Pressure barrel leaking!

Mal1841

Ok new problem! Last Saturday I went to keg my festival strong Suffolk ale and I added the sugar to the barrel as I've done before. I syphoned the beer from the bucket and placed the lid on the top to give the barrel a good shake to mix the sugar completely. This time though a lot of beer seeped out of the lid onto the floor!. I looked at the seal and it was pretty mashed so I replaced the lid as best I could and ordered a new rubber seal from here. It arrived tonight so I replaced it and screwed the lid down again only for the beer to pour out again!. I looked at the neck of the barrel I bought as a starter kit on here a few months back and it's warped out of shape!. I've only had 4 batches of ale through it. What should I do to save 40 pints of what could be really nice beer! Or is it already knackered?

mozza

Could try tightening with grips with two seals in place. It might be enough to seal it for now.

HBO_Staff

That can be a good fix in situations where the cap wont seal, double the seals up and see if it will screw down and make it airtight. If you can get the barrel to seal then it is wise to inject a CO2 cartridge into it if it has a brass valve which will also confirm if it has sealed or not, or add a little more priming sugar before sealing if it doesn't have one to help get the pressure to build up quickly. In these early stages it wont ruin the brew, but it does need to be made airtight as soon as possible so it can pressurise and keep the air out 

Mal1841

Thanks I ordered a new barrel which arrived this morning.  I did inject a canister of co2 into it to test and it just all squirted out the sides of the cap which i tightened as much as I could, and I'm pretty strong so no half measures there!.  I just dont understand how the neck of the barrel became so out of shape.  Its almost like an egg!.  Any how I have some medium spray malt in reserve.  How much should I add to half a barrel to make sure it carbonates?. bearing in mind its been almost a week in a non airtight barrel!.   I'm really glad I bottled half of it now which isnt something I normally do

HBO_Staff

It's probably best to add around 60g and then inject a CO2 bulb in to pressurise it up quickly as the barrel will be only half full, and leave it somewhere warm for a few days so the secondary ferment gets going quickly. It is good that you decided to bottle some that's true. The barrels distorting would usually be due to pressure, it sometimes happens that the pressure release valves don't vent early enough, usually because the valves are stuck or the holes have become blocked, so any excess pressure cannot release early enough. The vents are simple and rely on rubber 'bands' to be forced open and allow gas out through the holes in the brass, but if they have become stuck after contact with the brew or the hols have anything blocking them they may require more pressure than usual to force them open to vent