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The homebrew economy


King Ruddager

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I clean my Headmasters in super hot water and detergent, then rinse in super hot water and air dry upside down.

I have also  had ice-cream cones from certain brew types which are easily overcarbonated, like the darker ales.

Cheers

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The glass in the photo is virtually brand new.  That might help to explain the ice-cream cone head.  Maybe after a lot of washes the Headmaster would foam a bit less.  Plus I do carbonate a little bit higher.

I had the same beer last night in a standard glass and got about 1cm of foam.  No ice-cream cone.

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I've poured overcarbed beers into those glasses with less than a cm of foam, wait 5 minutes and they are like the one in the pic. You can see the ridiculous amount of bubbles rising through the beer as well. It's like the whole glass is just rising bubbles. I had a batch of porter like that once, used to pour a glass then let it sit for about 10-15 minutes so it would die down and lose some of the carbonation. It didn't taste as good highly carbonated, however that wasn't done deliberately. That batch also produced my only two bottle bombs ever.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 2/26/2019 at 3:24 PM, James of Bayswater said:

hEINIKENBAR.jpg

I win.

I scored one of these refrigerated dispensers recently for nothing more than a promise of a home brew or two from a bloke who likes my beer.  It was no good to him, he said, and was taking up room in his shed.  He is a racecourse manager and it was left behind after a cup day marque or the likes.  No kegs or gas bottle but all the lines and disconnects are there.  He also gave me his fermenter.  He says he likes home brew but just doesn't like making it.   

Three cheers for the home brew economy.

🍻

 

I lose.

If you have a show of scoring one of these dispensers (and there are a few about) I would suggest you think again.

I picked mine up from Woop Woop, handed over a brew in gratitude and took it home.  It is complete and it works but I have numerous issues.

1.  It is the Dutch David system.  While the 20 liter keg and S-type spear are a little exotic in Australia they are common in Europe and I imagine changing to a D-type spear and coupler wouldn't be hard but 

2. This system doesn't use a conventional coupler....

Davidsetup.jpg

... instead it uses a slide on plastic modular thing that slips over the neck of the keg and connects to an outboard gas bottle

3. The beer line never has to be cleaned because it is disposable.  It has a valve at the keg end that fits between the plastic modular thing and the neck of the bottle while the other end threads through the tower and is connected to a black plastic nozzle.  Rather than clean the beer line you throw it away and fit a new one... if you can buy them....

Heineken-David-software-1920-x-840.jpg

4.  And if I haven't talked you out of it already the real killer is that the kegerator has a fan that never stops and it is too noisy for me to live with.  You can hear the compressor kick in and out like a regular fridge but the damn fan just doesn't quit.    The tower ices up, the kegs chill down well, but it is too noisy and I suspect too expensive to run as a permanent home set up.

The home brew economy just cost me the makings of a brew and a tank of petrol.

Bummer. 

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I think it is going out to the nature strip for hard rubbish collection.  I have spent the day trying to think of solutions.  I could strip it out and fit up it up for corny kegs with conventional ball lock  fittings.  There might even be a work around for the tap.   But that fan !   It might be alright for a sporting club or functions but as a domestic kegerator it is a fail even though it is perfect working order.

Oh well.  I think it has cured me of kegging envy and saved me a few hundred bucks in the process.  I wont be getting rid of the bench capper anytime soon. 

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Cheers Otto,   Disconnecting the fan was where I was at when I wrote the post.  I removed the back panel but it seems the fan can only be accessed by removing the stainless grille in side the fridge.  I am handy enough to fit a switch.   There is no water pump involved.  The condensation on the font appears to be caused by chilled air being blown up it by the fan.  I might have a crack at accessing the fan before I get rid of it.

If I have to get rid of it Gumtree is certainly an option.  I also belong to a group called Freecycle where you can advertise unwanted goods for free pick up.  

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Yeah the pump is my own addition to mine, I replaced the original font with a flooded one which I prefer because it is easier to keep chilled and all the taps are the same height. I used to have a font fan with the old one but it wasn't a factory fitted thing. The fan in mine is in the side wall and is there to just move air around, it doesn't really blow air up. 

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There may be hope yet.  

I have moved it into the laundry and whacked a power meter on it.  I am not thrilled about going to the laundry to pour my beer (must not spill) but it offsets the noisy fan.  The fan is oriented upwards on the step that covers the compressor (which isn't level but is vented and pitched about 20º) so I figure it is designed not only to move air about but also to push it up the font.  The grille over the fan is held by those rotten security headed screws they use when they don't want you mess with it. 

