BeerBorg

Don't confuse the gas post with the liquid post.

There's not really a list, just a funny story to share. I use pin locks and was trying to tap my blonde tonight (hi oh!). Went to vent the gas, as it was sitting at 30 psi in storage, and mixed up the two. Sprayed all over the place, of course. Beer shower!

Got it all cleaned up and poured an IPA from the other tap. You'd think I'd have had a few pints, but no. Totally sober.

Actually, alb posted about doing the same thing a while ago (before I even started kegging). Having read that, I always look closely to make sure I'm hooking up the gas line to the gas post.

But it's a good reminder, and a word to the wise, without a doubt, whether you're a pin-lock kegger or a ball-lock kegger.

Like most hobbies, there is a learning curve!
Black is beer, grey is gas and the gas post has slits in it so that you can see it's different from the smooth liquid post.

That's the thing, mine are color coded. Just a brain fart.

I don't know the precise difference between pin lock and ball lock, but yes, I know the ball lock kegs are notched. Fortunately, my gas lines are red and my liquid lines are clear. Even so, to keep everything as clear as possible, I've marked each gas line with one, two, or three hash marks, both at the keg connection and at the splitter, and the same with the two gas lines.

It can get a bit confusing in there when you're looking at all that spaghetti....

I'm confused.

How can you get it wrong with pin locks? Gas has two pins and liquid has three. It's not possible to connect the wrong connector.

@ bpgreen

So, I use pin lock kegs... And the standard lids do not have a release vent with a pull ring like the ball lock keg lids do...

Venting for me is a matter of pushing in the poppet on the gas connect post to let some gas out.

Well, if neither post is currently hooked up, and if you reach in to vent the keg without looking, you have a 50/50 chance of pushing in the poppet for the liquid side... Where the dip tube is down in the beer...

This, of course... Quickly reminds you why you want to look first as the mess is a pita...

What he said. I wasn't connecting, I was venting to relieve pressure with my handy dandy screw driver. It's all good. The beer fridge needs a good cleaning anyway!

I know a lot of keggers use a screwdriver to vent, but when I gave it some thought, I started to worry about scratching, denting, or otherwise marring the poppet by doing that. It occurred to me that I'd rather use something that was rigid, yet softer than the metal, so I've been using the handle of a plastic picnic fork.

Just a suggestion, and I'm perfectly willing to admit I'm being overly cautious. But hey, it works, and I know there's no risk of damaging the poppet.

Some of mine came with the venting lids and I've swapped out the rest. But before I did that, I use a plastic thing that I think I got from keg connections. It fit on the gas post. I'd push down to do a quick vent, or I could push and give it a half twist and it would stay on.

I'm tempted to get venting lids. Three of my four kegs don't have 'em, and while it's not a chore to use them, I like the convenience of not having to unhook the gas line if I want to vent.

FedoraDave wrote:I'm tempted to get venting lids. Three of my four kegs don't have 'em, and while it's not a chore to use them, I like the convenience of not having to unhook the gas line if I want to vent.

If I ferment correctly, they weren't too expensive. I just added them when I was ordering other things to take advantage of flat shipping.

bpgreen wrote:

FedoraDave wrote:I'm tempted to get venting lids. Three of my four kegs don't have 'em, and while it's not a chore to use them, I like the convenience of not having to unhook the gas line if I want to vent.

If I ferment correctly, they weren't too expensive. I just added them when I was ordering other things to take advantage of flat shipping.

For all I know, I might be able to get them from my LHBS.

FedoraDave wrote:

bpgreen wrote:

FedoraDave wrote:I'm tempted to get venting lids. Three of my four kegs don't have 'em, and while it's not a chore to use them, I like the convenience of not having to unhook the gas line if I want to vent.

If I ferment correctly, they weren't too expensive. I just added them when I was ordering other things to take advantage of flat shipping.

For all I know, I might be able to get them from my LHBS.

I'm going to leave the autocorrect in place, since it's kind of humorous and fitting on this forum, but what I tried to write was "If I remember correctly," Not "If I ferment correctly."

All of my kegs are ball locks with vented lids and after hearing some stories about pin locks I wouldn't want it any other way. I guess if I had started out with pin locks instead learning to use them would have been just as interesting.