# 26L Kegmenter, any good?



## Futur (6/3/17)

ibrew has 26L kegs for sale, at a very steep price. I just wonder if anyone has seen these elsewhere?

I'm keen to get a pair of these for the fermentation fridge as the 50L kegmenter from keg king is too large.

http://www.ibrew.com.au/products/kegmenter-20-and-26-litre-from


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## mtb (6/3/17)

Just the Fermentasaurus. Got some extra bits and pieces so could be better value


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## Futur (6/3/17)

I also just found these 25L kegs for $149 each. Seems like the best option so far

http://www.brewmart.com.au/brewmart-shop/catalogue/?detail&ItemID=3749&SZIDX=0&CCODE=16408&QOH=0&CATID=416&CLN=1


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## pnorkle (6/3/17)

Futur said:


> I also just found these 25L kegs for $149 each. Seems like the best option so far
> 
> http://www.brewmart.com.au/brewmart-shop/catalogue/?detail&ItemID=3749&SZIDX=0&CCODE=16408&QOH=0&CATID=416&CLN=1


Oooh - that's in MY neck of the woods - good brew shop too.


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## Coldspace (7/3/17)

I've looked in the flesh at these when I was down the coast a few weeks back ( no affiliation). They seem well built , nice size to pressure ferment a single 21 ltr batch for a corney.
They are not to tall, I'll be getting one or 2 soon for single batches .

I've been using 2 x keg king 50 ltr ones for 42-44 ltr batches and they work a treat. I love this pressure fermenting way... Beers so much better, cleaner, faster, less mess especially when pressure transfer and also no oxygen or list risk of other ingress.

I've also noticed as it's naturally carbed, the mouth feel is smoother which allows the flavours of malt and hops to come through better than hiding behind carbonic taste from force carbing. Force carbing still good but takes a few weeks to settle back.

I've always kegged and still bottle specialty beers and always preferred the carb taste of my bottled beers.
The natural carb in these kegmenters is the same as bottled beers. Just nice.

What I like about these 26 ltr ones is they use the same lid, tri clamp etc as the keg king 50 ltr jobbies .

So they will compliment my other kegmenters.

Cheers


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## mtb (8/3/17)

Just dropped four hunj on two 26L versions. Comparing to the Fermentasaurus I figured that dollars per litre capacity is similar* - but these are stainless steel, no UV exposure, and I can use them as normal kegs if (for some strange reason) I'm not already using them for active fermentation.

* okay, iBrew kegmenters are a little more pricy per litre of volume in comparison.. but they're steel! And they're kegs!


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## Futur (9/3/17)

I can't fit two of the 26L ibrew kegmenters in my fridge so I think I'm going to go for just the 25L kegs which are narrower but taller. But really whats the difference!?


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## mtb (9/3/17)

Futur said:


> I can't fit two of the 26L ibrew kegmenters in my fridge so I think I'm going to go for just the 25L kegs which are narrower but taller. But really whats the difference!?


Funny you should ask, I just received the below from iBrew as the kegmenters they received are of slightly different dimensions to what they advertised;
20 litre $158.00 measurements 25cm wide x 60cm high 
26 litre $178.00 measuremnts 28cm wide x 56cm high


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## Danscraftbeer (9/3/17)

Futur said:


> ibrew has 26L kegs for sale, at a very steep price. I just wonder if anyone has seen these elsewhere?
> 
> I'm keen to get a pair of these for the fermentation fridge as the 50L kegmenter from keg king is too large.
> 
> http://www.ibrew.com.au/products/kegmenter-20-and-26-litre-from


Excellent. I definitely would have bought one of them for the extra price then the 23lt corny keg I use for single brews.
Though the 23lt corny still does the same job really but with less headspace. I usually have to use a blow off tube for the early ferment if its a high gravity beer.


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## cliffo (22/5/17)

I'm looking at getting two of the ibrew Kegmenters.

mtb - How have you been finding yours?


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## mtb (22/5/17)

cliffo said:


> I'm looking at getting two of the ibrew Kegmenters.
> 
> mtb - How have you been finding yours?


I have three and overall I'm pretty pleased, considering the price point and their function. Items of note below.


