Urgent help Needed! Pressure barrel about to explode!

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krusty

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Made a noob mistake by putting a lager kit in a plastic barrel, just put it out in the garage to cool it down bit prior to drinking, and just realised the barrels gone egg shaped with pressure the bottom has pushed out round and gone all weeble. What can I do to stop the inevitable explosion and loss of brew? Some has already leaked from the tap, thankgod for the tray under the barrel!
would it be advisable to crack the top to let some of the pressure off, or will this spoil the brew? or should I just take off a few pints and let then chill in a jug, until drinkable?
BTW tasted a bottle of the same brew yesterday and it was fab, so don't want to lose this lot.
.....................Please help!!!
 
I am a newbie :whistle: and was planning on doing a Lager after i've done a two can Bitter kit and putting it in a plastic barrel :oops: . Not now I wont :D . Why is it wrong to do so :hmm: and are the only options to bottle or metal keg.
 
snail59 said:
I am a newbie :whistle: and was planning on doing a Lager after i've done a two can Bitter kit and putting it in a plastic barrel :oops: . Not now I wont :D . Why is it wrong to do so :hmm: and are the only options to bottle or metal keg.
its the pressure the plastic Kegs hold and lager produces more gas what typeof barrel you got ???
 
Just drawn off 4 pints into clean 2 pint plastic milk bottles, and cracked the top to realease a bit of pressure, hopefully it will be okay now, tasted some and while it's okay it's not as good as the bottled stuff was, low on carbontation, suprisingly! guess some leakage has taken place already.
Snail59 take heed,when lager is concerned...................plastic bad, glass bottles good. ;)
 
darrenwest1 said:
i have the plastic barel with the co2 conection on top i was going to use it for lager
should i not then
I wouldnt gas it just prime and see how much pressure it produces on its own you can always give a little squirt if the flow slows
 
darrenwest1 said:
i have the plastic barel with the co2 conection on top i was going to use it for lager
should i not then
Yes you can use a plastic pressure barrel for lager but it won't have the carbonation level of a commercial lager :(
As to the ballooning of the keg, that shouldn't happen, the cheap Youngs kegs come with a lid with a pressure relief fitted that should release pressure at 10 psi.
Contact the shop that you bought it from and explain the problem ;)
 
I have 6 Youngs kegs, & have put ale/beer and lager in them no problems, as TS says the lager serves with very little fizz (carbonation) but I don't mind that to be honest, I put them in the fridge to condition and add gas in very short bursts over a period of weeks to get the carbonation level I require, (still not pub fizz but above levels at ambient temps).

I have a couple that do go a bit out of shape but not to a detrimental effect, they are just made of very thin material, & with the std cap I found they held hardly any pressure, hence the purchase of co2 injector lids.

UP
 
To be honest I prefer lager less gassy.....so I put mine in a KK.
I also bottle a few out of each kegging just so I can compare.
I use 500ml PET water bottles just so I can keep an eye on the secondary fermentation.
 
.....obvioulsy no pressure relief valve in either your injector or barrel lid....?
 
My understanding was that with the cheaper plastic kegs this can happen, the bloke in the hbs had one that the bottom popped out under pressure, he said it was no probs just need to make something to stand it on. Dont think they'll explode!?
 
Krusty Ive just filled my Keg for the first time and there is a rubber band around the CO2 injector when I put a bulb of CO2 in it hissed and bubbled from there for a short time so I can only assume that this is the pressure releif device. Does yours look like this Krusty.

pressure.jpg
 
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