It's Kegging Time 2021.

[thirstybrewer]

I figured I post about my latest acquisition where it would be properly appreciated.  

Keg hooked up to a beer engine through a check valve. 
hmmmmmm real ale……..

[ozdevil]

58 minutes ago, thirstybrewer said:

I figured I post about my latest acquisition where it would be properly appreciated.  

Keg hooked up to a beer engine through a check valve. 
hmmmmmm real ale……..

IMG_5761.MOV 82.81 MB · 0 downloads

your file aint working 

[thirstybrewer]

28 minutes ago, ozdevil said:

your file aint working 

Ohhhh no

link instead

 

[stquinto]

This’ll be a bit of a learning curve, the first one was like the river Ganges it was that murky. Still drank it though, it’ll keep me regular if nothing else …

Best get control of the head

 

[jamiek86]

@stquinto well done making the jump to the darkside in my absence i followed your journey a little bit why in coopers Gaol.

[Pale Man]

On 11/30/2021 at 4:15 AM, stquinto said:

This’ll be a bit of a learning curve, the first one was like the river Ganges it was that murky. Still drank it though, it’ll keep me regular if nothing else …

Best get control of the head

 

Beer line could be too short or you've over gassed. 

[stquinto]

1 hour ago, Pale Man said:

Beer line could be too short or you've over gassed. 

Cheers Pale Man 

I'm not convinced it is properly carbonated. I'll burp it and see. I think in future I would be better to wait for it to settle and clear as much as possiblein the FV before kegging it, then I can carbonate it (or force carbonate). If I start shaking it up to carbonate it all the murky stuff will mix in again.

The lines are 2 m so they should be OK from what I have understood.

 

[stquinto]

4 hours ago, jamiek86 said:

@stquinto well done making the jump to the darkside in my absence i followed your journey a little bit why in coopers Gaol.

Welcome back mate, good to see you again 

[Pale Man]

4 hours ago, stquinto said:

Cheers Pale Man 

I'm not convinced it is properly carbonated. I'll burp it and see. I think in future I would be better to wait for it to settle and clear as much as possiblein the FV before kegging it, then I can carbonate it (or force carbonate). If I start shaking it up to carbonate it all the murky stuff will mix in again.

The lines are 2 m so they should be OK from what I have understood.

 

What diameter beer line? For 4.5mm outside diameter 3 meters minimum. For 5mm outside diameter 4 meters minimum. Mines 4.5 meters and I get a lovely pour.

Edited December 1, 2021 by Pale Man

[Pale Man]

56 minutes ago, Pale Man said:

What diameter beer line? For 4.5mm outside diameter 3 meters minimum. For 5mm outside diameter 4 meters minimum. Mines 4.5 meters and I get a lovely pour.

Inside diameter I meant.

[ozdevil]

5 hours ago, stquinto said:

The lines are 2 m so they should be OK from what I have understood.

2m is like very minimum for 4mm some get away with 1.5m for 4mm beer lines
its all about balance and alot of time we do not take the sea level into consideration

in my experience   its wise when setting up any kegerator or keezer    to start  long and cut short rather then go short then longer

your beers are carbonated   so it will be your beer lines  

 

[Pale Man]

Just kegged the Voyage, American Pale Ale, as per Coopers store. It's a bit darker than I hoped for but really tasty. Perfect bitterness with some good hop flavour to finish. At this stage no kit twang to speak of. Should be a good drop when conditioned. 

 

[Pale Man]

Also kegged my left over grain pale ale. Just one hop addition at 60 minutes with super pride. Very unassuming, very subtle tasty beer. Nice colour. This could be a house beer for everyone to enjoy. 

 

 

[Tricky Micky]

On 12/1/2021 at 8:00 PM, jamiek86 said:

@stquinto well done making the jump to the darkside in my absence i followed your journey a little bit why in coopers Gaol.

Welcome back mate. 

[stquinto]

mistake here, posted below

Edited December 7, 2021 by stquinto

[stquinto]

On 12/1/2021 at 7:24 PM, ozdevil said:

2m is like very minimum for 4mm some get away with 1.5m for 4mm beer lines
its all about balance and alot of time we do not take the sea level into consideration

in my experience   its wise when setting up any kegerator or keezer    to start  long and cut short rather then go short then longer

your beers are carbonated   so it will be your beer lines 

 

On 12/1/2021 at 6:05 PM, Pale Man said:

What diameter beer line? For 4.5mm outside diameter 3 meters minimum. For 5mm outside diameter 4 meters minimum. Mines 4.5 meters and I get a lovely pour.

@ozdevil @Pale Man cheers for the heads up .

The internal diameter is 5mm, and it's about 400m above sea level here. 

You fellas reckon 4m minimum ?

[ozdevil]

2 minutes ago, stquinto said:

 

@ozdevil @Pale Man cheers for the heads up .

The internal diameter is 5mm, and it's about 400m above sea level here. 

You fellas reckon 4m minimum ?

