jeez 115g and a bulb thats pushing the limit, just glad its still in one piece

 

[Buffers brewery]

I use the S30/L30 cylinders rather than the bulbs. Means you can purge the head space in the PB after filling it and with the cap not fully tightened down. Then put just a couple of psi in after the cap is tightened.

 

[peebee]

I haven't used a plastic pressure barrel for eons (still got a couple lurking about somewhere). But I found excess pressure would pop the indented base out (so it becomes an "outdent"?) before the PRV cracked, which was panic inducing! The new shape wasn't very stable and the barrel just rolled over. Hooray for CO2 cylinders, steel kegs and regulators.