It would appear that the diptube is prone to blockage with hop material; this is likely due to the length of the tube since a corny has a diptube of the same (or very similar) width. To solve I'm considering trimming mine by ~20mm (this also makes it easier for me to reuse yeast as it'll be left behind after transfer to a corny). Alternatively, do all your dry hopping via a hop sock or ball instead of dumping straight in like a twit (aka me).
I had some issues with excessive foaming in the transfer line when transferring to a corny, but that was due to the pressure difference between source and destination keg. Pressure fermenting is fairly easy and the extra headspace (21L batch in a 26L kegmenter, for example) allows for plenty of krausen.
Spunding valve supplied is good so far and there is a separate AHB thread discussing them, in particular how to address some issues ie touchy adjustment knob.
One of them has a difficult beer out post, disconnects don't like connecting without some force, but I could probably take this up with iBrew under warranty if I really cared (which I don't, I have spares).
Easy to clean since it's all stainless.
Great service from iBrew.

All in all, a worthwhile investment IMO.


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## cliffo (22/5/17)

Thanks, I think I'm sold.


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## nathang28 (22/5/17)

I have a 26l keg from ibrew as well, for fermenting, and have a solution for blockage of the beer out dip tube.

I bought a 6" hop bazooka and just put that over the dip tube inside the keg. The mesh makes sure transfers are debris free


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## mtb (23/5/17)

NathanG said:


> I have a 26l keg from ibrew as well, for fermenting, and have a solution for blockage of the beer out dip tube.
> 
> I bought a 6" hop bazooka and just put that over the dip tube inside the keg. The mesh makes sure transfers are debris free


Good idea, but isn't it a turd to keep clean?
This is a timely reminder to use that dremel so I can justify the purchase and cut that diptube..


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## andyt23 (23/5/17)

Aside from this being a larger vessel, what is the difference between these and a corny keg?


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## mtb (23/5/17)

Not a whole lot. You can see in the photos, the triclover lid holds the post as opposed to a corny where the posts are typically separately installed. Can't think of much else tbh


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## cliffo (23/5/17)

For me, the larger volume is the main drawcard here over a corny. 

Can ferment a 20-21ish litre batch and then still be able to fill a corny.

Also looking forward to fermenting under pressure.


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## mtb (23/5/17)

cliffo said:


> For me, the larger volume is the main drawcard here over a corny.
> 
> Can ferment a 20-21ish litre batch and then still be able to fill a corny.
> 
> Also looking forward to fermenting under pressure.


The capacity was the selling point for me too. No need for blowoff tubes etc when you have 5-6L of headspace


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## nathang28 (23/5/17)

The bazooka is easy to clean as it has a coarser mesh. They are used to filter the wort out of a kettle, which has way more trub and hop debris than an average fermenter 

I did a lot of research on other screens to put over the dip tube, but the only ones I could find were super fine and would block too easily (they even say not to use when dry hopping...) the hop bazooka is a loose fit, but can't fall off or anything, so works like a charm.


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## graybo (20/6/17)

Slightly old post but does anyone know if you can install a thermowell in the ibrew 26L kegmenters? Though I like the idea of fermenting under pressure I might not want to sacrifice precise temp control or is this not an issue?


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## mtb (20/6/17)

graybo said:


> Slightly old post but does anyone know if you can install a thermowell in the ibrew 26L kegmenters? Though I like the idea of fermenting under pressure I might not want to sacrifice precise temp control or is this not an issue?


There's much to be said about accuracy of a thermowell vs a temp probe attached to the exterior and insulated.. but that's for a separate thread.
Technically you could install a thermowell, but consider that your fittings would need to withstand a bit of pressure, albeit not too much.


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## dark_brew (21/6/17)

Going to take the plunge for one of these as well, looking for a ss fermenter and having the addition of pressure sounds like fun! Any troubles with headspace or spurting krausen?


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## mtb (21/6/17)

~30 batches in and I have only good things to say. 21L batch in a 26L vessel and there are no headspace or krausen issues.


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## Gloveski (22/6/17)

mtb said:


> ~30 batches in and I have only good things to say. 21L batch in a 26L vessel and there are no headspace or krausen issues.



Going to get a few of these in the future I reckon I do double brew days most of the time so two side by side in my fermenter fridge would be the go . Did you have to trim the dip tube on these to not pick up the trub yeast etc when transfering to another keg ? Also any issues in reusing the yeast ? I was wondering how hard they would be to modify and add a cone and some valves for a trub / yeast catchment area .


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## mtb (22/6/17)

I decided not to trim the diptube, it's a good length already. The key is to watch the transfer line when transferring to the serving keg; after transferring all your chilled/clear beer it'll start sending trub. Disconnect the transfer line before it makes its way in.

As for reusing yeast, I've had no issues thus far. If you follow the above method to limit trub transfer, you'll have lots of yeasty trub left behind to wash.


