New to kegging, a couple questions.

[earwig]

I have two questions, if someone could help me with them that would be awesome.
First, my keg didn't come with a purge valve on it. I understand that I can push on the valve itself to purge the oxygen after racking the beer and sealing it, but my regulator has a purge valve built in. Would the purge valve on the regulator work to purge the head space?
My 2nd question is, the regulator came with a hard plastic washer on the end that screws onto the co2 tank, and a spare attached to the regulator. I can't quite get that white hard plastic washer to sit properly... Is there a secret or do I just need to be more forceful?
Please see my attached pics that will help you understand my set up.
Thank you!

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[brewguyver]

Reg won't seal properly w/o washer and you'll end up with an empty CO2 tank.

Don't purge from the reg because you could get beer back in your line. Instead you could pick up another air disconnect and use that - they even sell some with release valves on them meant for aiding in keg-to-keg transfer.

 

[earwig]

Excuse my ignorance but what is an air disconnect? Just another fitting without a hose on it? Thank you.

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[mikescooling]

You can purg the keg of air by filling it with a little co2, then disconnect the ball lock fitting on the gas "in" side and push down on the popet (if you push down on the liquid out side, you will get sprayed by beer, and if your keg is super full the short 2" or how ever long dip tube on the gas side could pick up liquid). Different regulators take different gaskets, those look odd to me, but you should make everything tight with a 10 crescent, check for leaks with soap bubbles; I used to tell people to turn the regulator out pressure off then turn the co2 tank off and the high side gauge should not go down over 24 or 48 hrs.

 

[earwig]

Thanks for the replies.

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