It's Kegging time 2022

[kmar92]

58 minutes ago, Hoppy81 said:

Mine always whisper too me, my Wife reckons she can never hear them whispering for some reason though.

Mine actually yells at me, I need some earplugs!

[Shamus O'Sean]

Kegged the Modus Operandi Former Tenant Red IPA tonight.

Same sort of photo as previously posted, but it is not complicated.

[Classic Brewing Co]

6 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Kegged the Modus Operandi Former Tenant Red IPA tonight.

Same sort of photo as previously posted, but it is not complicated.

Shamus if you pardon a new to kegging question what are the reasons for the scales ? I assume the main one is to determine the exact quantity of beer in the keg, according to statistics 1litre of beer weighs the same as water, apparently 997.903gms.

However if I am wrong I stand corrected. 

[ozdevil]

1 hour ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Shamus if you pardon a new to kegging question what are the reasons for the scales ? I assume the main one is to determine the exact quantity of beer in the keg, according to statistics 1litre of beer weighs the same as water, apparently 997.903gms.

However if I am wrong I stand corrected. 

thats the only reason for scales    so once you get to  your 19litres or the level you want  you know you have that much liquid in the keg

[Tricky Micky]

Well, it's nearly kegging time. This is a bit cryptic I know but this landed on my door step the other day and I am so excited to give this a crack. Can't wait to ferment this one out as I've heard nothing but rave reviews about it.

 

[Stickers]

i made some vinyl stickers for my kegs

i chose the wrong size liquid out disconnect so my keg line upgrade is on hold for a week

[Dustin Frothman]

Kegging David Heath’s Verdant IPA today.

No immediate replacement for that fermenter is planned as all my kegs are full!

First world problems.

[ben 10]

4 hours ago, Mickep said:

This is a bit cryptic

So... what is it?

[Red devil 44]

Just kegged the US Pale Ale, came in at a nice 3.6% ABV 

[Tricky Micky]

1 hour ago, interceptor said:

So... what is it?

It's Al's (iBooz2) Leigh's lager. Had a taste the other day - Blaarrdy Beautiful. 

[Aussiekraut]

2 hours ago, interceptor said:

So... what is it?

He doesn't know, it's cryptic 

[kmar92]

21 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Kegged the Modus Operandi Former Tenant Red IPA tonight.

Same sort of photo as previously posted, but it is not complicated.

@Shamus O'Sean does this transfer work OK for you? I like the look of it from the closed transfer perspective. As you probably know I usually pressure ferment, and 1 of the reasons for that preference is the ease of closed transfers.

Your set up looks great from the plazzi fv for closed transfer. I have a stout fermenting at present in a plazzi fv so I am going to copy your closed transfer method. I take it that you just used a piece of a bottling wand or similar to fit into the fv tap, with some Evabarrier tubing to the disconnect?

[Shamus O'Sean]

16 hours ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Shamus if you pardon a new to kegging question what are the reasons for the scales ? I assume the main one is to determine the exact quantity of beer in the keg, according to statistics 1litre of beer weighs the same as water, apparently 997.903gms.

However if I am wrong I stand corrected. 

Yep. As Ozdevil said.  18kg of beer is close enough to 18 litres.  I also follow the condensation line.  It rises on the side of the keg as it fills with cold crashed beer.  You can see it in the photo, about 1/3rd of the way up the side of the keg.  The condensation is only a guide though.

I do not push it all the way to 19 litres (kg) because I have one keg with a longer gas dip tube.  Except I do not know which keg it is.  If I overfill it, beer comes out the gas post.

[Shamus O'Sean]

1 hour ago, kmar92 said:

@Shamus O'Sean does this transfer work OK for you? I like the look of it from the closed transfer perspective. As you probably know I usually pressure ferment, and 1 of the reasons for that preference is the ease of closed transfers.

Your set up looks great from the plazzi fv for closed transfer. I have a stout fermenting at present in a plazzi fv so I am going to copy your closed transfer method. I take it that you just used a piece of a bottling wand or similar to fit into the fv tap, with some Evabarrier tubing to the disconnect?

I have been transferring from the Coopers plazzi FV like this for ages.  It takes about the same time as a closed loop transfer because both are gravity/syphon driven.  I figure that it is close to an oxygen free transfer.  I purge my kegs by using CO2 to push out a keg full of sanitiser.  If CO2 is coming out of the gas post outlet, it would be hard for oxygen to go in the other way.  The FV tap is below the beer surface, so no oxygen above the beer level is going to get into the keg.  There would be some oxygen in the air space above the beer, that might have mixed into the beer.  But it would be minimal.

You have got the method in one guess.

@Mickep was doing something similar except he used larger ID tube to go over the FV tap and over the beer disconnect.  His transfers were probably quicker, but at the end of the day are limited by the through-put in the beer disconnect.

[Classic Brewing Co]

7 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Yep. As Ozdevil said.  18kg of beer is close enough to 18 litres.  I also follow the condensation line.  It rises on the side of the keg as it fills with cold crashed beer.  You can see it in the photo, about 1/3rd of the way up the side of the keg.  The condensation is only a guide though.

I do not push it all the way to 19 litres (kg) because I have one keg with a longer gas dip tube.  Except I do not know which keg it is.  If I overfill it, beer comes out the gas post.

