Rescuing My Brew

[mancer62]

Can anyone help or advise please otherwise I will lose my xmas brew. Last sunday (16th dec) I kegged 5 gallons (into a top tap king keg) of coopers irish stout and primed with 100g sugar. I recently sent away to a homebrew shop and paid a little extra for a 2 in 1 valve which you can use both 8grm co2 bulbs and s30 hambleton bard with. Today I poured some stout into glass which was a very laboured and slow process(Is this normal when pouring?) and while it tasted nice it had absolutely no head on it at all. I then tried screwing the S30 cylinder onto valve for a quick scoosh of gas but all the gas just came out all over the valve (the pin that obviously punctures a hole in the co2 bulbs obviously isnt compatible with the S30 cylinder and wont allow the gas to enter the keg. If this pin can be removed does anyone know how?) I then tried the c02 bulbs and while i could hear the gas enter I could also feel it escape it seemed from around the lid area. Is this normal. This lid and valve were only purchased two weeks ago although i did mention to my wife at the time (due to many little scratches on the inside) that I though the lid looked second hand. Do you think they have mistakenly fitted the valve thats only for the co2 8 gram bulbs and not the S30? I have an old air tight brewmaker economy barrel Might it be an idea to transfer into this if so would i need to add more sugar or will I just have to accept losing my brew. :

 

[DirtyCaner]

Have you thought about bottling it?

 

[mancer62]

I am open to all suggestions including bottling but I have spent quite alot of money on my king keg, float, lid, gas,valves etc that I would like to get that sorted of possible. But I will listen to all advice given :

 

[DirtyCaner]

I've got a shot of a couple of king kegs from a mate and still struggling to get them working. It's on my to do list. So sorry, can't really help you with them.

If you cant get it working soon I'd definately go down the route of bottling.

Hope it works out OK and the brew isn't lost.

 

[mancer62]

So putting them into another barrel not an option then? In such an emergency as this would using 2 litre diet pepsi plastic bottles do? If so how much sugar per 2 litres?

 

[jonnymorris]

Sounds like a simple case of not screwing your lid on sufficiently tight. Did you use vaseline on the thread?

 

[mancer62]

LID IS ON VERY TIGHLTY INDEED AS TIGHT AS I COULD DO NO I DIDNT USE VASALINE

 

[DirtyCaner]

I use sterilised 2l pop bottles with no problems. About 5g sugar in each one should give medium carbonation, although you may want to use slightly less as you have already added some sugar yesterday.

 

[eggman]

LID IS ON VERY TIGHLTY INDEED AS TIGHT AS I COULD DO NO I DIDNT USE VASALINE

That's where you've gone wrong, the washer will be distorted and that's likely to be where the gas is escaping. Undo the lid, put a smear of vaseline on the threads and round the washer in the lid then do it up again but this time just use thumb and forefinger to turn it until you meet resistance. Add a gas bulb and then check that it's holding pressure
:

 

[mancer62]

YES I done what u said smeared the vasaline on thread and ring and injected the bulb. guess what it seemed to work well the gas didn't seem to escape. I tried to pour some right after but managed about an eggcup-full then no gas flat again.....i have injected another bulb.(how long do u recommend leaving until pouring?) Does this mean that my stout since last sunday hasnt been carbonating properly after priming since the lid was obviously leaking? should I re-prime or will the beer be ready for xmas or should i just go ahead and use 2l plastic pepsi bottles? also the flow of the beer coming out top tap with float system seems very poor. I notice that the float tubing is fairly rigid and stiff my old float tubing is soft and flexible is perhaps using my old tubing an idea or not? :

 

[eggman]

You will probably need to re prime it mate. But it sounds like you've got a problem with the float :hmm: I have read on here about issues with the floats, most commonly that they don't sit quite low enough which results in drawing gas off instead of beer. It might be worth weighting it down or changing the tubing, but i don't know too much about these types of kegs hopefully someone with more experience can help you out
:

 

[Russ146]

Ive been using king kegs for years and IMHO there far better than bottling.

Try pressurising again and listen carefully for any gas escaping from around the valve on the lid and around the tap. If not sure pour some water with washing up liquid in over the valve and tap and look for bubbles.

Once you stop any leaks it will be ok and give you real draught beer, i have 3 on the go. I love them.

 

[Kevin Wood]

If you are using S30 CO2 cylinders you need to remove the pin that pierces the sparklets bulbs. Remove the O ring from the inside of the brass valve body, then pull out the pin, and replace the O ring in its' groove.