Carbing/Conditioning in a Cube before keg

[S.E]

Holy ****. Someone is going to cop a hell of a blast in their face following the above advice. A keg costs maybe 2.5 - 3x a cube. Do the maths. FFS, don't endanger yourselves for cheap beer! Sheesh!

Kegs may only cost 3x a cube but then you need the rest of the setup to dispense. Cubes are fine for cask conditioning and dispensing and you get a free cube if you buy a FWK.

Even if a cube was over primed it would just split and cause a bit of a mess, you wouldn’t cop a blast in the face unless you happened to be kissing it when it burst.

As far as I am aware you can’t get the UK homebrew plastic pressure casks here so I can’t think of a better alternative.

 

[Bats]

Cubes WILL take the pressure of secondary fermentation. In fact I pressurise to 12 psi to pour with no issues. A very effective and cost efficient party keg!!

image.jpg

Wow... What a unique replacement for a party keg...

I'm guessing the bicycle valves are to add pouring pressure?

Where do you pour from?

Have you ever had a cube fail and bust?

Might attempt something similar if it proves feasible.

 

[tallie]

Kegs may only cost 3x a cube but then you need the rest of the setup to dispense. Cubes are fine for cask conditioning and dispensing and you get a free cube if you buy a FWK.

Even if a cube was over primed it would just split and cause a bit of a mess, you wouldn’t cop a blast in the face unless you happened to be kissing it when it burst.

As far as I am aware you can’t get the UK homebrew plastic pressure casks here so I can’t think of a better alternative.

If the cube busted whilst sitting next to something that could topple over, or on top of an electrical appliance, or while someone was standing right next to it, you may have more than just a mess. You haven't run into any problems so far, and maybe you never will, but giving advice to pressurise non-rated containers and ignoring or not disclosing the risks is a bit irresponsible, IMHO.

Cheers,
tallie

 

[barls]

Kegs may only cost 3x a cube but then you need the rest of the setup to dispense. Cubes are fine for cask conditioning and dispensing and you get a free cube if you buy a FWK.

Even if a cube was over primed it would just split and cause a bit of a mess, you wouldn’t cop a blast in the face unless you happened to be kissing it when it burst.

As far as I am aware you can’t get the UK homebrew plastic pressure casks here so I can’t think of a better alternative.

actually you can buy them here
http://shop.nnlbeersupplies.com.au/?main_page=index

as for it will only split then leak. you havent worked with a lot of hydraulics or pneumatics have you.
ive seen hydraulic hoses burst and do damage to steel components, ive also seen someone nearly loose and arm when a car rim exploded while putting the normal pressure in. ive seen pneumatic fittings embedded in wall panels because they have fail and split, we were very lucky that no one was in the compartment at the time and that was 10psi.
do yourself and others that may be involved a favour and get something thats pressure rated.

 

[m3taL]

Iv put 2lt of boiling water in my cube and shaken it and it blew up like a balloon with a cheap tap in it and when I let the lid go it went "poof" we'll over 10 psi in it and its fine, might take it to work tomorrow and see how many psi it takes, got 160 at the compressor, anyone got a go pro they want to film it with

 

[glaab]

I got trolled to death on here when I spent 600 bucks on a 20gal Blichmann kettle with comments like "you must be made of money", "what a ******, an old keg woulda done the same job" and "but that wouldna have the Blichmann sticker an it !" etc etc Now you get the same treatment for trying to save a few bucks. You could get on here with a cure for cancer and the trolls'd be all over you like fruit flies.

 

[timmi9191]

Wow... What a unique replacement for a party keg...

I'm guessing the bicycle valves are to add pouring pressure?

Where do you pour from?

Have you ever had a cube fail and bust?

Might attempt something similar if it proves feasible.

Bats - one valve for adding pour pressure, one for pressure gauge. Pours via the picnic faucet fitted through the cap with jg bulk head connector.

It works well, no failures. Built 2 at the same time for total outlay of $45

For all the doomsdayers, were talking 10 to 12 psi, not industrial hydrolics! Ps don't go outdoors lightening might strike...