OK I pretty much knew it was all to with the actual quantity of beer but I thought there may have been another technical reason.

I would have thought the graduated markings on the FV would have been enough to measure the quantity.  I see KL have them for about $50. Cheers.

[Tricky Micky]

9 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

You have got the method in one guess.

@Mickep was doing something similar except he used larger ID tube to go over the FV tap and over the beer disconnect.  His transfers were probably quicker, but at the end of the day are limited by the through-put in the beer disconnect.

Shamus seems to have had a name change;  but yes @kmar92, I use the 10mmID and transfers in about 15 minutes.

[Tricky Micky]

1 hour ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

I would have thought the graduated markings on the FV would have been enough to measure the quantity.  I see KL have them for about $50. Cheers.

They also sell the scales for $50 bucks 

[Popo the Reprobate]

American Brown going into the keg. The sample was

[Popo the Reprobate]

How often do you guys need to defrost your kegerator? I'm getting a build up of ice in the little gutter and against the back plate of my Series X pretty regularly. Normal?

[Shamus O'Sean]

5 hours ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

I would have thought the graduated markings on the FV would have been enough to measure the quantity.  I see KL have them for about $50. Cheers.

The markings are not real accurate and do not account for the trub.  In this case, the FV was full to just below the 20 litre line, and I only got 18.2 litres into the keg.

I have also got in the habit of using the scales when I fill a keg.  Partly because I like to know that I have 18.2 litres rather than about 18 litres.  You will have seen me doing batches in my pair of 20 litre capacity (15 litre batch size) Fermenter King Junior pressure fermenters.  With these, I usually put one into a keg and then top up the keg with some of the second FV.  Using the scales as I go makes it easy to know what volume I am getting.

Mine are from a seller on Kogan.  About $45 delivered.  Compared to Kegland's version, I saved myself a few dollars and the time to go and collect the scales from Kegland.  It is amazing what we will do to try to save $10.  If I had my time over, I would get Kegland's scales, which by the way, look exactly the same as mine. 

[Shamus O'Sean]

27 minutes ago, Popo said:

How often do you guys need to defrost your kegerator? I'm getting a build up of ice in the little gutter and against the back plate of my Series X pretty regularly. Normal?

I have never defrosted mine.  Although I did notice some ice in the little gutter at the back a month or so back.  Other times there is none there.  Is it just the cycling process of a fridge?

[Classic Brewing Co]

3 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

The markings are not real accurate and do not account for the trub.  In this case, the FV was full to just below the 20 litre line, and I only got 18.2 litres into the keg.

I have also got in the habit of using the scales when I fill a keg.  Partly because I like to know that I have 18.2 litres rather than about 18 litres.  You will have seen me doing batches in my pair of 20 litre capacity (15 litre batch size) Fermenter King Junior pressure fermenters.  With these, I usually put one into a keg and then top up the keg with some of the second FV.  Using the scales as I go makes it easy to know what volume I am getting.

Mine are from a seller on Kogan.  About $45 delivered.  Compared to Kegland's version, I saved myself a few dollars and the time to go and collect the scales from Kegland.  It is amazing what we will do to try to save $10.  If I had my time over, I would get Kegland's scales, which by the way, look exactly the same as mine. 

Good points Shamus, I have actually tested a couple of my FV's, 1 x Coopers which is fairly close but my 23l mark is in a different place to theirs, also the Ambi FV's are not dead accurate either. I think you are right the KL scales are the same as yours. As my kegging adventure develops I will probably get some anyway.

Cheers.

[Popo the Reprobate]

4 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

I have never defrosted mine.  Although I did notice some ice in the little gutter at the back a month or so back.  Other times there is none there.  Is it just the cycling process of a fridge?

I dunno, mate. I think in mine it just builds up from a little bit to a fair amount. The gutter was totally blocked a few days ago. When i kegged a beer just then, their was already a bit in one corner. I'll have to pay more attention and see if it comes and goes.

It seems to be freezing up in the corners before it gets to the drain hole in the centre. I assume it's a drain hole.

[Shamus O'Sean]

1 hour ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Good points Shamus, I have actually tested a couple of my FV's, 1 x Coopers which is fairly close but my 23l mark is in a different place to theirs, also the Ambi FV's are not dead accurate either. I think you are right the KL scales are the same as yours. As my kegging adventure develops I will probably get some anyway.

Cheers.

I did similar with one of my Coopers FV's.  A recent brew volume said 23.8 litres on the side.  The FV plus the contents weighed 25.815kg.  I pre-weighed the FV at 1.69kg.  So 25.815 - 1.69 = 24.125 litres.  Therefore, the scale on my Coopers FV reads 325ml low.  No wonder that I keep getting a bonus stubby out of it.

If you move to buying sacks of grain, scales that can handle a grain bill weight are very handy. 

[Stickers]

finally have the right sized fittings so thunderkegs are go. testing them overnight and tomorrow with sod perc, a rinse and sani to clean the lines and if i get no leaks or troubles will fill the first one of my new ball locks on sunday.

(8mm duotight on liquid and barbed fitting on gas with a 316 stone cold stainless clamp holding it on)