Help, my Corny posts are leaking!

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EKennett

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I rebuilt this keg using a rebuild kit from Northern Brewer. When I put the beer in the keg I hit it with 20 psi of CO2 to seal the lid and I'm sure the keg itself is holding pressure. I let it sit (pressurized) for a week and still had pressure after that time.

Yesterday I went to hook up my lines and when I put the beer line on I got a slow drip down the side of the keg from inside the ball lock fitting. I tried putting a different ball lock fitting on the keg and I also tried another ball lock connector so I'm stumped. Any ideas?
 
If it doesn't leak when at rest but leaks with a connector on, it's either the the connector itself, or the o-ring on the outside of the corny post. Did you try lubing that o-ring with keg lube before putting the connector on or did you slip in on dry?
Try a new o-ring and lube it first.

The black oring on these 3
keg-posts-1.jpg
 
I didn't know that about the grooves, thanks for that.

As far as the o-rings go, it seems like the ones I got from Northern aren't as "beefy" as they should be. What is a good source for replacement o-rings that you guys usually use?
 
I bought a lifetime supply of black Buna o-rings from McMaster and then saw the various posts like Bobby's about silicone. Now I have a lifetime supply of both kinds!

However before buying the silicone I would go for the keg lube or some vaseline on the ones you already have to see if that is the problem.
 
EKennett said:
I rebuilt this keg using a rebuild kit from Northern Brewer. When I put the beer in the keg I hit it with 20 psi of CO2 to seal the lid and I'm sure the keg itself is holding pressure. I let it sit (pressurized) for a week and still had pressure after that time.

Yesterday I went to hook up my lines and when I put the beer line on I got a slow drip down the side of the keg from inside the ball lock fitting. I tried putting a different ball lock fitting on the keg and I also tried another ball lock connector so I'm stumped. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

If you have checked the fittings for leaks using a soapy water solution I suggest the following:

When you hit with 20lb pressure you filled the head space with the CO2. Then over time the CO2 was absorbed into the liquid and the pressure equalized. It will continue to do that until it reaches CO2 saturation.

When a keg is force carbonated, one can pressurize it with 30lb of gas, and then shake it. If you immediately put it back on the gas, you will hear more CO2 dispensed into the beer. The keg didn't leak, the beer absorbed the CO2 in the head space making room in the head space for more CO2.
 
Sorry -I'm still not getting where the leak is coming from.
The top of the fitting where the poppet valve is supposed to be seating?
Or the bottom of the fitting - i.e. a thread fitting or cross thread problem.
 
The leak comes out between the corny post and the quick disconnect fitting when it is hooked up. The keg holds pressure just fine without the QD hooked up so I know it's not the dip tube o ring or the poppet. It's gotta be the post o-ring.
 
I once put a gas side disconnect on the liquid out post(the guy at the store gave me the wrong one and I didn't think there was a difference), it seemed to fit just fine but I got a slow leak similar to what you described. I put a liquid disconnect on and never had the problem again. Is it definitely the right quick-connect?
 
"As far as the o-rings go, it seems like the ones I got from Northern aren't as "beefy" as they should be. What is a good source for replacement o-rings that you guys usually use?"

I ordered a 4 pack of corny's from NB a few weeks back which included new O rings for the dip tube, gas, posts, & lid. I applied a light film of keg lube to all of the new rings before I put them on. Everything appeared to be in working order although I did have a faulty pressure relief valve on one of the lids which they replaced. Have 2 of them on-line right now and they are holding pressure. Montanaandy
 
ARGH! I'm about at wit's end here.

I've tried new o-rings (silicone 111's from Mcmaster), tried different posts with different o-rings, different QD's on both posts, and I still get a trickle of beer down the side of the keg when I hook up the beer QD to the keg.

I even used the post I used on my last keg which worked beautifully.

What in the blue hell could possibly be the problem???
 
It is possibly leaking from the hose connection on the connector and you're only noticing in down the side of the post?
Does it leak when the beer out connector is disconnected?
 
If you have swapped posts that worked fine on another keg then it is not a post issue. You never did indicate whether you were using keg lube or not. If you are not, then get some and put it on all the points of contact for the post/QD. Montanaandy
 
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Thanks again for the replies guys. Yes I am using keg lube on the o-rings. And I am sure it is not leaking out the hose, it clearly leaks out between the QD and the post when the QD is connected.
 
This is strange.

1. You have placed posts that worked well on other kegs onto the conry in question and they leak.

2. You have used keg lube on all of the gaskets/contact points and there is still a leak.

3. You know that the poppet inside of the post is good based on #1 above

Have you used a different QD at all to try to isolate this or are you using the same QD? You may also have a problem with the small gasket at the end of the male post on the head of the QD. Another very simple thing that I just thought of is that you need to make certain that the connection between the QD and the nut attached to the beverage line is very tight. I used to run into leaking problems because I was merely hand-tightening the QD. I now use a pliers to hold the nut and hand tighten the QD head until it is as tight as I can get it. Montanaandy
 
OK, I will give those things a shot. I have used a spare QD and gotten the same problem but I will make sure the nut is tight.

