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When folks legally acquire Sanke kegs for conversion to kettles, mash tuns or HLTs, the first step is often to relieve the pressure inside the keg before dismantling the spear and valve.

How best is this accomplished without kegging beer all over the place and yourself?

drj
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brewchez
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3 Answers3

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Too bad this one is already answered because this answer is "the ticket". But hopefully it will be upvoted when you see the picture:

Use one of your wrenches!

Lay the keg on it's side and hook a wrench on one of the tabs. When you rotate the wrench, it pushes on the ball and the CO2 escapes. Easy, no fuss, no muss.

Or maybe you'll down vote it for such crappy art work :(

Dale
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  • This is the SAFEST way to degas a keg because it's very easy to place a keg on it's side before degassing to prevent any contents from coming towards your face. – dankest Aug 28 '11 at 20:27
  • I upvoted because of the artwork...and the technique. – brewchez Sep 22 '11 at 11:55
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I always find it funny to watch videos of people doing this with the keg upright. Many people use a screwdriver and a rag.

I prefer to take a scrap piece of wood and drive a drywall screw into it, leaving about 1 inch exposed above the wood. I turn the keg over and put the ball valve right on the screw and push down. The upside down part works best because any beer in the keg doesn't also come rushing out the dip tube. The beer (often stale and nasty) stays in the keg.

If there is a fair amount of beer in the keg still, you may need to degas more than once depending on how quick you are at dismantling the valve/spear. If you take to long the beer will be de-carbing and re-pressurize the keg somewhat.

brewchez
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    What do the up votes mean?? Brewchez is answering his own question. If someone is upvoting this as the best way to do it, they should comment here. Otherwise it just looks weird...just sayin'... – markskar Apr 30 '10 at 20:25
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    This is how it works. I wanted to see how other people degas a keg. I asked the question, and posted my own method as an answer. You and others can post how they do it. Then people up vote for the method or explanation or answer they like the best. Although I posted an answer, I have not accepted that as THE answer yet (check mark). I prefer to let my own answers ride a while before I accept it. I am totally open to someone posting a method better than mine here....You may say well better is a personal preference, but that's what the vote help even out. – brewchez May 01 '10 at 16:10
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    I like how the answer is good for an upvote, but the question is not. – brewchez May 01 '10 at 23:45
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I would use a Sanke keg coupler, but then that's because I own one. There is a ring you can pull to relieve the pressure: http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/kegging/commercial-keg-couplers/american-sankey-tap.html

It's good to have one if you keg your homebrew. There are kits you can get to make the fittings compatible with a corny keg and CO2 tank setup. I actually hooked mine up with the same quick disconnect posts that my corny kegs use so I can go from a homebrew to a commercial keg with ease (when I'm that well stocked, that is).

This is what my setup looks like: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/ball-lock-sankey-adapter-152733/#post1759749

markskar
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