Help King keg leak

[andydj]

Ok so my first brew was going well. Fermentation 14 days, my Wherry FG down to 1010 ready to condition. So I bottle 8 with half tsp sugar then put the rest (31 pints ish) in my king keg with 70g sugar all good to go back in my brewfridge for another week or two.

I check up on things after a day at work to find my keg has a slight leak on the valve where it meets the barrel. Where the rubber washer is. When I pull the keg out of the fridge and up end it to stop the leak, the CO2 escapes. Hmmm... so I syphon out into a sterile FV, tighten up the nut, which I find doesn't tighten properly as it slips on the threads after a point..Grrrr. But no choice but to tighten as best I can and syphon my brew back into the king keg. Lid on and I've pressurised with a CO2 cartridge to make up for lost CO2.
Have I done the right thing? Will my brew be ruined from air exposure and possible contamination?

Time to contact the shop for a free new tap?

 

[matt666]

This is a common thing unfortunately. I always keep a spare tap lying around in case this happens. You don't need to syphon it out if you lay it on its back, you can then unscrew the tap and fit a new one. Your brew will most probably be fine, you've done the right thing by repressurising and as you caught it early secondary fermentation will continue to do it's thing.

I find some vaseline on the threads helps too.

 

[andydj]

Cheers Matt yep used vaseline as I was aware of leaky valves.

Is there a better quality replacement valve available?

 

[Niman]

if its the first time the barrel has been used i'm surprised u have had probs ....ive only ever had problems when i havent changed the seals etc after X amount of brews...
did u take it all apart and possibly overtighten the tap?

now i tend to fill the barrel ....either put a co2 bulb in of a blast from bottle ......check for leaks with soapy water.......and loosen/tighten....whatever is needed

 

[andydj]

Yep first time. I only tightened by hand albeit fairly firmly, the fact the nut didn't hold on the threads makes me think its either not up to the job or I have a duff one

 

[tibbs1972]

Yep first time. I only tightened by hand albeit fairly firmly, the fact the nut didn't hold on the threads makes me think its either not up to the job or I have a duff one

I had a problem with my King Keg, the nut on the tap wouldn't tighten, the nut kept slipping. I replaced it with the cheap tap from my bottling bucket and the problem was solved.

 

[johnnyboy1965]

You've over tightened the nut and stripped the thread. It only needs to be finger tight, let the rubber washer do its job.

 

[andydj]

Brewbitz have been kind enough to send me a new tap so jobs a good 'un, thanks to them.

Finger tight only then it is next time.