It's Kegging time 2022

[Classic Brewing Co]

3 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

@Classic Brewing Co I told you it wouldn't be long until you ordered a 19l keg!

Yeah I know, I was looking at the PET ones & the Mini Kegs & after talking to a few people I thought I may as well go the whole hog & dive in to the  hole. I am getting expert help to set this up & there will be provision for 4 taps, so looks like I am in now. 

[Shamus O'Sean]

5 hours ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Yeah I know, I was looking at the PET ones & the Mini Kegs & after talking to a few people I thought I may as well go the whole hog & dive in to the  hole. I am getting expert help to set this up & there will be provision for 4 taps, so looks like I am in now. 

Hi Phil, Good call on the PET kegs from Kegland.  I am not much of a fan of them.  I bought 2 and both have slow leaks in them.  One is between the cap and the PET thread.  I emptied a 6kg gas bottle recently and it might have been due to this PET keg.

Not sure where the other leak is.  This second one only had carbonated water in it.  I only know it had 12psi of pressure in it and I took it out of the kegerator to make way for beer.  2-3 weeks later, I can push in the PET surface like an empty bottle. 

Maybe I am not using them right.  To me they are too much faffing around compared to a regular corny keg.  It seems too easy to break a seal.  I will be going back to corny kegs, even if they are only half full.

What about you @MUZZY, how are you going with your PET kegs?

[Malter White]

@Shamus O'Sean I've had a private exchange with @Classic Brewing Co regarding the plastic kegs. While they're more affordable, have better mobility and you can see the level of beer left in them they also have a few negatives. The feet seem to dent very easily and I have been fairly careful handling them. I suspect they will have a short lifespan. The silicon elbow that connects the tap head to the dip tube has come apart a few times already and pours gas instead of beer, meaning I've had to unscrew the tap head and reconnect the dip tube. I'm also finding some but not all of the ball lock connecters are a pain to connect. This has been while I'm sober. I can only imagine the chagrin it will bring when I'm trying to connect one p155ed. I'm also a little hamstrung by only being able to carb and serve one keg at a time. 

At this point I'm having some regrets buying them but I can see my situation improving once I get a T piece for the CO2 line, a bigger fridge and another larger CO2 tank and I get better at using them too.

[Classic Brewing Co]

7 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Hi Phil, Good call on the PET kegs from Kegland.  I am not much of a fan of them.  I bought 2 and both have slow leaks in them.  One is between the cap and the PET thread.  I emptied a 6kg gas bottle recently and it might have been due to this PET keg.

Not sure where the other leak is.  This second one only had carbonated water in it.  I only know it had 12psi of pressure in it and I took it out of the kegerator to make way for beer.  2-3 weeks later, I can push in the PET surface like an empty bottle. 

Maybe I am not using them right.  To me they are too much faffing around compared to a regular corny keg.  It seems too easy to break a seal.  I will be going back to corny kegs, even if they are only half full.

What about you @MUZZY, how are you going with your PET kegs?

Yes I am glad I didn't go down that path, I nearly got into mini kegs but would have had to use bulbs or soda stream as the regulators will not fit corny kegs. I quite like the idea of the 9.5l  1/2 corny as well, as well as a convenient size they are stackable.

I am getting expert help with the initial set-up which to me is a major bonus so combining that with the fact if I run in to trouble I only have to put my hand up in the forum, help will come. TIA.

I figured if you can upgrade to AG, let's ditch the bottling too, well most of it. I will be starting off with one but my fridge is being prepared to house 4 x taps & I can easily fit 4 kegs inside.

I am still wondering on the gas bottle, it seems it's not essential to fridge it so it must be a neatness thing. The 6kg bottles were out of stock so that will be my next purchase.

I cannot believe the difference in price of re-filling a 2.6kg bottle, the main place in KL directory of re-fillers want $40 & they swap it over, if I am buying a nice shiny bottle I don't want to end up with a 2nd hand one !! but I discovered Beer Belly will fill yours for $29.

I don't know where you other Adlaideans are getting yours filled - Muzzy ?? 

Cheers.

[Malter White]

2 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Yes I am glad I didn't go down that path, I nearly got into mini kegs but would have had to use bulbs or soda stream as the regulators will not fit corny kegs. I quite like the idea of the 9.5l  1/2 corny as well, as well as a convenient size they are stackable.

