Barrel problem

[pplp]

Hi,

I was given a beer kit for Christmas (Wherry) and everything was going well. It all fermented and I siphoned off into the barrel and sealed it on Sunday evening.

Then today (Friday, 5 days after going into the barrel) I noticed there was a small puddle of beer on the floor underneath the barrel. I think it was at most 50ml but I have no idea when it started. Anyway, it seemed to be coming from the tap and when I touched the tap some pressure came out. I screwed the tap on as tight as I could and it seems to have stopped the leak, but in doing so some pressure was released from the barrel.

Does anyone know if my beer will be ok? Or do I need to use one of the co2 bulbs I have?

Thanks
Matthew

[silversurfer]

Hi Matthew

Dont use any co2 bulbs until the beer isnt coming out of the tap under pressure anymore.
The use of co2 in a beer pressure barrell is for forcing the beer out of the barrell under pressure no co2 is required until your beer starts to go flat.

[bigdave]

Mine was leaking like that too. Try tightening the tap (where the rubber washer is between the tap and barrel). The instructions you get say not to over tighten but just past finger tight seems to have been enough to stop my leak.

[pplp]

Ok, thanks for the reassurance! I think I just took that "not too tight" instruction a little too liberally when I first put it in the barrel!

[bigdave]

so did I! I also stood my keg on a pillow to help protect it from the cold floor....... hmmm.... that pillow never smelt so good!!!

[micromaniac]

i had exactly the same thing happen to me with a new keg .but it would not tighten up so i had to take the lid off and put me mits inside ,put a little more sugar in to make up the lost pressure and it turned out fine ...ps that was a wherry as well must be jinked

Hi,

I was given a beer kit for Christmas (Wherry) and everything was going well. It all fermented and I siphoned off into the barrel and sealed it on Sunday evening.

Then today (Friday, 5 days after going into the barrel) I noticed there was a small puddle of beer on the floor underneath the barrel. I think it was at most 50ml but I have no idea when it started. Anyway, it seemed to be coming from the tap and when I touched the tap some pressure came out. I screwed the tap on as tight as I could and it seems to have stopped the leak, but in doing so some pressure was released from the barrel.

Does anyone know if my beer will be ok? Or do I need to use one of the co2 bulbs I have?

Thanks
Matthew

[bigdave]

Im getting the feeling that Woodforde's id cursed!?

[sladeywadey]

my thoughts on these kegs is that anything with a whiff of pressure is capable of generating leaks! Upon initially getting my king keg, I filled the keg up full with water to test my bottom tap and indeed it leaked a bit. after smoothing off the surrounding plastic and applying a bit of vaseline on the outside seal edge, I tried again and it seems to have cured it. I've had a wherry kegged since the 10th december and no leaks at all.

[micromaniac]

it must be when ive had a few it turns me into an animal

Im getting the feeling that Woodforde's id cursed!?

[bigdave]

my thoughts on these kegs is that anything with a whiff of pressure is capable of generating leaks! Upon initially getting my king keg, I filled the keg up full with water to test my bottom tap and indeed it leaked a bit. after smoothing off the surrounding plastic and applying a bit of vaseline on the outside seal edge, I tried again and it seems to have cured it. I've had a wherry kegged since the 10th december and no leaks at all.

It was about 2-3 hours after kegging that i noticed my leak, 48 hours later and no more leaks. I will be keeping my eye on it as pressure builds thou!

[twopan]

Hi - new to this forum. I have barreled a 40 pint batch of Geordie bitter in a Wilko Johnsons u Brew pressure barrel, fitted with a CO2 injector cap, but no bulb on it yet. I have the same symptoms - there is a small puddle under the barrel and the seal around the tap appears to be leaking slightly, with evidence of tiny bubbles. I never thought to check the tightness of the tap and indeed, I don't think you can get your arm through these barrel's openings - they are quite small caps on them. Do I live with it or syphon the beer into a new a barrel (and take the old one back for a refund!)? The beer will have been in there for 48 hours tonight, so if transferred it to a new barrel, I assume I could stil get away with it, perhaps adding another couple of teaspoons of sugar just to ensure it recovers pressure?

[EoinMag]

Crack the lid, let out the pressure, then turn it on it's side so that the air bubble is where the tap would be, then unscrew the tap carefully, get some vaseline in on the threads and screw it back in, then reprime the keg with a bit more sugar and away you go. The threads on all of these kegs need a liberal coating of vaseline to keep a seal properly. You just have to be careful not to get the vaseline into the beer or it will kill the head.

[mickhew]

I've had NOTHING but trouble from barrels, presume you have the budget Young's type ? My tap seals leaked, despite using vaseline, new seals, and even using PTFE tape on the thread. I've even tried tightening them less, tightening them more, now I bottle the lot. I blame the valves. As pressure builds up, the valves are supposed to regulate the internal pressure, but if they don't, the excess pressure finds the weakest point to escape from, the tap seal. Loads of people have no problems, but, in my experience, too much hassle!

[twopan]

Thanks for the advice. Yes it is a cheapo Youngs U-Brew job. We opened the lid to release the pressure and temporarily changed the cap to the (sterilised) blank cap for the purpose of tipping (to avoid risk of any excess vaseline on the inside of the valve cap from touching the brew). Tipped the barrel, unscrewed the tap and added a good smear of vaseline on the back half of the tap thread and screwed it back in finger-tight. I added three teaspoons of sugar to get it going again and left it for another 4 days at room temperature. No leaks so far and looking forward to sampling it now it's settling in the shed.