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I recently brewed my second batch of 2x 5 gallon beers. The first time, kegs were recently reconditioned and so I did a quick clean and filled them up. This time, being some time later, I went ahead and took both ball lock reconditioned corny kegs apart and put them back together. First batch went smoothly, and is all gassed up and tasting delicious. The second batch is now an issue.

I kegged it about 2+ weeks ago, and connected the gas line around 13-14 psi. I went in this weekend to taste test, and make sure all was well. It wasn't.

The problem seems to be, from lack of knowledge, that I flipped the posts when putting it all back together. I wasn't able to get the picnic black beer quick connect to go onto the post. I tussled and thought, then noticed that the out post looked taller than the in post. Acting smart I unscrewed the faucet adapter from the quick connect, and swapped it with the gas in quick connect (after taking them apart and assuming the are nearly identical. That seems to all fit better, although the colors are 'backwards'.

However, now the beer seems carbonated, but is coming out at a rate not befitting of beer, something more like a pint in minute.

My wedding is this weekend, I was hoping to serve both beers at the reception.

To summarize the questions/problems: Are the posts different only in height? Are the quick connects different only in that same manner? Should that have worked? What's causing the slow dispense?

How boned am I?

Many many thanks in advance.

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You should be OK. The connectors are not identical inside the keg. The beer out connector has a long tube to take it to the bottom of the keg. The gas in connector is open near the top of the keg. This is so the gas pushes the beer up the tube from the bottom. By reversing the posts you are effectively pushing the beer out the top of the keg by bubbling CO2 in from the bottom. See here for some assembly instructions and a picture of the beer dip tube: http://www.herveybayhomebrew.com/art11.pdf

  • Release the pressure gently using the valve.
  • Swap the headers back over.
  • Blow in some more CO2 slowly while releasing it using the valve to flush out the air.
  • Dispense as normal, and try finish it as soon as possible.

Good luck!

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  • This is a good post, as it helped me find the real problem. The headers are of different heights, and the out-quick-connect doesn't fit on the in. The dip tube was on the out side, but had the In header above it. So taking the advice from @TomAdam I let the gas out, and took off the two headers. The out header was full of hops and junk. Turns out I didn't do a good job filtering out everything before kegging. It was causing the very slow pour. Cleaned it out a couple times and things seem to be going well, especially now that things fit.
    – Nick F
    Commented Nov 8, 2013 at 15:29

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