5mm  ID   4m would minimum  

my advice is go longer     maybe start with 6m of 5mm id  if you can  and if it pours to slow cut back 10cm at a time 
till desired pour  

its easier to cut back   then to add line 

starting with 4m of 5mm id  at minimum  your not leaving your self room for error

[stquinto]

15 minutes ago, ozdevil said:

5mm  ID   4m would minimum  

my advice is go longer     maybe start with 6m of 5mm id  if you can  and if it pours to slow cut back 10cm at a time 
till desired pour  

its easier to cut back   then to add line 

starting with 4m of 5mm id  at minimum  your not leaving your self room for error

Cheers for that mate, I've make up a 6m one to start with.

I only have space in the fridge for one cornie at the moment as I have a fermentor keg junior in cold crashing. I'm gonna need another fridge, at least to keep kegs cold until moving them to the fridge with the taps in the door.

[iBooz2]

Finally got to keg up my 44 L batch of Leigh's Lager, the one where I have gone back to using Diamond Lager yeast instead of Dubbya.  It has been sitting in the 58 L  Kegmenter at 2 C for the last 3 weeks.  This beer has cleared up much better than I remember the last time I used DL yeast.   This recipe is the goods @Tone boy, my benchmark.

Just did not have any spare kegs and I have personally backed off the beers each night so various kegs were wanting some attention, gotten lonely and one or two needed to be killed in order to make room.  Only just found out the hubby of my wife's friend has switched from beer brewing to a whisky still setup and is going to give me a couple of 19 L kegs so that will help out.  Just wish I had got them a month back as this has held up the brewery production.  Anyway that now makes another 2 kegs all carbed up and ready for drinking on Saturday night.  Now that beer is kegged and out of the way I am going to do a dirty batch and back fill the Kegmenter with exactly the same Lager so its ready for February sipping.  I don't want to waste the DL trub.

Edited December 9, 2021 by iBooz2

[jamiek86]

@iBooz2 noticed your presence was less on here since my return I've been a bit slower brewing myself. Also waiting for keggerator room and shift work. My next batch tomorrow brew A with centennial getting bottled then starting lagers again. 

[iBooz2]

19 hours ago, jamiek86 said:

@iBooz2 noticed your presence was less on here since my return I've been a bit slower brewing myself. Also waiting for keggerator room and shift work. My next batch tomorrow brew A with centennial getting bottled then starting lagers again. 

Yeh @jamiek86 I don't have to brew as often now with the big 58 L Kegmenter as it pumps out plenty of house beers that have become favs of mates.  I do my specialty brews in the Coopers 23 L FV's and the 27 L Fermzilla to give a bit of variety for myself.

Plus I have a sore right shoulder as I have been locked in what may become a mortal arm wrestle with the tax man of late. 

[iBooz2]

Reminder to all keggers:  Check your supply of CO2 to make sure you have enough to get you through the Christmas period as most re-fillers/suppliers shutdown for the holidays until after New Year.  

Just saying this as I am getting my 6 kg topped up next week to be sure so please check yours.

[jamiek86]

@iBooz2 hope your tax arm wrestle comes out ok. specialty brews as in AG ones?

[Cee]

On 8/2/2021 at 3:18 PM, iBooz2 said:

It’s kegging day today in the Alicat Brewery, another batch of Leigh’s Lager.  Took several pics of the process to show my FV tilt table which I used for bottling and now kegging.  I think I mentioned this Pinocchio (little wooden helper) ages ago and was always going to post some pics as my verbal description of it was a tad hard to follow.  Pics uploaded in reverse order but never mind you get the drift.

Basically as you can see it two bits of marine ply sealed with some clear sealer to stop moisture ingress.  The lager bottom piece can be clamped to the bench or just use some handy counter weights as per the pic to keep the bottom piece stable.

The notch cut-out at the front is so the bottling wand can extend backwards and underneath when the FV is tilted forward.  Then I just used a couple of pieces of SS piano hinge to fix the two bits of ply together so they can hinge like a door and totally adjustable / variable for tilt angle.

The uprights are screwed to the top piece of ply and hold the FV (Coopers or Bunnings drum) in position as it is slowly tilted forward.  It’s basically the reverse of the @Journeyman method he uses to tilt the FV back in the fridge to keep the trub away from the tap.

I start off with the FV upright but as the beer gets down to just above the tap, then slide a block of wood under the back (a cork sanding block in my case) to gently tilt the FV forward without disturbing the trub.  Do this carefully a couple of times as the beer level drops and the trub does not get stirred up at all.  I can get every last bit of beer out before the trub starts entering the tap.

Best of all its hands free so you can bottle without having to hold or tilt the FV back and forth with one hand as you reach for the next bottle etc.

I totally missed this 

Because I don't keg yet

And my mind can learn about only so much in any given year

But this Bottling/Kegging setup it awesome

I have a couple of parts of me that are not what they used to be so I can already imagine some easy tweaks to make this kind of thing an essential for my brewing

This has set my mind a-racin' thank you for the link

[Red devil 44]

Just kegged the All Grain Lazy Hazy Summer Session IPA, fast carbing in the keezer.

‘My AG Sierra Nevada clone has made its way to my Kegerator, chilled down last night, currently on serving pressure as I reckon I’ve got 4-5 days before my IPA runs out, so timing should be good, gotta plan ahead I say

‘Got to work by the 6 P,s my old man taught me 

Prior Preparation Prevents P#ss Poor Performance

Edited December 23, 2021 by Red devil 44