It's Kegging time 2022

[ozdevil]

3 minutes ago, MUZZY said:

Sorry folks but a long winded enquiry coming.
I miscalculated the size of the new keg equipment and my bar fridge. I thought I could fit 2 kegs, gas and some commercial cans and bottles into the bar fridge. Turns out I can't fit as much as I wanted.
Now looking at other scenarios ie. using bottom half of fermenting fridge to carbonate kegs at cold temps but still using ferment fridge as a ferment fridge also.
If I carbonate kegs at cold temp (2-4C) and store them in ferment fridge and then ferment brews in the top half of fridge and change temps to fermenting temps (12-22C range) while kegs are still in it, will this fk the beer in the kegs?
My intention is to carb kegs in the ferment fridge then use bar fridge as the dispensing fridge.
 

providing   you have fully carbed the beer   before you start fermenting you will be fine

as long as the pet bottles stay pressurised and should still hold  carb at 12-22°c  

so bare that in mind.

so if you chucked 4 all on gas 12-22°c  at the start of fermentation yes it will start to carbonate but will be alot slower rate
the  doing them at 2°c  as the beer is warm the beer takes longer to absorb the co2

[Malter White]

2 minutes ago, ozdevil said:

providing   you have fully carbed the beer   before you start fermenting you will be fine

as long as the pet bottles stay pressurised and should still hold  carb at 12-22°c  

so bare that in mind.

so if you chucked 4 all on gas 12-22°c  at the start of fermentation yes it will start to carbonate but will be alot slower rate
the  doing them at 2°c  as the beer is warm the beer takes longer to absorb the co2

Thanks Oz.
Yeah, I plan to carb the kegs cold because I believe they'll absorb CO2 better at lower temps. Once carbed up I was worried there could be an adverse effect on the beer if the temps were raised after carbonating.
I don't intend carbonating in the 12-22C range if I can help it. 

[kmar92]

16 minutes ago, MUZZY said:

Sorry folks but a long winded enquiry coming.
I miscalculated the size of the new keg equipment and my bar fridge. I thought I could fit 2 kegs, gas and some commercial cans and bottles into the bar fridge. Turns out I can't fit as much as I wanted.
Now looking at other scenarios ie. using bottom half of fermenting fridge to carbonate kegs at cold temps but still using ferment fridge as a ferment fridge also.
If I carbonate kegs at cold temp (2-4C) and store them in ferment fridge and then ferment brews in the top half of fridge and change temps to fermenting temps (12-22C range) while kegs are still in it, will this fk the beer in the kegs?
My intention is to carb kegs in the ferment fridge then use bar fridge as the dispensing fridge.
 

No it will not hurt the beer in the kegs @MUZZY if you change the temp. Maybe I am missing something are you talking about just 1 fridge here?

[kmar92]

Sorry didn't see the conversation before I replied. Yes it should be all good carbing up at lower temperatures and then fermenting higher after. Makes the fridge work hard though when you want to get the beer down to serving temp.

[Malter White]

1 minute ago, kmar92 said:

No it will not hurt the beer in the kegs @MUZZY if you change the temp. Maybe I am missing something are you talking about just 1 fridge here?

Yes, 1 fridge for fermenting and carbonating.
I have a large fermenting fridge outside and a bar fridge inside.
Before receiving the keg equipment I thought I could continue fermenting outside and use the bar fridge for carbonating 2 kegs at a time with the gas bottle in it also. It turns out I can only fit 1 keg plus the gas bottle in the bar fridge. The kegs I bought are only 8 litres so carbing only one at a time will probably see me running out carbonated beer frequently. This is NOT a good thing.  

[kmar92]

Do you have to put the CO2 bottle in the fridge? If you could leave it outside that would free up more room in the fridge.

[Malter White]

2 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

Do you have to put the CO2 bottle in the fridge? If you could leave it outside that would free up more room in the fridge.

I'd rather it in the fridge than to drill holes in the fridge. Muzzy and power tools aren't a great combination. Haha.

[Classic Brewing Co]

9 minutes ago, MUZZY said:

I'd rather it in the fridge than to drill holes in the fridge. Muzzy and power tools aren't a great combination. Haha.

Hey Muzzy I am sorry to hear you are having teething problems with your new direction, I hope my maiden voyage is a bit smoother, however I am sure you will work it out. I agree about the power tools, best left to the tradie's. 

[Stickers]

@MUZZYbecause you're going with PET kegs you'll probably be able to do a bit of a press test similar to how you'd normally squeeze a bottle. i think you'll be fine with your approach (but i am an unscientific optimist heh)

[kmar92]

18 minutes ago, MUZZY said:

I'd rather it in the fridge than to drill holes in the fridge. Muzzy and power tools aren't a great combination. Haha.

Why don't you just chill the small keg down to say 2° and then just take it out of the fridge and hit it with CO2, then put it back into the fridge and just rinse and repeat until it is carbed up? I take it that your kegs have normal disconnects on them? I do a similar thing when fast carbing @ 40psi, I just apply 40psi and then turn of the CO2 and then repeat that until it is carbed up satisfactorilly.

Edited March 9, 2022 by kmar92

[Stickers]

and even if you stuff up your carbing... you haven't wasted the beer. it just needs more time. unless you over carb it, i did that once. lovely keg of foam that

[kmar92]

2 minutes ago, Stickers said:

and even if you stuff up your carbing... you haven't wasted the beer. it just needs more time. unless you over carb it, i did that once. lovely keg of foam that

Yeah but you can always de-carb. Just release the PRV and wait a couple of days.