I am getting expert help with the initial set-up which to me is a major bonus so combining that with the fact if I run in to trouble I only have to put my hand up in the forum, help will come. TIA.

I figured if you can upgrade to AG, let's ditch the bottling too, well most of it. I will be starting off with one but my fridge is being prepared to house 4 x taps & I can easily fit 4 kegs inside.

I am still wondering on the gas bottle, it seems it's not essential to fridge it so it must be a neatness thing. The 6kg bottles were out of stock so that will be my next purchase.

I cannot believe the difference in price of re-filling a 2.6kg bottle, the main place in KL directory of re-fillers want $40 & they swap it over, if I am buying a nice shiny bottle I don't want to end up with a 2nd hand one !! but I discovered Beer Belly will fill yours for $29.

I don't know where you other Adlaideans are getting yours filled - Muzzy ?? 

Cheers.

I haven't had to refill yet but Chook and Guido at Hines Hardware Magill are a Kegland gas agent so I'll go see the boys.

[Classic Brewing Co]

Just now, MUZZY said:

I haven't had to refill yet but Chook and Guido at Hines Hardware Magill are a Kegland gas agent so I'll go see the boys.

Yes I know the shop as I lived in Magill centuries ago when Des had it but a bit far from Glenelg !! 

Sadly I found a few closer places won't fill the smaller ones.

I will be trying Mitre 10 in Glenelg & a few other places for more choice.

[Tricky Micky]

9 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

I will be going back to corny kegs, even if they are only half full.

Shamus, I'd been meaning to ask about this for a while but felt it was a stupid question. Can I half fill a keg with beer with that much head space in the vessel and then connect it to pressure and serve? 

[Classic Brewing Co]

3 minutes ago, Mickep said:

Shamus, I'd been meaning to ask about this for a while but felt it was a stupid question. Can I half fill a keg with beer with that much head space in the vessel and then connect it to pressure and serve? 

I am glad you asked Mick now I won't feel stupid 

[Classic Brewing Co]

Just now, Classic Brewing Co said:

I am glad you asked Mick now I won't feel stupid 

Mick have you ever tried the half size 9.5 Corny Kegs, they look great for splitting batches. 

[ozdevil]

27 minutes ago, Mickep said:

Shamus, I'd been meaning to ask about this for a while but felt it was a stupid question. Can I half fill a keg with beer with that much head space in the vessel and then connect it to pressure and serve? 

you can  do that  but you will use a bit more gas to fill the headspace as well as co2   



 

[Shamus O'Sean]

15 hours ago, Mickep said:

Shamus, I'd been meaning to ask about this for a while but felt it was a stupid question. Can I half fill a keg with beer with that much head space in the vessel and then connect it to pressure and serve? 

I see that @ozdevil has answered and I agree with his summary.  I often half fill kegs and chuck them in the kegerator to cool and carb.

I do not remember if you set and forget or fast carb.  If you fast carb, it will not usually take the 24 hours at 40psi to fast carb 9 litres in a corny keg.  Set and forget stays the same (although it might actually carb the beer enough in under a week).

[Dustin Frothman]

16 hours ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Yes I am glad I didn't go down that path, I nearly got into mini kegs but would have had to use bulbs or soda stream as the regulators will not fit corny kegs. I quite like the idea of the 9.5l  1/2 corny as well, as well as a convenient size they are stackable.

I am getting expert help with the initial set-up which to me is a major bonus so combining that with the fact if I run in to trouble I only have to put my hand up in the forum, help will come. TIA.

I figured if you can upgrade to AG, let's ditch the bottling too, well most of it. I will be starting off with one but my fridge is being prepared to house 4 x taps & I can easily fit 4 kegs inside.

I am still wondering on the gas bottle, it seems it's not essential to fridge it so it must be a neatness thing. The 6kg bottles were out of stock so that will be my next purchase.

I cannot believe the difference in price of re-filling a 2.6kg bottle, the main place in KL directory of re-fillers want $40 & they swap it over, if I am buying a nice shiny bottle I don't want to end up with a 2nd hand one !! but I discovered Beer Belly will fill yours for $29.