How do I check the gasket you are talking about at the head of the QD?
 
"How do I check the gasket you are talking about at the head of the QD?"

You would have to unscrew the QD head from the nut (take it apart). There is a small black gasket at the end of the post on the QD head that screws into the nut on the beverage line. You can put a very small/light amount of keg lube on that but I would try tightening the QD head first and then if that does not work try the keg lube. The only other thing that I can think of is there may be a problem with the nut in that it is not seating the gasket/QD head properly and causing the leak. Have you tried a different line/nut with the suspect QD head? Montanaandy
 
Have you opened up the disconnect to check the O-rings there there? Doesn't seem like it would have anything to do with the cornie post, but more to do with your disconnect. Might be worth the $6 to just buy a new one if it's not sealing right.
 
"Might be worth the $6 to just buy a new one if it's not sealing right."

Agreed. Start from scratch with a new QD and new nut. If it does not work correctly after that then it is simply an evil corny. Montanaandy
 
Alright, well I went ahead and ordered a new set of posts. The QDs are both new. I shall report back once I get them on.
 
Alright, got my brand new posts from NB and popped them on, little bit of lube on the o-rings and same deal. Leaking from the QD when I hook it up.

So I racked the beer into a different keg and put all new o-rings on that keg. I used the new posts I just got and hooked it all up and it "seems" to be holding the beer this time. We shall see.

What could be wrong with the keg itself that would cause this to happen?
 
I agree with Montanaandy, the Corny is just evil. You have more patience than I do, because I would have shot the SOB by now.
 
Nope, same problem persists, despite new posts, a different keg (which I had no problems with on my last batch of beer) and new o-rings all around.

Seriously, what is going on here? I need to have this thing running by Saturday. I'm having a get together and people are expecting stout on tap.

Please help me :tank:
 
Look at the manufacturer on the keg that leaks vs the one that doesn't. I'm assuming you bought new posts to match the manufacturer of the keg you were buying for. Maybe there's enough of a difference and the disconnect just don't like those posts. Are the posts from the keg that doesn't leak swappable to the one that does. You at least know those are good posts.
 
They are both Cornelius Super Champions. I did buy new posts to match this keg style.

I am going to try a new QD and that is the last thing I can think of.
 
No new posts since 12Feb?? I'm on the edge of my couch, here.

I ordered a keg from morebeer.com and it has a slow leak. The main opening appeared dented so I contacted the company and they shipped a replacement which works fine. Since I'm overseas, they said not to worry about mailing the dented one back. Now, I'm trying to get it functional. I was searching the site for leaking cornies and ran accross this post, now I am curious if you ever fixed the "evil" keg.
 
Haha Bobby, you might be right. Believe it or not, people who come to my house STILL want to drink that slosh over craft beer, that's why I have it.

Anyway, I got a new QD from Williams and that solved the problem. I just can't see why both of the QDs I already had failed, but at least I am enjoying my brew now.
 
this is the same problem that I am having. I bought a new keg from ebay. which might be my first and foremost biggest problem but i started cleaning and sanitising it before i put my beer in luckily and it started flowing very fast after i connected the out (beer) QD. It held the co2 perfect and nothing wrong until i put on the the qd from out. I then took the qd to another keg and no leak what so ever. I would say it flowed out about a cup of hot water in about 1 minute or less. I dont think its the qd because it works fine with my other kegs. is it just this qd with this style post or what?
 
i figured it out. i feel kinda stupid but as long as i learn from my stupidity and maybe others can too. I was using the wrong o ring. i was using the o ring for the dip tube instead of the post
 
Bro, especially on this site, no matter how basic the procedure, hardware, concept, terminology, etc, may be, there are still quite a few of us who are trying to learn. The more we can build off of each others' mistakes, the less steep the learning curve will feel.

I bought reconditioned kegs with new o-rings so I probably wouldn't have realized they were different, either, whenever I get around to swapping them out.
 
skydog4884 said:
i figured it out. i feel kinda stupid but as long as i learn from my stupidity and maybe others can too. I was using the wrong o ring. i was using the o ring for the dip tube instead of the post
Click to expand...

Hey man, most of us are just happy to see fellow brewer get his keg under control. We're not hear to point fingers and laugh hysterically at such simple mistake :D Now where is that pointing finger, laughing hysterically at you smiley icon.......
 
Lol, I would laugh at me too :ban:

I just hope somebody else can learn from my ways. I pulled a bunch of hair out on this one and it was such a simple fix. Try a new QD... I just hope those "bad" QD's work on future batches of kegged homebrew!
 

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