New Keg Making me Violently ill

[makromark]

Hello,

I am new to this forum, and any forum in general. So thank you in advanced for any advice.
I am young and new to beer, and bought a kegerator last year.
I just got my fourth keg and things seem very different this time.
The beer is making me violently ill. I have projectile vomiting and vomit bile after drinking.
My first 3 kegs (1/2 kegs) were: blue moon, blue moon, yuengling.
This fourth one is blue moon as well.


---------- maybe pointless details about what i've discovered---------------
As soon as the wife turned 21, we bought the cheapest kegerator from kegerator.com that could fit a full size keg.
I didn't buy any cleaning supplies, and didn't even think of cleaning it.

So, after the first keg was kicked, I cleaned the lines by dissembling the draft tower so and flushing the lines with cold, soapy water.

It was a mistake to waste over 2 hours to do all this - instead of paying for the proper stuff.

Being young and dumb, and waiting till the last minute, I repeated this with the next keg of blue moon, and yuengling.

I finally wisened up - bought some sort of bottle with cleaning solution and flushed the lines "the proper way" by putting the bottle upside down where the tap(dispenser?) would go and letting it drip.
It said to do one time, or twice for lines that haven't been cleaned in awhile.
I did it twice.
It said to rinse once, at the wife's request, I did it twice.

I poured the beer and was glad to have blue moon again. It tasted much different than I remember.
Well, being a new keg. I got drunk the first night - and threw up.
Did that again the next night. Then again Thanksgiving night. And Friday and Sunday... And Monday and Tuesday.
But I hadn't been drinking as much. Don't get me wrong - I had maybe 4 or 5 beers. And maybe a bit of vodka here and there, but nothing that much.
I wasn't getting "**** drunk" and was throwing up, from beer. Which never has happened to me.

---------end of details that may be useless--------------------

Last night (tuesday) I drank a bottle of dogfish head 90 minute IPA, then one rolling rock (can) and was fine. Had a friend come over to show him the dogfish head and compare to the blue moon. He nearly puked after tasting the blue moon. saying it smelled like sweaty socks. I had a sip and immediately felt sick.
I threw up an hour later, and thought I might have to go to the hospital

Today I was out at a bar, had blue moon - and felt fine. Came home, compared to my keg and got sick from one sip.

I cleaned the lines again (the old way with cold water and soap) and as I am still sick, don't know if I have noticed a change.
Anything I have read says that the keg is fine since it is new, and it must be the lines.

Could it be possible that my lack of line cleaning in the beginning has lead me to where I am now, and I should replace the lines (can I even do that?)
Is it the keg itself?
Is it that there is solution from the cleaning solution stuck in the lines that is making me sick?
Do beer stores normally take that stuff back?
When I first got the keg, the lines slipped and was touching the keg, causing the line to freeze. I unfroze it just by rubbing my warm hands on it, and it poured fine.

The other thing is, my wife is pregnant. So she is a mere sip taster.
Her only input is that the beer seems warm, which I agree with [tested with digital kitchen thermometer, was about 44-45 degrees Fahrenheit]. The keg is cold. The thermometer in the kegerator says 38 degrees sometimes jumps to 39 degrees.
The beer pours fine, perfect amount of head, and glasses are clean.


Thank you again, any help is really appreciated

[djc]

Have you disassembled and cleaned the coupler and faucet?

[makromark]

Ugh. Of course I forgot to specify that, sorry!

Yes I disassembled the entire faucet/tap and coupler.

Side note: in the past I used to also flush co2 lines with just water and thoroughly let dry

I didn't do that this time though

Thanks for the quick reply!!

[djc]

There is no need to flush the CO2 line.

I'd say that even though your cleaning history has been sketchy you probably got an infected keg. Something is wrong with it. Bring it back to the store and tell them, there is no saving it.

[pvs6]

Djc is 100% right take it back. Line cleaner may impart an off taste but it won't make you retch. Settle for nothing less than full replacement at no charge. If they give you resistance tell them to call the distributor to come sample the keg. Warn him that drinking a pint has made 2 people ill so he should proceed at his own risk. You should get your temps under control and understand balance too.

