help leaking barrel

[FUBAR]

i put 5 gallons of birkby bitter in a brand new barrel from wilkos on saturday i primed it with 50grms of sugar and left it in my kitchen,on coming in from work tonight there was a puddle of beer on the floor ,taps weeping around the washer so i tightened it up a bit more but it still leaked so what i did was to undo the cap to releae the pressure,although there was pressure it was no where as much as i expected considering its had 4 days at room temperature,then i turned the barrel on its side and unscrewed the tap and wiped a smear of vaseline on the washer and screwed it back,i then gave it a blast of co2 from a capsule and it now seems to be ok, i have stood the barrel in a plastic tray just incase,will it be ok just to leave it with the co2 i have added? or should i re-prime it,i am keeping my fingers crossed its not spoilt as i reckon this brew was going to be a good un.

[barl_fire]

If it's not leaking liquid after a blast of CO2 then it should be okay. After the faff I had with my first brew in a Wilko barrel leaking to begin with, all the other brews I've kegged since I've given a blast of gas as soon as I've put the lid on after kegging so I know how good my seals are under pressure. I can then check the thing periodically for a few hours before leaving it to get on with conditioning

[micromaniac]

i put 5 gallons of birkby bitter in a brand new barrel from wilkos on saturday i primed it with 50grms of sugar and left it in my kitchen,on coming in from work tonight there was a puddle of beer on the floor ,taps weeping around the washer so i tightened it up a bit more but it still leaked so what i did was to undo the cap to releae the pressure,although there was pressure it was no where as much as i expected considering its had 4 days at room temperature,then i turned the barrel on its side and unscrewed the tap and wiped a smear of vaseline on the washer and screwed it back,i then gave it a blast of co2 from a capsule and it now seems to be ok, i have stood the barrel in a plastic tray just incase,will it be ok just to leave it with the co2 i have added? or should i re-prime it,i am keeping my fingers crossed its not spoilt as i reckon this brew was going to be a good un.

i did exactly the same thing but instead of putting co2 in i put some more sugar in incase it had allready been converted and lost by just opening it.if you,ve only just put top back on its still not to late to add some sugar ...good luck

[FUBAR]

Thanks for the replies guys,i have re primed it again tonight as it seems to be ok now touch wood,i have now got a couple of top tap king kegs perhaps they might be better although that is the first time ive had a barrel leak so suppose i cant complain to much,it may be wilcos have got hold of a dodgy batch of barrels barl fire ?

[barl_fire]

Thanks for the replies guys,i have re primed it again tonight as it seems to be ok now touch wood,i have now got a couple of top tap king kegs perhaps they might be better although that is the first time ive had a barrel leak so suppose i cant complain to much,it may be wilcos have got hold of a dodgy batch of barrels barl fire ?

Speaking as a relative newbie to this game, the feeling I've got with my limited experience is that the kegs, taps and washers themselves are fine when new, it's just a bit of trial and error getting the tap housing tightened to just the right tightness to get an effective seal. I've got two identical budget barrels one from Wilko and one from my LHBS and they did exactly the same thing, and no doubt when I get round to removing the taps in a few brews time for a good clean they'll piss me off again with what seems like a tiny window of tightening to get a seal.

I've got a king keg top tap and I don't half feel more confident when I put a brew in that, just not massively keen on the lack of pour control I have with it compared to the budget kegs, swings and roundabouts I guess.

[FUBAR]

barl fire thats exactly what i thought when i tried the tap on my king kegs its not got the control of the other taps,i cant be sure as i have not put beer in mine yet but it feels like its a case of either its full open or off,what appealed to me was that you can stand the barrel on the floor and the wide cap so you can get inside to give it a good clean.

[micromaniac]

barl fire thats exactly what i thought when i tried the tap on my king kegs its not got the control of the other taps,i cant be sure as i have not put beer in mine yet but it feels like its a case of either its full open or off,what appealed to me was that you can stand the barrel on the floor and the wide cap so you can get inside to give it a good clean.

ive got three king kegs,two bottom feed one top and they all were a pain in the arsenal to start but been great once sealed in well.the only time i have a prob with feed is sometimes when i first tap a keg and its got a lot of pressure in it . it makes it very tight to move but once you have the hang of it you can controll it

[barl_fire]

barl fire thats exactly what i thought when i tried the tap on my king kegs its not got the control of the other taps,i cant be sure as i have not put beer in mine yet but it feels like its a case of either its full open or off,what appealed to me was that you can stand the barrel on the floor and the wide cap so you can get inside to give it a good clean.

When I gassed mine for the very first time, being a bit worried it might leak, I went to tighten the tap and instead of tightening I opened and it was like a fire hydrant blowing, lots of lovely dark brown ale everywhere, the missus wasn't too impressed

Yeah I like the fact it'll stand on the floor, my others have to sit on plastic storage boxes.

[FUBAR]

barl fire i cant understand why women get so upset by a bit of beer sprayed around the house,if they where upset about good drinkable beer being wasted you could understand it :

[micromaniac]

barl fire i cant understand why women get so upset by a bit of beer sprayed around the house,if they where upset about good drinkable beer being wasted you could understand it :

my missus tried one of my best ever eastern ales and said it was horrible.i said yea and you think i enjoy drinkin it ,thats why i only have 4 pints at a time

[Lillywhite]

I primed it with 50grms of sugar

For future reference, the recommended amount of priming sugar when kegging is 85 grams (3 ozs).

[Lillywhite]

...it may be wilcos have got hold of a dodgy batch of barrels ?

I've noticed that sometimes the hole for the tap on these basic kegs hasn't been drilled out square so when pressure builds up during secondary fermentation they can leak from beneath the black washer. As a precaution, I usually stand on a tray during secondary fermentation and only remove when I move the keg to a cooler place for the conditioning period. The taps when off should also be in the 3 o'clock position.

[FUBAR]

all seems to be ok now since i took the tap out and gave the washer a coat of vaseline i have stood it in a deep plastic tray just incase,will be carefull in future to keep an eye on the tap seal.