Wilko Pressure Barrell what am I doing wrong?

[benkbenkbenk]

I bought a wilko pressure barrel as I had lost a few bottles recently and has a batch that was done. I racked my beer into the barrel with 80g of priming sugar, fit the gas bulb lid, without a bulb, and left it in the cupboard for a week. I drawed off a half pint and was worried when the flow slowed to a stop and sucked some bubbles back through the beer, clearly I had lost pressure.

I thought I'd check for leaks by adding a co2 bulb and spraying around the lid with some star San. Bizarrely it seemed to hold pressur, no bubbles with a full bulb. It was only when I then tried to remove the bulb that moving the holder caused the gas to escape. I presumed the lid must be faulty so I romoved it, checked gravity at 1.010, reprimed with 80g and attached the original lid with a vasalined up seal. I can no longer remove the bulb from the pressure lid, the whole thing just spins I'm the lid.

After a week I draw off another half and I get exactly the same thing! Gravity down at 1.009 What have I done wrong?

I'm going to bottle tonight, but really ****** off with this wilko barrel!

 

[desmosteve]

My experience with lid seals is that a couple of things can go wrong
1 The neck of the barrel isn't perfectly round, and can be oval. I warmed one with a hair dryer, squeezed it to a more round shape and it reset to that shape, all ok. The oval shape was forcing the seal off the joint face
2 You can over lube the seal, and it causes it to slide off the joint face and lose the seal. If the cap is white you can see that happen as you tighten the lid. Try removing all lube and cleaning the faces, then put a smear just on the visible face of the seal, ie the bit that meets the barrel. The increased friction between the top face of the seal and the top of the lid can now hold the seal in place and stop it skidding off the barrel joint face

Bit late now, but you can check these easily by assembling the lid and tap, then blowing hard through the open tap to pressurise the barrel slightly. If you shut the tap it should hold pressure and you can spot leaks easily. You only generate low pressure like this but all the volume you put in helps pick up mislocated seals

I also think many people over tighten the lids and the tap. A rubber joint only needs a slight nip to get a seal at the low pressure we're talking, and giving it a big heave ho can be counter productive. The taps are especially weak where the thread ends and can snap if over tightened

Is the C02 valve tight in the lid? A firm pull should get the bulb free from the brass valve
Last one/ The C02 valve should have a small o ring inside its top thread, this is what the bulb seals with. Put a light smear of vaseline on the bulb and make sure the o ring is located properly and you should get a good seal and no leakage, apart from a slight hiss as you break it free

 

[winelight]

I just went to check mine, and no pressure either. It could be one of three things.

On mine, it is the rubber washer in the lid, it had distorted and moved. I reseated it and replaced it and now fingers crossed. I will try gassing it. However, the washer is now distorted and I am not confident it will make a good seal. I will see if it's possible to get replacements (although I should have a spare one, I suppose, in the original lid).

The other two possibilities are either that the gas bulb holder is not tightly fitted to the lid, or that the valve is not working.

 

[winelight]

OK desmosteve has said it all... point 2 is what happened to mine. Either over-lubed or over-tightened.