Co2 emptied all beer from my keg

[TMadness1013]

Hey all,

New to kegging here...had a bit of a mishap.

I racked my beer into a ball lock Corny keg, set the PSI to 8, and left for vacation for a week.

When I came back home this morning, my keg was empty & the beer was about 3 inches deep in my chest freezer.

I did leave a ball-lock liquid "out" connector on the keg attached with beer line hose & a picnic tap. The picnic tap was NOT left open.

What happened here? Should I not have left the liquid out connector on? Do I need to replace anything on the keg?

Thanks for any input.

 

[Rockn_M]

That sux! Sorry to hear that. I have mine always hooked up to my kegerator but I use stainless steel taps instead of a picnic tap. I would check all seals to make sure you don't have a leak and really inspect the picnic tap. I've heard they look closed but enough pressure or if they open a tiny bit they can start to leak.

 

[theck]

Did you check for a leak on the picnic tap? Mine leaks sometimes... random but I just remove the line when not using it. If your just carbing it up or not going to be drinking for a while I would just remove the lines. I have had a few lost pints since I started kegging last year. Also, maybe the connector wasn't seated all the way down? I've done that as well.

 

[zachattack]

If you're positive that the picnic tap was closed and didn't leak, and the QD was fully seated, then you have a leak!

Can you tell where the beer came from? The 3 most likely culprits are

1) Liquid post o-ring
2) QD
3) hose clamp around tubing on QD

If it leaked from under the QD, it's #1. Replace the o-ring and make sure you hit it with a bit of keg lube; sliding the QD over the post can shred a dry o-ring pretty quickly.

If it leaked from on top of the QD, it's #2. Check to make sure the internal gasket is seated all the way (is the top part of the QD tight?), if it's still leaking you can try swapping the gasket or just replacing the QD.

If it leaked around the barb, obviously it's #3. Make sure your hose clamp is tight, and consider switching to a gapless oetiker-style clamp in the future.

 

[hio3791]

Sorry for your loss but a similar thing happened to me. Fortunately, I discovered the problem about 30 min later but in that time, I lost quite a bit of beer. Since the line is pressurized, it has a bit of "spring" force to it. In my case, I had left the picnic tap at just the "right" angle and the force of the line pushed the tap just enough against a cup I had in the kegerator and that opened the tap. It was just a trickle but it would have emptied the keg had I not walked over to grab a 2nd beer.

 

[dxbq48]

I have had some issues with picnic taps where the top was not screwed on all the way and had a few ounces of brew spew out the tap. This could have happened to you as well.

 

[TMadness1013]

Thanks for the input, everyone. I'll let you know if I figure out the culprit.

 

[passedpawn]

Fill the keg up with water and repeat.

If you keg (the general "you", not just the OP), you've got to keep a bunch of spare seals. All of them. That way, if one doesn't look quite right, replace without a second thought. Also, keglube will make them last a lot longer. Dry seals will tear.

 

[flyerdx]

I had one start to freeze one time and lost some beer