I don't know where you other Adlaideans are getting yours filled - Muzzy ?? 

Cheers.

+1 for Beerbelly for CO2 or anything really. They’re probably the best LHBS in Adelaide by far.

Re the Corny kegs - I make small batches so have 10 of the half size 9.5L kegs. You can generally fit 10L in them without issue, however I usually fill one PET bottle as a sampler to help judge when the keg is ready to tap.

[Classic Brewing Co]

7 hours ago, Dustin Frothman said:

+1 for Beerbelly for CO2 or anything really. They’re probably the best LHBS in Adelaide by far.

Re the Corny kegs - I make small batches so have 10 of the half size 9.5L kegs. You can generally fit 10L in them without issue, however I usually fill one PET bottle as a sampler to help judge when the keg is ready to tap.

I totally agree on Beer Belly for service, deliveries & their pricing is good on grain/hops & most adjuncts but the shop is a total let down & the retail side of things can be a bit pricy. The only time I would have to go there would be for CO2 refills.

Good to hear someone is using the 1/2 Cornys, I really like the idea of them.

[Greenyinthewestofsydney]

25 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

I totally agree on Beer Belly for service, deliveries & their pricing is good on grain/hops & most adjuncts but the shop is a total let down & the retail side of things can be a bit pricy. The only time I would have to go there would be for CO2 refills.

Good to hear someone is using the 1/2 Cornys, I really like the idea of them.

I use one when I sometimes keg high ABV or darker beers for winter. They are are a sweet spot for how many I drink whereas if I made a 19L batch it would be there for ages. They also double as a good size for cleaning beer lines. 9L of warm sodium percarb. Run 3L through each line. Clean the keg and fill it up with fresh water and run 3L through each line and they are ready to go for new kegs.

[Classic Brewing Co]

11 minutes ago, Greenyinthewestofsydney said:

I use one when I sometimes keg high ABV or darker beers for winter. They are are a sweet spot for how many I drink whereas if I made a 19L batch it would be there for ages. They also double as a good size for cleaning beer lines. 9L of warm sodium percarb. Run 3L through each line. Clean the keg and fill it up with fresh water and run 3L through each line and they are ready to go for new kegs.

Thanks Greeny I have just saved that in my Keg's for beginners file. I reckon a few of those would be good if you wanted to store say half a normal batch for longer, which suddenly presents another question;

How long can you store beer in a keg in the fridge for - or can it be stored outside of the fridge & for how long ?

TIA

[ozdevil]

• Cleaning your Beer lines
  
  Cleaning a single beer line is pretty straight forward, however if you have 2 or more taps to clean you have to connect and disconnect your cleaning keg to each individual beer line and this can become tedious.  What if I told you there is a way to clean 2 or more beer lines at once?  Well, there is a way you can do it.
  
  Build list
  
  Tap cleaning adapter (1 per tap)
• 15-20 feet 5/16″ ID tubing
• Submersible aquarium pump
• Ball-lock keg QD jumper post (1 for every two taps) KL20152  (kegland sku)
• 1/2″ male NPT with 3/8″ OD hose barb
• Liquid line cleaner
• 10l bucket or tub

How to do this

1.  Fill your bucket with 5l of cool water and add your beer cleaner as directed. Attach the hose barb to the pump and submerge it in the cleaner.

2.     After you remove the taps, attach each tap cleaning adapter to the tower as you would a typical tap. The supplied rubber gasket should be placed on the very back between the tap output and the adapter head.

3.     Inside your kegerator, attach liquid quick disconnect taps 1-2 together and 3-4 together using a jumper post.

4.     Attach taps 2 and 3 together with a short jumper length of tubing.

5.     The pump should be attached directly to tap 1 with a long length of tubing. Liquid flow will move directly into tap 1 (from the pump), down the beer line to QD post 1, into QD post of tap 2, up to tap 2, and into tap 3. So on and so forth. Tap 4 (or the last tap) returns the liquid back to the bucket with another longer length piece of tubing. Recirculate for 5-10 minutes.

6.     Flush the entire system with potable water afterward. You don’t need to recirculate water. The best way to do this is to pump fresh water from your source bucket and drain it into a separate bucket. This prevents the mixing of fresh water and cleaning solution.

