Over the last few months, I have been using spunding valves on my kegs to naturally carbonate beer for a variety of reasons. In addition, I have added floating dip tubes to avoid clogging the metal ones with the sediment from the bottom of the keg.
Last night I checked on two kegs that I started naturally cabonating a few days ago using 1 cup of sugar each. One keg was at 28 psi (the spunding valve is set at 30 psi) and the other was at 12 psi which was curious. I then noticed that the one with the lower psi had foam leaking out of the beer out post -- a poppet leak! I cleaned away the foam and saw a very, very slow leak bubbling out of the poppet. I pushed down on it with my finger a number of times to see if I could get it to reseal. No luck. I then checked the post with a wrench to make sure it was tight. It was. I then got out a small screw driver figuring that if I pushed the poppet down a little more than my finger could do and re-centered it, I could get it to reseal. Instead, I somehow dislodged the poppet in the post which caused a beer eruption.
I quickly put my thumb over the post which just caused the beer to spray in every direction in my garage instead of up. I grabbed the keg and dragged it out on to the driveway as quickly as I could and grabbed a rag in the process that I put over the post. When I got to the driveway, I pulled the pressure relieve valve in the lid to stop the flow. Although gas escaped from the PRV, the beer did not stop spraying out of the post. I then took the small screwdriver and pushed the poppet on the gas in post to relieve more pressure, but the beer just kept coming. I tried pushing the lid down to open it, but there was still too much pressure in the keg. Eventually, I took the wrench, loosened the beer out post enough to get the poppet back in position and tightened it back down. Finally, the beer stopped squirting out of the post.
My wife came out of the house to see what was going on. I was soaked head to toe in beer; there was beer all over my truck and on the driveway; and, there was beer on the floor (carpeted) and walls of the garage. What a mess.
What I can't figure out is why the poppet started to leak? When I filled the keg, I hooked it up to my CO2 tank at 30 psi to purge and seal it. In addition, why did it keep spraying even after I opened the PRV and pushed the poppet on the gas in post down? Why didn't this relieve the pressure in the keg even though I could hear gas coming out of both? Would active fermentation cause this?
It also made me wonder if there is a way to cap the beer out post during spunding so I am not 100% dependent on the beer out poppet? Live and learn.
Last night I checked on two kegs that I started naturally cabonating a few days ago using 1 cup of sugar each. One keg was at 28 psi (the spunding valve is set at 30 psi) and the other was at 12 psi which was curious. I then noticed that the one with the lower psi had foam leaking out of the beer out post -- a poppet leak! I cleaned away the foam and saw a very, very slow leak bubbling out of the poppet. I pushed down on it with my finger a number of times to see if I could get it to reseal. No luck. I then checked the post with a wrench to make sure it was tight. It was. I then got out a small screw driver figuring that if I pushed the poppet down a little more than my finger could do and re-centered it, I could get it to reseal. Instead, I somehow dislodged the poppet in the post which caused a beer eruption.
I quickly put my thumb over the post which just caused the beer to spray in every direction in my garage instead of up. I grabbed the keg and dragged it out on to the driveway as quickly as I could and grabbed a rag in the process that I put over the post. When I got to the driveway, I pulled the pressure relieve valve in the lid to stop the flow. Although gas escaped from the PRV, the beer did not stop spraying out of the post. I then took the small screwdriver and pushed the poppet on the gas in post to relieve more pressure, but the beer just kept coming. I tried pushing the lid down to open it, but there was still too much pressure in the keg. Eventually, I took the wrench, loosened the beer out post enough to get the poppet back in position and tightened it back down. Finally, the beer stopped squirting out of the post.
My wife came out of the house to see what was going on. I was soaked head to toe in beer; there was beer all over my truck and on the driveway; and, there was beer on the floor (carpeted) and walls of the garage. What a mess.
What I can't figure out is why the poppet started to leak? When I filled the keg, I hooked it up to my CO2 tank at 30 psi to purge and seal it. In addition, why did it keep spraying even after I opened the PRV and pushed the poppet on the gas in post down? Why didn't this relieve the pressure in the keg even though I could hear gas coming out of both? Would active fermentation cause this?
It also made me wonder if there is a way to cap the beer out post during spunding so I am not 100% dependent on the beer out poppet? Live and learn.
