Its Kegging Time - 2024

[Shamus O'Sean]

Kegged my Belgian Pale Ale tonight

Finished at 4.5% in the keg.  Very clear beer in the FV's.  Looking good.

[Tone boy]

18 hours ago, kmar92 said:

Perhaps it is a Husky @Tonebrew? If so it is probably 295L and it is a unit that has my interest as I reckon that the fridge/freezer capability is quite handy, no Inkbird controller type thing needed, which is a bonus.

It’s actually a “Chiq”. It was $550. came with a super long warranty, which was, of course, voided as soon as I made alterations, but comforting none the less.

My wife jokes that I finally have a chiq to keep my beer cold
 

[stquinto]

I kegged my Goose Island IPA. Tasted pretty hoppy (no flies on me…), good potential I reckon…

It should be around 5.8%. I put Poly in it, it really makes a difference. I also ran it through two filters but I only got a small amount of gunk from the finer one.

Since I had a batch of sanitiser on the go I also did some “keg optimisation”. I might make a double batch (or so) and end up with two cornies with 15 litres in each, by the time you account for FV or brew kettle loss. i’ve decided to fill one completely to 19l and if the second one only has say13l, I’ll drink that one first to be able to free up the kegs. The only issue is working out  the quantities of any keg additions you might make.
Pretty basic stuff but I’m a slow learner

[stquinto]

The only downside of the keg optimisation is you shake up the debris in the keg when you put it back in the keezer.
This is a Coopers Sparkling AG, lovely drop

Never mind, a cuppla days and it’ll be fine.

 

[Tricky Micky]

8 hours ago, stquinto said:

The only downside of the keg optimisation is you shake up the debris in the keg when you put it back in the keezer.
This is a Coopers Sparkling AG, lovely drop

Never mind, a cuppla days and it’ll be fine.

 

Looks beaut to me Sainter - nice one mate.

[Shamus O'Sean]

Kegged my clone of Tree House Brewing's Hazy IPA tonight. (after brewing another COPA during the day).

The TH Hazy IPA seems to have turned out pretty well.  The dry hop was basically in the wort from day zero.  However, I could not detect any grassy notes.  Although all of the dry hops were Cryo hops, which have much less vegetal matter in the pellets.

It does have either a hop burn or fusel alcohol taste.  Hopefully that calms down with time.

I found the tiny magnets I used in the dry hop - Yay.  But I will probably never use them again - Boo.  Something like Kegland's Hop Bong looks much easier to use.

[solidute]

On 9/12/2024 at 2:53 PM, Triple B Brewing said:

@Tone boy I should have also mentioned that it took me a little while to sort out where and how I should mount my temperature probe.
It'll likely be different for every keezer, but I first mounted my Inkbird temp probe in what I thought was likely to be the warmest section of the keezer (Top far right, away from the kegs, compressor hump end). I mounted the temp probe in a bottle of steriliser to simulate liquid temp not air temp, that turned out to be a big mistake (my guess was right, that was the warmest section of the keezer, but I ended up with a couple of frozen kegs down the other end before I got the set up right ).
All it needed (which makes sense now I think about it logically) was to keep the kegs away from the walls of the keezer and have the temp probe close to the kegs, hanging loose off beer lines around halfway down the depth of the keezer, measuring the air temp close to the kegs. 
I run my freezer on the half coldest setting, with the fast freezing function turned on and my inkbird controller set to 0.1 degree, with a 0.3 degree cooling differential value. This gives me perfect drinking temp for winter (my set up is located outside like yours and its not unusual for us to get temps down to around 3-4 degrees over night during winter in Busso). In summer, I will drop that inkbird probe setting down (incrementally as I monitor the effects of that change) to around -0.9 degrees during the height of summer months. 
I would also strongly recommend installing a small 240 volt 120mm diameter fan (costs about $40) to help circulate the air inside the keezer and maintain a consistent temp across the unit. I run my fan via a cheap power point timer (~$8.00) for the fan from Bunnings for 15 mins on, and 15 mins off, 24 hours a day, every day. 