7.     Discard the first 100mls of beer from each tap to ensure everything is properly flushed.

8.     While your lines are recirculating, you can soak your actual faucet heads (in the open position) in very hot water or place them in the bucket with the pump/cleaning solution. Rinse with hot water before reattaching.

You also can, providing you do not have springs in your in your taps is to use 8mm female to male duotights  on tap 1-4 or how many taps you have and you will screw the duotights to your beer taps and leave your beer taps open as if you were to pour a beer.   This way you will clean your taps as well without disconnecting them from the post

This is a great way and time saving way for us keggers to go about this but make  sure you have enough tubing so you can sit your bucket on the ground
 

 

I hope this all helps you keggers  and making life easier 

[RDT2]

2 hours ago, Greenyinthewestofsydney said:

I use one when I sometimes keg high ABV or darker beers for winter. They are are a sweet spot for how many I drink whereas if I made a 19L batch it would be there for ages. They also double as a good size for cleaning beer lines. 9L of warm sodium percarb. Run 3L through each line. Clean the keg and fill it up with fresh water and run 3L through each line and they are ready to go for new kegs.

I have one 9.5 litre keg and also use it for experimental batches and also now for high abv beers. I’ve made full batches of a Baltic Porter and a triple took me ages to drink. They were both great beers but just not session beers and just beers I wanted to make out of curiosity to see if I could do it  

[Malter White]

On 4/22/2022 at 6:36 AM, MUZZY said:

@Shamus O'Sean I've had a private exchange with @Classic Brewing Co regarding the plastic kegs. While they're more affordable, have better mobility and you can see the level of beer left in them they also have a few negatives. The feet seem to dent very easily and I have been fairly careful handling them. I suspect they will have a short lifespan. The silicon elbow that connects the tap head to the dip tube has come apart a few times already and pours gas instead of beer, meaning I've had to unscrew the tap head and reconnect the dip tube. I'm also finding some but not all of the ball lock connecters are a pain to connect. This has been while I'm sober. I can only imagine the chagrin it will bring when I'm trying to connect one p155ed. I'm also a little hamstrung by only being able to carb and serve one keg at a time. 

At this point I'm having some regrets buying them but I can see my situation improving once I get a T piece for the CO2 line, a bigger fridge and another larger CO2 tank and I get better at using them too.

This morning I discovered another negative with the plastic keg system. I'm not sure if this is a common fault or just an aberration.
I have 3 of the tap head set ups and this has only happened with one so far but after drinking a beer last night that was under-carbonated I decided to up the psi to 40 in the hope of fast carbonating. Soon after there was a loud hissing and I discovered it coming from the pressure release valve. While the kegs have printed on them they'll work up to 58psi it appears the tap heads might not.
I still have much to learn about this kegging caper and need to plan my schedule better so I have enough beer on hand, kegged and/or bottled.

[Classic Brewing Co]

2 minutes ago, MUZZY said:

This morning I discovered another negative with the plastic keg system. I'm not sure if this is a common fault or just an aberration.
I have 3 of the tap head set ups and this has only happened with one so far but after drinking a beer last night that was under-carbonated I decided to up the psi to 40 in the hope of fast carbonating. Soon after there was a loud hissing and I discovered it coming from the pressure release valve. While the kegs have printed on them they'll work up to 58psi it appears the tap heads might not.
I still have much to learn about this kegging caper and need to plan my schedule better so I have enough beer on hand, kegged and/or bottled.

Hmm' Muzzy I hope it get's sorted for you, I am glad now that I have gone down the Corny Keg route as I keep hearing of these issues with the Plastic set-ups.  I haven't even got mine yet so I have more to learn than you Muz so slowly slowly catches the Monkey - for me anyway.

[Malter White]

2 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Hmm' Muzzy I hope it get's sorted for you, I am glad now that I have gone down the Corny Keg route as I keep hearing of these issues with the Plastic set-ups.  I haven't even got mine yet so I have more to learn than you Muz so slowly slowly catches the Monkey - for me anyway.

I can already see where I'll find improvements but it's just bit frustrating that it will take time and a bit more equipment for this to happen. It's like the old days when you got a brand new car or engine and couldn't drive it at speed because it had to be run in.