The power meter is telling me (after just one hour running from warm) that the kegerator would cost me 72 cents a day but until it has been running for 12 hours or so it wont be a reliable figure.  I expect it will come back to something like 50 cents a day.  The temperature is at 6º (after an hour cooling) but under the grille I found a dial that I assume adjusts the compressor.  I will continue testing and try to disconnect the fan to see what effect it has on the temperature and the operating costs.

Thanks for the feedback Otto.  It has helped.

 

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There is no hope.

The power meter did not get better.  It got worse.  The rowdy kegerator was chewing more than 90 cents of power a day based on 6 hours running today.  Too much and much too noisy even in the laundry.  

So I stripped it down, saved the rolling frame it sat in,  removed the stainless steel top and drip tray and the font.  

I don't know a lot about this stuff so I am not sure I can save the font.   The disposable beer lines contain the dispensing valve in the nozzle.  Once those lines are spent it is all over for the font.  There were 3 other new disposable beer lines included with the fridge and I don't see why they wouldn't work off a conventional disconnect if the moulded plastic extraction valve end was cut off.   I may as well get what use out of the font as I can - but ultimately it will have to be replaced.

The remains of the Heineken fridge will go to hard rubbish.  Too loud, too weird. and not big enough for a fermenting fridge.  

I have been looking at small chest freezers that have a horizontal dimension of around 600 x 550 that are 3 star energy rated.  Such a freezer would drop straight into the rolling frame I have salvaged and the stainless steel deck and drip tray would fit nicely over the lid. I would only need cut a hole in the lid for the font and shell out for a temperature controller to be back in business without all the noise and expense of Heineken fridge.  

So there might be a happy ending yet.

 

 

 

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6 hours ago, James of Bayswater said:

There is no hope. 

Sorry to hear that James, I can imagine how excited you would have been after taking the kegerator home. Here's to you having your ideal kegerator up and running in the future. 

Nothing wrong with bottling in the meantime while you sort it out though! I do a mixture of bottling and 'kegging' with my little (now obsolete) Tap-a-draft 'kegs'.

Cheers, 

John

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I picked up a power meter from Aldi a while ago and it is a real eye opener.  My power bill dropped by about 30% when I bought a new fridge.   The technology has come a long way and it is quiet too,  The Heineken kegerator had a Jim's Test and Tag from 2005 so I would reckon its about 20 years old.  The power meter says it would cost me $332 a year to run .  My fridge/freezer costs me $91 a year to run.  No brainer isn't it ?  

But in pulling the thing apart I came to appreciate what they were doing.  This was never intended for domestic use.  It was let out for functions and events.  Nobody in the marque at the races cares what the beer fridge costs to run or the noise it makes as long as the beer is cold.  It was designed for quick and easy keg changing by any kind of idiot.  The 'coupler just slid on.  The beer line did not need to be cleaned, just replaced and it was very easy to do.  The integrated valves on either end of the beer line meant no spillage at all.  It had Heineken written all over it, and it only dispensed beer from the Heineken stable in Heineken kegs.   Advertising on wheels. 

It's disappointing that it didn't plug and play but if there is one thing I like as much as a freebie it is a project !  I think I have salvaged all the difficult parts I need to make my own keezer.  I just need a freezer to fit - but I am in no hurry.  The bits can stay in the shed until I find what I am looking for.

I have never intended on giving up bottling altogether.  It doesn't annoy me the way it annoys others and 'a bottle of beer' has been my ration for as long as I can remember.  It is just that this thing landed in my lap.   I actually a little scared of draft beer.  I know my weakness and drafting could be dangerous.  I lose count after one.

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6 hours ago, John304 said:

I must keep an eye out at my Aldi for that power meter, sounds like a handy piece of equipment

cheers

0bcf7fa05836546cf0dd085a2aaff22b3969d4fd This is it.  $15 at Aldi awhile ago now but they'll probably be back because it is a very handy piece of kit.

On the back is a 3 pin plug that fits the power point and you plug the appliance in the front.  You enter you Kwh cost and way yu go.  The top line displays the run time.  The middle line scrolls between runtime cost, daily cost and yearly cost.  The bottom line scrolls through watts, volts, kw hours, hertz, amps, etc.  It is best if you set it up and let it run for some hours to get the most reliable costings.  It can be a real eye opener and is very useful for measuring the load on power boards etc. 

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