Jump to content
Coopers Community

A Mystery Leak


Journeyman

Recommended Posts

I kegged my IPA a few days back - 19th - and got a leak from the duotight. Careless me had left the English Bitter keg a bit close to the door with the duotight pointing at it and the door had pushed the line.

OK, no probs, just a few mls on the fridge floor. Cleaned it up, moved the keg and poured a beer. Later SWMBO went to get beers and told me there was leakage on the concrete. I had a look and while there was nothing obvious at top of kegs, there was maybe 20 - 30 mls on the fridge floor and a spreading pool on the floor.

Clean up time, left a double layer of chux at the fridge corner to soak up what was under the fridge that I couldn't get a mop to and removed the disconnect on the Bitter.

Next morning, chux is soaked, puddle at other end of fridge and more beer on the floor of the fridge. Dafuq? There were no obvious dribbles happening and rubbing a finger around each keg didn't really clue me in - just condensation rather than beer trickle.

Cleaned it all up, removed ALL the disconnects, gas included. The Bitter keg had stuck duotights - I kinda understood for the beer disc. maybe due to beer leaking and sticking but the GAS one? The gas one came off with a bit of a struggle but I had to use a pair of screwdrivers (one as a fulcrum) to lever off the beer disc. The gas one seemed fine but the beer one was decidedly stick to move the collar. 

Cleaning time again, soaked all disc.'s and all seemed working fine, collars moved easily. I lubed disc.'s and posts and replaced them all back on kegs. All is now working fine - got a minor dribble when moving kegs around to put fuller kegs at rear and getting-empties at front but that can happen as you torque duotight lines - nothing since.

I have no idea what went wrong, why the beer disc was jammed and definitely not why the gas one was - they'd all been lubed prior to connection before and the Eng Bitter keg is weeks in the fridge with no leaks. And I got more leakage AFTER fixing the Eng Bitter keg the first time than while the door was against it. 

It's been 3 days now and all is fine, except stains on the concrete where the chux sat, soaked, overnight.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, ozdevil said:

this seems like the same issues i was having   

Did you sort yours? 

I mean I'm happy it's all gone away but I'd really like to know where the 2nd lot of leak(s) came and why the 2 disconnects somehow jammed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Journeyman said:

Nope. SWMBO likes me and my beer. 😄

lucky you well I hope this never happens to me my patience is very short. If I had a grenade I would use it to blow keggerator up in a similar circumstance.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Journeyman said:

Did you sort yours? 

I mean I'm happy it's all gone away but I'd really like to know where the 2nd lot of leak(s) came and why the 2 disconnects somehow jammed.

i wont know until i put another keg on  and get my ass into gear and  do a deep clean of the lines and disconnects

I havent brewed for ages  as i have been busy

I am giving the duo tights 1 more go and will have plenty of time before next keg goes in  to sort it

As my next batch i am going to do the dreaded bottling   , as i owe a mate a slab or 2  as he brought the ingrediants

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey @Journeyman, good to hear you have sorted your issue.  The only leaking duotight issue I had was when I put my kegerator together and had two duotights touching each other in the font.  It was enough to allow a leak between the duotight and the stainless steel shank.  As soon as I moved the duotights apart, the leak stopped.  Luckily, at that stage, I was only practicing with water.  Just something to check.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, ozdevil said:

As my next batch i am going to do the dreaded bottling   , as i owe a mate a slab or 2  as he brought the ingrediants

I've got some bottling to do as well - ladies at the Club want some cider. I've got about 28L to do. The good news is, I have plenty of sand... I mean bottles! 😄

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Hey @Journeyman, good to hear you have sorted your issue.  The only leaking duotight issue I had was when I put my kegerator together and had two duotights touching each other in the font.  It was enough to allow a leak between the duotight and the stainless steel shank.  As soon as I moved the duotights apart, the leak stopped.  Luckily, at that stage, I was only practicing with water.  Just something to check.

I had one at the start - turned out to be a faulty duotight. Since then there has been only a drip or 2 if I'm careless about sideways stress on the duotights. I looked at the hassle of having clamps both ends of the beer lines for doing thorough cleaning and thought, "bugger that!" 😄 

I wasn't impressed with the JG ones for the shanks though. I found out later about right-angle duotights that might have fixed the issue but for back of the door connections I went with cable ties. (because I had a packet 😄 ) The problem with those was the line didn't go deep enough - it was a mm or so shorter than penetration into the normal duotights but that was enough to make the seal very dicey. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On my kegging system I have used duotights on all connections and I am yet to experience a leak in over 12 months. I am careful with having any sideways deflections on the lines though as duotights are very susceptible to leaks with any lateral deflections of the lines,

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...