It's Kegging Time 2021.

[Stickers]

8 hours ago, Popo said:

I have one that did this. No damage to the keg. Had me stumped for a while but this is all it was.

i'm going to test it over the weekend by pressurising it up empty and see if it can hold its gas until Monday, i'll have my fingers crossed that this is all that it is

[ozdevil]

19 minutes ago, Stickers said:

i'm going to test it over the weekend by pressurising it up empty and see if it can hold its gas until Monday, i'll have my fingers crossed that this is all that it is

fill it up with water    and then pressurize as you wont use much gas that way

[Stickers]

1 minute ago, ozdevil said:

fill it up with water    and then pressurize as you wont use much gas that way

wont the water then absorb the gas meaning i wont really know if it held pressure?

[ozdevil]

6 minutes ago, Stickers said:

wont the water then absorb the gas meaning i wont really know if it held pressure?

well it wont completely absorb it  if its kept at room temp  that quick

and if you do have a leak it wont take the entire weekend   

what i think your better off doing

1 get a spray bottle of foamy detergant     

2 fill keg up with water or leave empty upto you  and fill with CO2

3 spray the area of concern  

you will soon see if co2  is  disspersersing from the crack   as the foam from the liquid you sprayed will bubble up more

just like  when you get a punture in a bike fill with air and  place some detergent or  place in  pool of water and watch for the air bubbles





 

[Stickers]

Just now, ozdevil said:

well it wont completely absorb it  if its kept at room temp  that quick

and if you do have a leak it wont take the entire weekend   

what i think your better off doing

1 get a spray bottle of foamy detergant     

2 fill keg up with water or leave empty upto you  and fill with CO2

3 spray the area of concern  

you will soon see if co2  is  disspersersing from the crack   as the foam from the liquid you sprayed will bubble up more

just like  when you get a punture in a bike fill with air and  place some detergent or  place in  pool of water and watch for the air bubbles





 

cheers, that's a far more efficient way of doing it (and i can put it off until tomorrow)

[ozdevil]

1 minute ago, Stickers said:

cheers, that's a far more efficient way of doing it (and i can put it off until tomorrow)

yep   i reckon so 2

[Popo the Reprobate]

2 hours ago, Stickers said:

 i'll have my fingers crossed that this is all that it is

Good luck man

[Stickers]

22 minutes ago, Popo said:

Good luck man

cheers, i might be in luck. trying to reproduce yesterday's leak and so far, so good

[ozdevil]

5 minutes ago, Stickers said:

cheers, i might be in luck. trying to reproduce yesterday's leak and so far, so good

using the method i suggested?

 

[ozdevil]

another way would have been is fill the keg up with water turn upside down and if there is a wet spot you will soon know

[Stickers]

2 minutes ago, ozdevil said:

another way would have been is fill the keg up with water turn upside down and if there is a wet spot you will soon know

doing this one first and i'll do your gas tip in the morning

[ozdevil]

2 minutes ago, Stickers said:

doing this one first and i'll do your gas tip in the morning

i'm pretty certain you will be fine

test your connections as well and the lid using this method

if no leaks with major split   , the rest is easy to fix and is cheap to fix

 

[Stickers]

@ozdevili left that keg upside down over night and no liquid leak so that was a great start. i then gassed it up and did what you suggested and no bubbling along the plastic crack. i've gone ahead and filled it up so we'll see how it goes but i think i'll be ok

[ozdevil]

1 minute ago, Stickers said:

@ozdevili left that keg upside down over night and no liquid leak so that was a great start. i then gassed it up and did what you suggested and no bubbling along the plastic crack. i've gone ahead and filled it up so we'll see how it goes but i think i'll be ok

i think you will be perfectly fine mate   , if no liquad evapourated from inside the keg  well happy days

if the keg held pressure   then i dare say you will be fine

i seen another keg with a big split in this morning  and the guy saved his keg

[Aussiekraut]

I've been playing with beer line calculators but seem to be a little lost.

I got some beer line for use with a pluto gun but it is 5mm, not 4mm tubing. My current pluto gun is quite happy with a 1.5m, 4mm line at 10psi and pours fine. Some of the online calculators suggest adding 50% more line when using 5mm tubing. Is this really the case? I know you need longer lines if you use 5mm tubing but that much longer? 

Also, are there any metric calculators out there? These weirdo imperial measurements are a pain.

[Pale Man]

9 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

I've been playing with beer line calculators but seem to be a little lost.

I got some beer line for use with a pluto gun but it is 5mm, not 4mm tubing. My current pluto gun is quite happy with a 1.5m, 4mm line at 10psi and pours fine. Some of the online calculators suggest adding 50% more line when using 5mm tubing. Is this really the case? I know you need longer lines if you use 5mm tubing but that much longer? 

Also, are there any metric calculators out there? These weirdo imperial measurements are a pain.

I use 4.5 metres for 5 mm beer line. Found that about perfect for me.

[Pickles Jones]

4 hours ago, Pale Man said:

I use 4.5 metres for 5 mm beer line. Found that about perfect for me.

I am getting a keg plus pluto gun this week to see how kegging goes, what pressure do you use for serving using the above lengths

[iBooz2]

@Pickles Jones , I have two Pluto guns in my chest freezer keg set-up, both are 4.5 mm ID lines and both are 1.9 m long.  Coiled up and of course are kept very cold, they pour beautifully at 9 - 10 psi.  Hope that helps

[stquinto]

On 9/8/2021 at 2:59 PM, Shamus O'Sean said:

Dry hopped his with Galaxy and mine with El Dorado.