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## rossbaker (23/8/17)

Hi guys, has anyone tried no chilling in one of these? Manticle and a few others tried this in 19l cornys a while back and it sounded like it worked well enough. A bit of co 2 pressure overnight while it cools and shrinks, pitch yeast the next day. Being able to do this would be a massive plus imo.


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## Lionman (23/8/17)

rossbaker said:


> Hi guys, has anyone tried no chilling in one of these? Manticle and a few others tried this in 19l cornys a while back and it sounded like it worked well enough. A bit of co 2 pressure overnight while it cools and shrinks, pitch yeast the next day. Being able to do this would be a massive plus imo.



It could work, but cube additions would be difficult. You don't want hop trub in your fermenter if you want to reuse yeast.

You could get around this by just doing whirlpool additions and leaving the hop trub behind in the kettle though.


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## Jack of all biers (24/8/17)

Lionman said:


> It could work, but cube additions would be difficult. You don't want hop trub in your fermenter if you want to reuse yeast.



You could use one of these for cube hop additions. Sort of what they are designed for. http://kegking.com.au/stainless-hop-tube.html
Fishing line or similar to the top and the line out the keg lid. Remove it prior to yeast pitch and aeration/oxygenation. Roberts your mother's brother.


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## mtb (24/8/17)

Jack of all biers said:


> You could use one of these for cube hop additions. Sort of what they are designed for. http://kegking.com.au/stainless-hop-tube.html
> Fishing line or similar to the top and the line out the keg lid. Remove it prior to yeast pitch and aeration/oxygenation. Roberts your mother's brother.


One point to make about that hop tube - their lids aren't secured, they simply push on and stay due to friction. When full of wet hops the tube will stay put and the lid will come off. Prepare to leave it in until you've drained the kegmenter and then you can get your arm in to pull it out.
Maybe a hop sock instead?


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## Lionman (24/8/17)

It would also limit the amount you can add (albeit to a decent amount) and there is a risk of impact to utilisation.

No 200g cube addition hop bomb IPAs.

Also, any loose hop matter in the fermenter could block the dip tube/poppet valve etc making draining the keg challenging.

Not saying it cant be done, just pointing out its not a really huge plus, its another option that has its own set of compromises.


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## Jack of all biers (24/8/17)

mtb said:


> One point to make about that hop tube - their lids aren't secured, they simply push on and stay due to friction. When full of wet hops the tube will stay put and the lid will come off. Prepare to leave it in until you've drained the kegmenter and then you can get your arm in to pull it out.
> Maybe a hop sock instead?



True that and, though I have one, I have never gotten round to using it. Just had a look and see your point. That's disappointing given the KK description on how to use it. 

Hop sock? Plastic and heat? I think maybe with good cleaning and sanitation practices one of these around the top would stop it coming off. https://www.bunnings.com.au/kinetic-46-70mm-304-stainless-steel-hose-clamps_p4920196

Easier to sanitise would be to loop fishing line around the body of the hop tube (top and bottom using bowlines), then tie off the two loops to the fishing line coming out the lid. Where there's a will there is a way.

EDIT - I see that the polyester hops socks are rated to 110C. I wouldn't do it, but there you go. Wrong again.


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## Lionman (24/8/17)

or drill a hole through the lid into the body and put a stainless screw in it?


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## mtb (24/8/17)

Lionman said:


> or drill a hole through the lid into the body and put a stainless screw in it?


I'd personally be uncomfortable making holes in anything I then pressurise


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## Tony121 (24/8/17)

Think he meant the hop tube


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## mtb (24/8/17)

Tony121 said:


> Think he meant the hop tube


that makes sense..


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## Lionman (25/8/17)

Yeah, i mean to hold the lid on the hop tube thingy.


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## cliffo (11/10/17)

Needing some help guys.

I'm trying to find a fridge or freezer that can hold two of these bad boys with a spunding valve on the top.
I had decided to buy a new chest freezer and whilst both kegs would fit, once I add the spunding valve the height becomes the problem (at least in the two models I looked at today).
Does anyone have two (or more) of these kegs and able to advise what sort of fridge/freezer they're running?


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## Grott (11/10/17)

You could run a hose with gas disconnect one end and spunding valve the other. (The valve doesn’t have to connect directly to the keg)


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## cliffo (11/10/17)

Grott said:


> You could run a hose with gas disconnect one end and spunding valve the other. (The valve doesn’t have to connect directly to the keg)


It's an option but I'm trying to avoid that as I've just bought the parts from the US that I need to put together a one "piece" spunding valve. x2 that wasn't a cheap exercise.


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