[Malter White]

30 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Hey Muzzy I am sorry to hear you are having teething problems with your new direction, I hope my maiden voyage is a bit smoother, however I am sure you will work it out. I agree about the power tools, best left to the tradie's. 

Hi Phil.
As you say, just teething problems. Nothing insurmountable though.

[Malter White]

31 minutes ago, Stickers said:

@MUZZYbecause you're going with PET kegs you'll probably be able to do a bit of a press test similar to how you'd normally squeeze a bottle. i think you'll be fine with your approach (but i am an unscientific optimist heh)

I'm as scientific as Homer Simpson.  

[Malter White]

29 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

Why don't you just chill the small keg down to say 2° and then just take it out of the fridge and hit it with CO2, then put it back into the fridge and just rinse and repeat until it is carbed up? I take it that your kegs have normal disconnects on them? I do a similar thing when fast carbing @ 40psi, I just apply 40psi and then turn of the CO2 and then repeat that until it is carbed up satisfactorilly.

I like this thinking Kmar. More than one way to skin a custard.  
Thanks.

[Tricky Micky]

9 hours ago, MUZZY said:

I'm as scientific as Homer Simpson.  

Muzzy, you're not on your Pat Malone there. 

[Tricky Micky]

Starting to assemble all the bit's and pieces today - all going well I might have a crack at Kegging later in the day.

 

[Classic Brewing Co]

4 minutes ago, Mickep said:

Starting to assemble all the bit's and pieces today - all going well I might have a crack at Kegging later in the day.

 

Hmmm' too many job sheets  but I am sure you will work it out.

[Pezzza]

5 minutes ago, Mickep said:

Starting to assemble all the bit's and pieces today

Good luck with it all @Mickep mate - looks a bit more complex than my simple setup - but I am sure you will conquer it all with ease mate as @Classic Brewing Co Phil notes above 

 

Is that a festive rinsing bottle device thingy shown above or some sort of Counter-pressure bottle filler?

And a little sight glass for monitoring flow?

Goodness me hey... modern technology 

 

I remember as a kid the Petrol Pumps (only one not four ) had a little sight-glass and a vane? that used to spin around -- was most interesting... (mmm and shock horror we all thought it was absolutely outrageous that petrol was going to reach $1 per GALLON back then  Now it's more like $10 a Gallon)

Now can you watch the little ball float around while you fill a Pint? 

[Tricky Micky]

14 minutes ago, Itinerant Peasant said:

Good luck with it all @Mickep mate - looks a bit more complex than my simple setup - but I am sure you will conquer it all with ease mate as @Classic Brewing Co Phil notes above 

 

Is that a festive rinsing bottle device thingy shown above or some sort of Counter-pressure bottle filler?

And a little sight glass for monitoring flow?

Goodness me hey... modern technology 

 

I remember as a kid the Petrol Pumps (only one not four ) had a little sight-glass and a vane? that used to spin around -- was most interesting... (mmm and shock horror we all thought it was absolutely outrageous that petrol was going to reach $1 per GALLON back then  Now it's more like $10 a Gallon)

Now can you watch the little ball float around while you fill a Pint? 

Thanks IP, The bottle thingy is for cleaning the lines - so I'm told. 

The little thingy with the ball floaty device apparently stops overflowing the keg when transferring or some such. 

I remember the petrol pumps with the floaty spinning thingy's too. 

[Tricky Micky]

Transfer line for Coopers FV to keg. Setting up the regulators and then should be good to go after I clean and sanitise the lines.

[Pezzza]

1 hour ago, Mickep said:

Transfer line for Coopers FV to keg. Setting up the regulators and then should be good to go after I clean and sanitise the lines.

That's a nice set-up @Mickep did you buy that off KL - so that the food-grade hose and Liquid Disconnect - and the Coopers Wand insert into the FV all fit together so nicely? 

Might be something that could be useful for me too... tho I suspect from what @Shamus O'Sean kindly helped with in detail... that the fill time might be quite lengthy?  But I guess one could set it up and walk away for a bit and let the flow do its job?

[Pezzza]

So the K1 ("Kölle") is now kegged and joins its Middy Mate in the Keg Freezer...  see below.

Slowly restoring some stocks - four more kegs to go.  The two little ones in there I will make into non-alc fizzy drinks. 

Am hoping to do an Aussie-Lager-ish thing this arvo, and then I can get the Helles done tomorrow and backfill with the Lager -- all going well that is -- and no hiccup hurdles on the way 

 

[Tricky Micky]

3 minutes ago, Itinerant Peasant said:

That's a nice set-up @Mickep did you buy that off KL - so that the food-grade hose and Liquid Disconnect - and the Coopers Wand insert into the FV all fit together so nicely? 

Might be something that could be useful for me too... tho I suspect from what @Shamus O'Sean kindly helped with in detail... that the fill time might be quite lengthy?  But I guess one could set it up and walk away for a bit and let the flow do its job?

Yep looks okay to me too. It's a cut down piece of the wand inserted into the KL 10mmID (15mmOD) silicone food grade tube. Then I've used the KL steel (Liquid) ball lock disconnect and clamped it to the other end of the tube using a Bunnings hand screw 11-16mm clamp. (that's Ozzie D's) set-up.

Shamus the Guru O' Sean, has a similar set up using the 5mm ID - 8mmOD (Beer line) tube. It fits snuggly into the inside of the cut down wand. So same same but different.

[Tricky Micky]

I've hit a snag in the cleaning department. My line cleaning efforts have been stalled by a leak in the KL bottle carb cap set up.

I can't manage to get a seal where the tee screws onto the bottle - so no pumpy pumpy action.