I've had my keezer set up basically the same since I started kegging some 8 years ago.

Set up is a Fisher and Paykel 315L with a 200mm wooden collar. I run my CO2 outside the keezer have a false floor so everything is on the same level, and my temp probe has been in a bottle of water that I sit on the floor amongst the kegs, controlled by an stc-1000. Have 2 computer fans circulating air that run 24/7.

 

Never had any issues until about 2 months ago where I've started getting a lot of ice/frost build up in 1 corner on the top edge of the original freezer, back left opposite the hump.

Driving me mad as it needs knocking off or defrosting weekly. Can't figure out why it's started doing this after so many years trouble free.

[Triple B Brewing]

41 minutes ago, solidute said:

I've had my keezer set up basically the same since I started kegging some 8 years ago.

Set up is a Fisher and Paykel 315L with a 200mm wooden collar. I run my CO2 outside the keezer have a false floor so everything is on the same level, and my temp probe has been in a bottle of water that I sit on the floor amongst the kegs, controlled by an stc-1000. Have 2 computer fans circulating air that run 24/7.

 

Never had any issues until about 2 months ago where I've started getting a lot of ice/frost build up in 1 corner on the top edge of the original freezer, back left opposite the hump.

Driving me mad as it needs knocking off or defrosting weekly. Can't figure out why it's started doing this after so many years trouble free.

Hey @solidute, sounds like a ripper set up mate. 
My guess would be the timber collar has changed over time and allowed a gap somewhere to form. (if you are only icing up in one spot, it should be easier to find the cause, because it will be right around that region somewhere) - I had this issue (only I was expecting the timber I used to shrink and warp a bit, so having gaps start to appear at my seams (while extremely disappointing), wasn't a complete surprise for me.

The issue of course (as I am sure you already realise) is caused from outside air being drawn into the Keezer. I would try sealing all joints (including where the timber collar meets the top of the freezer), I just used a simple fix on mine - a tube of clear silicone around all my joints (that worked a treat ).  Its probably also worth having a look at the seal on the lid of the freezer (it may have lost some of its flexibility in that corner where you are having the icing problem. - If that's the case, its a little harder to resolve, as you will have to replace the seal on the freezer lid, not impossible, just a little tricker  Here's a short vid on the how

Good luck to ya - Oh, and remember, and if its not apparent straight up, pour yaself a cold one and have a think      

[Tricky Micky]

16 hours ago, Triple B Brewing said:

Good luck to ya - Oh, and remember, and if its not apparent straight up, pour yaself a cold one and have a think      

[Red devil 44]

Kegging the Pulp Addiction from Kegland.

Dry hopped with 100g Citra & 100g Amarillo.

Came in at 3.8 ABV.

Very murky looking, should have transferred to a secondary, anyway it should clean up in the keg though.

Leave this on serving pressure for a few weeks.

[ozdevil]

hey all

just  finished a keg transfer    of  oz's pale ale   this arvo 

dry hopped   

citra = 50 grams
centeniel = 50 grams  

its looks yummy   and  wouldnt have minded  a few ebc darker  but is nice colour just the same  with a nice haze  going on the small sample i had a sip of haha

Edited October 7 by ozdevil

[Shamus O'Sean]

6 hours ago, Red devil 44 said:

Very murky looking

Looks pretty good to me.  You can clearly see the hop bag in the photo.  I reckon it will be delish.

[Shamus O'Sean]

2 hours ago, ozdevil said:

Great colour and haze.  I hope it hangs around in the keg.

[Shamus O'Sean]

Kegged my latest Coopers Original Pale Ale (COPA) today.  Finished a little lower ABV than intended, at 4.3%.  The main keg will be consumed at my brother-in-law's card night in a few weeks.  Harvested the yeast cake for either a Sparkling Ale or an XPA.  I am going to do both, it's just the order that hasn't been sorted yet. 

Card night keg

Almost filled a sneaky half keg

[Tricky Micky]

2 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Card night keg

Hmmmm. Is that a movie title? 