 

[billygoat]

Good to see S.E and timmi9191 posting their REAL LIFE experiences using cubes. Great idea, saw homebrewers in the UK using similiar set ups. Might try something myself.
Wonder what the doomsayers think about people who use polypins to carb up and dispense real ale.

 

[timmi9191]

Thanks billy, It's great learning from real life experience. Some of the doomsdayers do have some valid points. I'll remember not to keep electrical appliances near the cube - in the past I've had a nasty habit of keeping my toaster in the esky while the cube is chilling. I'll also move the cube away from the rocket I'm building to avoid said rocket being knocked over and causing serious injury to the rocket geeks that gather daily..

I'll also never handle a food product again as I don't have a certificate in food handling, I'll return my stc-1000 as its not a certified electrical appliance and I won't pay cash at my LHBS to receive a 10% discount as I'm doing irreparable damage to the Australian economy..

 

[Silver]

Can't wait to have a crack at this. Thinking outside the sqare and inside the cube. Love it.

 

[S.E]

actually you can buy them here
http://shop.nnlbeersupplies.com.au/?main_page=index

as for it will only split then leak. you havent worked with a lot of hydraulics or pneumatics have you.
ive seen hydraulic hoses burst and do damage to steel components, ive also seen someone nearly loose and arm when a car rim exploded while putting the normal pressure in. ive seen pneumatic fittings embedded in wall panels because they have fail and split, we were very lucky that no one was in the compartment at the time and that was 10psi.
do yourself and others that may be involved a favour and get something thats pressure rated.

Sounds like you have had a few bad experiences barls, so I understand the nervous disposition.

Thanks for the link but I was referring to the plastic UK Homebrew pressure barrel that you can inject with co2 from soda stream type cylinders.

The ones NNL are selling are plastic Pins and Firkins and mainly used by micro breweries in the UK rather than homebrewers. I have bought some though.

One of my brew club friends borrowed one of my pins for a club real ale fest. His daughter phoned him at work to let him know she had heard a loud bang and 20 liters of IPA was rolling down the garden path from under the brewery/laundry door. When I went around later that evening we found the shive had been blasted out across the room like a plastic bullet. He always declines when I offer my pins now and has gone back to cask conditioning in cubes.

A few weeks after the exploding IPA incident I fermented 50 litres of beer that hadn’t turned out that great so I decided as an experiment to deliberately over prime one of the pins and a cube. After a week or so the cube was looking really unhappy so I started drinking it to relieve the pressure, a couple of days after that I went out to the shaded part of the back yard where I had left the pin and found it had blown its shive out. Never did find the shive I think it may still be orbiting the earth.

So from my experience if you over prime bottles or pressure rated casks they can blow glass and shives.

I find cubes much easier than pins as you can see if they are too swollen and can vent them before it is too late or just try a sample from the tap any time you want. Cubes fit in my fridge but the pins don’t after they are tapped.

Cheers

 

[S.E]

If the cube busted whilst sitting next to something that could topple over, or on top of an electrical appliance, or while someone was standing right next to it, you may have more than just a mess. You haven't run into any problems so far, and maybe you never will, but giving advice to pressurise non-rated containers and ignoring or not disclosing the risks is a bit irresponsible, IMHO.

Cheers,
tallie

Now that’s just plain silly tallie. Your joking right? Obviously you would need to use common sense and not balance cubes on the TV set.

But yes home brewing can be a bit risky such as balancing home converted Kegs or other non-rated containers full of boiling wort on homemade non-rated brew stands. So yes some people should be made aware of the risks and probably consider another hobby like maybe origami and perhaps wear gloves to avoid nasty paper cuts.

Cheers

 

[Bats]

Bats - one valve for adding pour pressure, one for pressure gauge. Pours via the picnic faucet fitted through the cap with jg bulk head connector.

It works well, no failures. Built 2 at the same time for total outlay of $45

For all the doomsdayers, were talking 10 to 12 psi, not industrial hydrolics! Ps don't go outdoors lightening might strike...

How did you make the valves air tight? How bout putting some pics up of the tap too and info on how you created it?

