bought pressurised kegs

[randomiser]

Bought some kegs yesterday. Took the lids off 3 of the 4 without any trouble but the 4th one I couldn't push down. Anyway I decided to use my ring spanner to undo the gas connection. Got a massive release of pressure as i got it off. Then I realised the gas post was gone on that one. Must have shot off into the air. So the moral of the story is when you first get kegs release the pressure first via the pressure release valve. Why this one had pressure in it from the shop in the first place I can't tell you. Could have gone very badly. Anyway now I'm enjoying a kolsch I made out of the keg. Good times.

[drsmurto]

The first thing i have always done with new kegs is pull the pressure relief valve.

They are sold (from the HBS i have bought them from) as holding pressure so it only seemed logical to me.

How much better is it to pour a beer from the tap? I can't stand bottling.

[bullfrog]

Oh wow. I recently had 8 kegs shipped to me and I had noticed that some of them were slightly pressurised, but no more than you'd expect from just normal temperature differentials, etc. Good job you didn't do yourself an injury there, mate.

[Chris]

Flying keg bits are very dangerous. There's been some pretty bad reports on that front.

Many places pressurise the kegs, as the doc said, to make it easy to tell if they are
holding pressure. They also do it to reduce the risk of keg damage during transport.

[randomiser]

It is great pouring from the tap not having to worry about having to wash bottles and such. Just wish I had been told about the dangers of kegs under pressure. Will be checking any future kegs bought for pressurization. Relief valve seems so simple in hindsight.

[bullfrog]

Had my own keg-related mishap last night due to pressurising something I shouldn't have. Turns out that one of the JG fittings that I use to connect my line to my Celli taps wasn't connected as adequately as it could have been, so when I connected my pressurised cleaning keg to it, I had my own little water-feature in my living room! Worst I got was a face-full of sodium metasilicate, but the whole experience left me thinking "well at least it wasn't a gas post that I copped to the noggin."

...just thought I'd share my stupidity

[speedie]

Back in the earlier days of kegs we had to plunge the spear into the keg then quickly tighten the wing nut around the spear to hold it in place
Oh and another party trick was to push the spear to the bottom of the keg and then lift it say 250mm so when the party was in full swing the keg would appear to be empty and the punters would start drinking bottled brew thus leaving some beer left in the keg for the next day by simply pushing the spear all the way down
Sorry got off track there what I was going to relay to all was that a guy killed himself with the spear while trying too swap it to another keg he was intoxicated undid the wing nut but was not holding onto the spear which unfortunately was ejected under co2 pressure hit him under the jaw area a he didn’t get up
There is danger everywhere if you don’t use common sense!
Bye for now must go off to work (the curse of a drinking man)
Speedie

[speedie]

Here`s another titbit of information that may be of inertest re pressurized kegs
Back in the early days of San Francisco there was little refrigeration to keep kegs in so most of the beer was stored behind the bar
When the barman would change over onto a new keg he would have to pull the spear out of the empty this would usually bring the immediate crowds attention and they would let out a cheer and comment on the stream of co2 coming from the keg and say it looked like steam
This occurs when the co2 rushes from the keg to the atmosphere it lowers it pressure and condenses which give a jet stream appearance
Hench the name Californian steam beer!
Ar beer such marvelous stuff
Cheers speedie

[Bum]

You tell the best stories, Uncle Speedie!

Are they all bullshit or just these ones?

[Tipsy]

Hehe, love your enthusiasm Speedy.
How were these "steam beers" brewed?

[speedie]

tipsy me old mate
with love, lager yeast at ale temps ,and with the americans the lord!