[Back Brewing]

Did my first closed loop transfer with the allrounder went well but haven't got the FV up high enough it stalled at 14 litres so had to hook the gas up to it to top it off also got 3 litres in my PET 4 litre keg

Edited Monday at 04:39 AM by Back Brewing

[solidute]

On 10/3/2024 at 5:29 PM, Triple B Brewing said:

Hey @solidute, sounds like a ripper set up mate. 
My guess would be the timber collar has changed over time and allowed a gap somewhere to form. (if you are only icing up in one spot, it should be easier to find the cause, because it will be right around that region somewhere) - I had this issue (only I was expecting the timber I used to shrink and warp a bit, so having gaps start to appear at my seams (while extremely disappointing), wasn't a complete surprise for me.

The issue of course (as I am sure you already realise) is caused from outside air being drawn into the Keezer. I would try sealing all joints (including where the timber collar meets the top of the freezer), I just used a simple fix on mine - a tube of clear silicone around all my joints (that worked a treat ).  Its probably also worth having a look at the seal on the lid of the freezer (it may have lost some of its flexibility in that corner where you are having the icing problem. - If that's the case, its a little harder to resolve, as you will have to replace the seal on the freezer lid, not impossible, just a little tricker  Here's a short vid on the how

Good luck to ya - Oh, and remember, and if its not apparent straight up, pour yaself a cold one and have a think      

So had a good defrosting and plugged any apparent gaps. Now the bloody thing won't drop temp low enough...

 

Looks like I might be up for a new keezer

[Triple B Brewing]

5 hours ago, solidute said:

So had a good defrosting and plugged any apparent gaps. Now the bloody thing won't drop temp low enough...

 

Looks like I might be up for a new keezer

Oh no @solidute that’s an absolute bummer to say the least mate

Unfortunately I don’t know enough about fridges and cooling systems to offer any reliable advice, but I suspect it will be either the compressor has given up, or you have lost some gas, both of which are repairable, but the cost would likely be more than starting over again

[Back Brewing]

On 9/13/2024 at 11:01 PM, Shamus O'Sean said:

Kegged my Belgian Pale Ale tonight

Finished at 4.5% in the keg.  Very clear beer in the FV's.  Looking good.

When you transfer from fridge to bench do you stir the wort in the FV up much? As I need to put it on a bench for gravity to fill the whole keg otherwise it stalls at 14 litres at equilibrium.

[Triple B Brewing]

19 minutes ago, Back Brewing said:

When you transfer from fridge to bench do you stir the wort in the FV up much? As I need to put it on a bench for gravity to fill the whole keg otherwise it stalls at 14 litres at equilibrium.

@Back Brewing I find when I lift my 23 Lt FV out of my fermentation fridge up onto a bench above (to close circuit transfer into my kegs located in the keezer right next door), I can’t help but get a bit of movement, but it has never caused my beer any real clarity issues.
I think after cold crashing for at least 48 hours at 3 degrees it really packs the sediment down which provides some protection against “sloshing”

Just remember it’ll be heavy (23+ Kgs) in my case - so make sure you have a good point of purchase and take care to lift correctly

[Shamus O'Sean]

7 hours ago, Back Brewing said:

When you transfer from fridge to bench do you stir the wort in the FV up much? As I need to put it on a bench for gravity to fill the whole keg otherwise it stalls at 14 litres at equilibrium.

A bit like @Triple B Brewing, but I cold crash longer (at least 4 days) and colder (around zero).  I also move the fermenter further - probably about 15 metres.  These 20 litre FV's are easy.  But I also use a bigger FV that holds 30 litres.  This I put on a trolley and move it across a tiled floor and the timber you see in the photos.

The lowest few centimetres has a small amount of haze.  But not too much.  Moving the FV probably helps some of the yeast dusting on the lower-sides of the FV's to dislodge and sink to the bottom.

I also tilt the FV's to ring out as much beer as I can.  Therefore, I also suck up a small amount of trub from the bottom.  That volume of trub would be more than what becomes suspended during moving the FV around.