I would be keen to give this a crack. And if it cracks.... Well S*#t Happens.

 

[timmi9191]

SE - paper cuts lmao wish I had of thought of that one.

Bats, valves are tubeless tyre valve so they self seal in a 12 mm hole. Tap is just your standard picnic faucet - you can get at your LHBS or online through craftbrewer. Also need a john guest bulkhead connector, again at your lhbs or craftbrewer. drill 18mm hole in screw on cap, fit bulk head connector, i oversealed with silicon that is used to seal aquariums. fit standard beer line on both sides of the cap. If the cube has a fitting for a tap make sure it's well sealed- I used plumbers Teflon tape and over sealed with the same silicon.

 

[Silver]

It seems a cube has no seam. Nice and smooth inside but what appears to be a seam on the outside is only where two halves of a mold have left their mark. Found a nice little video of the Blow Molding process. Not sure how to link but here it is.

 

[sp0rk]

There's still a seam at the top and bottom

 

[koots]

actually you can buy them here
http://shop.nnlbeersupplies.com.au/?main_page=index

as for it will only split then leak. you havent worked with a lot of hydraulics or pneumatics have you.
ive seen hydraulic hoses burst and do damage to steel components, ive also seen someone nearly loose and arm when a car rim exploded while putting the normal pressure in. ive seen pneumatic fittings embedded in wall panels because they have fail and split, we were very lucky that no one was in the compartment at the time and that was 10psi.
do yourself and others that may be involved a favour and get something thats pressure rated.

Hydraulic hoses that burst and do damage to steel components are running under a lot more pressure than a cube of ale mate. A 2-300bar hydraulic system is a very different thing to a plastic container with beer in it. I'm going to assume old mate that nearly lost his arm was trying to seat the bead also with more than 40psi, against all guidelines but I will admit that a lot less pressure can still cause that. (2 or 3 piece rim? If a solid rim then he was a ******** for trying to fit a tyre to a ****** rim)

And the pneumatic fitting may I ask what the volume of air was at 10psi? Once again a big difference between a cube and a large industrial vessel at 10psi.

 

[barls]

Hydraulic hoses that burst and do damage to steel components are running under a lot more pressure than a cube of ale mate. A 2-300bar hydraulic system is a very different thing to a plastic container with beer in it. I'm going to assume old mate that nearly lost his arm was trying to seat the bead also with more than 40psi, against all guidelines but I will admit that a lot less pressure can still cause that. (2 or 3 piece rim? If a solid rim then he was a ******** for trying to fit a tyre to a ****** rim)

And the pneumatic fitting may I ask what the volume of air was at 10psi? Once again a big difference between a cube and a large industrial vessel at 10psi.

lets see never said the hydraulics was low pressure did i, it was a crane system and it actually bent the main extension arm of it.
the tire was being topped up to 36 by the owner out the front of the workshop i use to work at when the rim parted no signs of damage before hand, he was bloody lucky. it was a one piece mag rim.
as for the tire fitting stations i believe the air supply the use is now fed through the tool to stop this sort of thing
as for the pneumatic system, a hoist, was running 4mm lines and yes there was a few hoses in there nothing over the top or as it had numerous pressure limiting devices before the device. its the only time ive seen a john guest fitting fail. you must remember that we are talking mil spec systems so failure is highly unlikely.
let me see i could use something thats designed and tested to go to up to 2.5 times the operating pressure or i could use something not designed for pressure use that i have to modify then hook up an unregulated supply which could possibly supply up to 120psi.
pick apart my stories, pity it was in a space where no cameras are allowed.
ok having done a reasonable level of pneumatics training with a reputable training establishment i still say someones going to get hurt doing this. it might be a small chance but it will happen.
its no different to telling someone to buck up and just wire their own temp controller when they have no knowledge of what they are doing. hence why ill keep saying these things.

 

[barls]

here you go something thats actually designed to take pressure exploding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ahp6rBs5aQ
look at the fragments. its not going to be pretty when it happens and someone is next to it.

 

[koots]

You're completely right to give a warning, I'm just saying your comparisons were like chalk and cheese!