[Dustin Frothman]

1 hour ago, ozdevil said:

• Cleaning your Beer lines
  
  Cleaning a single beer line is pretty straight forward, however if you have 2 or more taps to clean you have to connect and disconnect your cleaning keg to each individual beer line and this can become tedious.  What if I told you there is a way to clean 2 or more beer lines at once?  Well, there is a way you can do it.
  
  Build list
  
  Tap cleaning adapter (1 per tap)
• 15-20 feet 5/16″ ID tubing
• Submersible aquarium pump
• Ball-lock keg QD jumper post (1 for every two taps) KL20152  (kegland sku)
• 1/2″ male NPT with 3/8″ OD hose barb
• Liquid line cleaner
• 10l bucket or tub

How to do this

1.  Fill your bucket with 5l of cool water and add your beer cleaner as directed. Attach the hose barb to the pump and submerge it in the cleaner.

2.     After you remove the taps, attach each tap cleaning adapter to the tower as you would a typical tap. The supplied rubber gasket should be placed on the very back between the tap output and the adapter head.

3.     Inside your kegerator, attach liquid quick disconnect taps 1-2 together and 3-4 together using a jumper post.

4.     Attach taps 2 and 3 together with a short jumper length of tubing.

5.     The pump should be attached directly to tap 1 with a long length of tubing. Liquid flow will move directly into tap 1 (from the pump), down the beer line to QD post 1, into QD post of tap 2, up to tap 2, and into tap 3. So on and so forth. Tap 4 (or the last tap) returns the liquid back to the bucket with another longer length piece of tubing. Recirculate for 5-10 minutes.

6.     Flush the entire system with potable water afterward. You don’t need to recirculate water. The best way to do this is to pump fresh water from your source bucket and drain it into a separate bucket. This prevents the mixing of fresh water and cleaning solution.

7.     Discard the first 100mls of beer from each tap to ensure everything is properly flushed.

8.     While your lines are recirculating, you can soak your actual faucet heads (in the open position) in very hot water or place them in the bucket with the pump/cleaning solution. Rinse with hot water before reattaching.

You also can, providing you do not have springs in your in your taps is to use 8mm female to male duotights  on tap 1-4 or how many taps you have and you will screw the duotights to your beer taps and leave your beer taps open as if you were to pour a beer.   This way you will clean your taps as well without disconnecting them from the post

This is a great way and time saving way for us keggers to go about this but make  sure you have enough tubing so you can sit your bucket on the ground
 

 

I hope this all helps you keggers  and making life easier 

That’s a nice system and handy to be able to do multiple lines at once.

I use the cheapest 5 litre pressure sprayer I could find at The Big Green Warehouse (~$10), detach the wand and add a Kegland Red Carbonation Cap.

Fill it with sodium perc or sanitiser depending on what you’re doing. Attach to your beer line, pump it up and pull the tap.

[Dustin Frothman]

3 hours ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

How long can you store beer in a keg in the fridge for - or can it be stored outside of the fridge & for how long ?

Treat your kegs as your would your bottled beer and it’ll basically last as long.

[Classic Brewing Co]

Just now, MUZZY said:

I can already see where I'll find improvements but it's just bit frustrating that it will take time and a bit more equipment for this to happen. It's like the old days when you got a brand new car or engine and couldn't drive it at speed because it had to be run in.

Yeah I have got Double "L" plates on ATM with AG & Kegging, it's not frustrating but makes you anxious looking down the tunnel & seeing all of the job sheets & learning ahead of me.

RE: my earlier Post - Coopers Real Ale batch at 10.00am this morning, after 40+ years of K & K brewing it took me 20 minutes to whack together including clean-up !!

[Pezzza]

1 hour ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

20 minutes to whack together including clean-up !!

And will be a loverly beer 

[Classic Brewing Co]

2 minutes ago, Itinerant Peasant said:

And will be a loverly beer 

Yes mate, it is always a good old standby, I only noticed that can this morning doing a bit of a clean-up, it was behind one of the new no-chill cubes I bought recently. A couple of weeks ago BIG W had a 20% off sale & I had forgotten I had stocked up.

Anyway it's on the go now so all's good.