[makromark]

Thanks for the help! I brought it back today. They did give me some resistance because:
a) they didn't believe it was blue moon because it was in a "Coors branded keg" so they
b) tapped it in store to see what it really was (despite being stamped "blue moon") and then told me
c) it was "definitely" blue moon, but tasted fine to them - just a bit warm.

As a side note - my mom came over today to smell it and she said it was off and said it smelled "sour"
After getting the new one in, she said it smelled fine - as it did to me as well

I was surprised they tasted it after telling them how I sick I was.
They gave me the full credit for the keg - I ended up it exchanging it.
Blue moon kegs are frustrating, because they are oversized, and all different sizes, some are so difficult to fit in my kegerator.

I was at a bar earlier and got a bottle of dogfish head 120 IPA, so will try the beer tomorrow and let you guys know how it comes out.

As far as getting the temps under control and balance, of course I don't really know what that means. I usually just google it - and go with what the consensus is. Can you point me in a good direction on this forum?

[djc]

Um, Coors owns Blue Moon. Hard to believe they don't know that.

[makromark]

Got the new keg in, and had a couple of beers the other night while feeling no sickness whatsoever!! Looks like it was just a bad keg! Thanks for all the help!

[pvs6]

As far as getting the temps under control and balance, of course I don't really know what that means. I usually just google it - and go with what the consensus is. Can you point me in a good direction on this forum?

Balance is the proper state of a keg beer to pour foam free and retain correct carbonation. Balance has 3 interconnected variables. 1) The real temp. of the beer. 2) The V\v. Or % of Co2 that it was kegged at. 3) The correct Psi setting. Knowing the first 2 allows you to accurately adjust the Psi. The beer temp. is found using the 2nd pour method detailed below. The V\v is found a couple different ways. There in a thread in this forum listing a lot of them so check there 1st or google it, Email the Brewer and ask, and if all else fails ask here in the forum. Once you know 1 & 2 you consult a forced carbonation chart to learn correct Psi. There are many charts on the internet just google.


TO FIND BEER TEMP:
Commonly known as 2nd pour method. We'll be using a [calibrated Thermometer] (another common term). Real beer temp. is the temp. of the beer sitting inside the keg. Air temp as measured inside the unit or a thermometer in a glass of water inside is of no use to us, they will produce the wrong results. The 2nd pour method will give you the real beer temp. within 10ths of a degree.
The process is simple and can be fun too. Using a glass beer mug pour a beer, either chug it (ie fun) or pour it into a pitcher. Then pour another beer into that orig. mug. We will be taking the temp. of this 2nd poured beer in the orig. mug using the calibrated thermometer. The reason we use multiple pours is to raise the glass mug temp. to the same level as the beer coming out. In troubled situations where there's more than a 1/2 glass of foam 3 -5 repeated pours may be necessary.


TO CALIBRATE THERMOMETER:
Using a glass or mug put in as much ice as you can (crushed works well but not necessary) then fill with water. Let that sit for at least a minute, that solution will stabilize at 32 F. the freezing point of water. Since we know that 32 F. we now take any thermometer that you intend to use and take a reading. If it confirms the known 32F. your go to go. If it measured 34 then you know it's off by 2 degrees too warm so when you use it to measure your 2nd pour beer you'd subtract 2 F. from what it says and you now have the real beer temp. Conversely if the ice bath measured 31F you know it's 1 degree colder than correct so you'd add 1 F. to your 2nd pour reading.

[pvs6]

So It looks like your new keg may be Dogfish head 120 IPA? Quick search on the V\v post in this forum returned Dogfish 60 minutes IPA = V\v 2.7 They didn't have the 120 but most breweries use the same V\v for the same type beers so the 2.7 is likely right. So once you learn your real beer temp. look down the left side till you find that line. Then find the closest match to your 2.7 V\v in the center. Then look straight up to the top there Psi is listed to find the correct setting. Let's say your temp is 39 F. a good IPA temp. looking to the 2.7 V\v on the 39 F. line, then straight up to the top psi listing and we see in this case 14 Ps

[spdbump]

There was a run of "sour" Blue Moon kegs, didnt hear of anyone getting sick though