 

On 9/8/2021 at 2:59 PM, Shamus O'Sean said:

 

@Shamus O'Sean Shamus mate, how do you dry hop with those ? I just ordered one to try (Fermentor King Junior) and the fella at iKegger suggested putting the hop bag above the liquid with a magnet in it, and an other on the outside. When you are ready you just slide the outside magnet down into the brew. Sounds like you might contaminate the lot just getting the bag into the FV. I suppose otherwise you can just open it up and chuck the hop bag in after the krausen has subsided?

Also how big a brew do you do with them ?

Cheers !

Edited October 14, 2021 by stquinto

[Shamus O'Sean]

1 hour ago, stquinto said:

 

@Shamus O'Sean Shamus mate, how do you dry hop with those ? I just ordered one to try (Fermentor King Junior) and the fella at iKegger suggested putting the hop bag above the liquid with a magnet in it, and an other on the outside. When you are ready you just slide the outside magnet down into the brew. Sounds like you might contaminate the lot just getting the bag into the FV. I suppose otherwise you can just open it up and chuck the hop bag in after the krausen has subsided?

Also how big a brew do you do with them ?

Cheers !

Firstly I tried to dry hop through the hole that the PRV screws into.  Although I used a very small funnel, that was a dismal failure.

Ended up just removing the lid and going commando with the hops.  I added the dry hops in the last 3-4 days of my cold crash, so they hung around long enough, but did not hang around too long.

The magnet idea sounds like a good one if you can get some strong magnets.  Are they called earth magnets?

First brew I did was 18 litres into each FV.  Not a good idea.  I had Krausen coming out my blow off tubes connected to the gas post.  I have done a couple of 15 litre brews since and that has worked well.

Bit of a headache to get samples out of too.  I have found that using a picnic tap is the easiest.

[stquinto]

19 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Firstly I tried to dry hop through the hole that the PRV screws into.  Although I used a very small funnel, that was a dismal failure.

Ended up just removing the lid and going commando with the hops.  I added the dry hops in the last 3-4 days of my cold crash, so they hung around long enough, but did not hang around too long.

The magnet idea sounds like a good one if you can get some strong magnets.  Are they called earth magnets?

First brew I did was 18 litres into each FV.  Not a good idea.  I had Krausen coming out my blow off tubes connected to the gas post.  I have done a couple of 15 litre brews since and that has worked well.

Bit of a headache to get samples out of too.  I have found that using a picnic tap is the easiest.

Cheers Shamus 

I just watched a couple of videos and fancy giving it a try. 

I think dry hopping by opening through the top would be easiest, as you ended up doing, but the fella said some of his cutomers use magnets. I would just have got some strong-ish ones that won't oxidise, dunno what they are called.

You need a spunding valve  also I assume ? According to the site it should reduce the krausen but probably it would be better to go for a smaller-volume brew in any case. If it's any cop you can always get one of the bigger versions.

Until I have got the hang of mash efficiency etc. I would rather make a smaller brew, in case I f#ck it up royally. Would rather have 9 litres down the sink than 23 (rather none of course...)

Edited October 14, 2021 by stquinto

[iBooz2]

4 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

The magnet idea sounds like a good one if you can get some strong magnets.  Are they called earth magnets?

@Shamus O'Sean & @stquinto I have thought about using the magnet method in my Fermzilla but was worried about the ferrous nature of any magnets used causing problems.  There is an old client of mine in Boroina VIC that manufacture all sorts of rare earth magnets and the like for the food industry.  They are called Alphamagnetics and I might have a chat to Simon in the next week to see if they have a solution.  Cannot see why not as they sell magnets to soup companies (for example) so that the soup flows over them and collects any metallic contaminates generated by the manufacturing equipment.  The PH of some soups would be similar to beer PH so there must be a suitable magnet available.

Edited October 14, 2021 by iBooz2

[Shamus O'Sean]

@stquinto & @iBooz2, I was just thinking about the magnet in the beer issue and then it dawned on me:  The metal you have inside the hop sock/bag/Chux does not need to be a magnet.  Stainless steel washer/nuts/spoon would do the job, without interfering with the brew at all.  Will help the hop sock/bag/Chux sink too.  Although if you leave the external magnet in place, you can use it to suspend the hops.

We also use magnets as stir bars, and they are coated for use in starters and the like.  So quite food safe.  Makes me think that IB2's mate would definitely have a solution too.

[Red devil 44]

Just kegged my first AG batch, a German Kolsch, taps are full and I’m away working this week coming so it will have to sit patiently in the keg in my cellar.

Although ‘I could push a brew to the back of my Kegerator as I have a spare space and carb it up on serving pressure whilst away for the week , so on my return on Friday she should be close me thinks

[ozdevil]

26 minutes ago, Red devil 44 said:

Just kegged my first AG batch, a German Kolsch, taps are full and I’m away working this week coming so it will have to sit patiently in the keg in my cellar.

Although ‘I could push a brew to the back of my Kegerator as I have a spare space and carb it up on serving pressure whilst away for the week , so on my return on Friday she should be close me thinks

mate take ya time and enjoy the process on this  let it carb up the longway and let it mature a bit for the 1st one