Hand pump/beer engine has arrived!

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A couple quick replies on the phone.

I bought it second hand on ebay. It cost more to ship than for the unit but i figure it is a tap, regulator, co2 bottle all in one. Also the bags are cheap and compatible with all different size fridges. All up it was about 230 landed. I bought 18 4L casks which were about 4$ each landed.

Currently the taps i was sent were the wrong size (22mm hose would be needed instead of the 12mm) . I've made a working solution by putting a bottling tube with a grommet through the lid which seals well, but means i need to change lids between conditioning and serving. Also i cannot simply shut the valve at the end of a session and drain the line (replacing wih water is ideal i believe). That might not be neccesary but in the summertime i dont like the idea of leaving beer in the line all day.

The beer is stored at atmospheric pressure, not 5psi which is why a bag is fine. I think if the tap is leaking at the tap the pressure is to high. This time was a bit premature for the beer as it had only been put into the bag 36 hours before the tapping. I primed he bag wih about 6 g of white sugar, about a teaspoon. He beer had started to carb up a touch and there was some aorspace filling with co2. I was excited and wanted to see how it worked. Surprisingly the red american rye ipa had reasonable condition and held head very well. That's probably partly due to so much rye and hops. I don't ever expect it to be very clear with 20% rye and a very frustrating brew due to stuck recirculation resulting in alot of stirring of the grain bed. Tastes good through the hand pump. I plan on leaving the other bag of the rripa until i can compare it to the bottled version, so about 4 weeks. To bad i don't have much else to put on until i ferment the cubes of english ales i have waiting. Might have to fill some up from bottles!


More details tonight when i'm not usinge the phone.
 
I didnt think it was too difficult, and have no problems with my setup.
This is filling the 20L bag straight from the fermentor. It'll hold about 23L. No leaks.
image.jpeg

The bag tap has my homemade quick-disconnect connector put on it
image_3.jpeg

The beer engine has the female quick-disconnect on the end of it
image_2.jpeg

Ready for a quick pint!
image_1.jpeg


And when the session is over, disconnect the bag, and whack it back in the fridge at 10C. Then run two litres of water through the pump to clean it out ready for next time!
 
Bribie G said:
Ahh tears sprang to these Pommy eyes. BCF sell collapsible 20L water containers that are basically like the UK polypins minus the cardboard box, I reckon they could be adapted - they are really cheap.
A firkin sized collapsible bag in box system was used by the Hull brewery (from whence Ringwood yeast was rescued and lives on) way back in the 1970s and I enjoyed many a session on their beers in Scarborough on holidays.

When I was in Wellington on a beer trip I noted that many of their hand pumped beers are out of a collapsible polypin as well. It would be great if these could be available in Australia as you can also just use them to serve beer on gravity.
I spent a bit of time in christchurch in november where handpumps are pretty common, which was a catalyst for me getting this organised.



Cosmic Bertie said:
I didnt think it was too difficult, and have no problems with my setup.
This is filling the 20L bag straight from the fermentor. It'll hold about 23L. No leaks.
attachicon.gif
image.jpeg

The bag tap has my homemade quick-disconnect connector put on it
attachicon.gif
image_3.jpeg

The beer engine has the female quick-disconnect on the end of it
attachicon.gif
image_2.jpeg

Ready for a quick pint!
attachicon.gif
image_1.jpeg


And when the session is over, disconnect the bag, and whack it back in the fridge at 10C. Then run two litres of water through the pump to clean it out ready for next time!
Quick disconnects, great idea!
 
black_labb said:
A couple quick replies on the phone.

I bought it second hand on ebay. It cost more to ship than for the unit but i figure it is a tap, regulator, co2 bottle all in one. Also the bags are cheap and compatible with all different size fridges. All up it was about 230 landed. I bought 18 4L casks which were about 4$ each landed.

Currently the taps i was sent were the wrong size (22mm hose would be needed instead of the 12mm) . I've made a working solution by putting a bottling tube with a grommet through the lid which seals well, but means i need to change lids between conditioning and serving. Also i cannot simply shut the valve at the end of a session and drain the line (replacing wih water is ideal i believe). That might not be neccesary but in the summertime i dont like the idea of leaving beer in the line all day.

The beer is stored at atmospheric pressure, not 5psi which is why a bag is fine. I think if the tap is leaking at the tap the pressure is to high. This time was a bit premature for the beer as it had only been put into the bag 36 hours before the tapping. I primed he bag wih about 6 g of white sugar, about a teaspoon. He beer had started to carb up a touch and there was some aorspace filling with co2. I was excited and wanted to see how it worked. Surprisingly the red american rye ipa had reasonable condition and held head very well. That's probably partly due to so much rye and hops. I don't ever expect it to be very clear with 20% rye and a very frustrating brew due to stuck recirculation resulting in alot of stirring of the grain bed. Tastes good through the hand pump. I plan on leaving the other bag of the rripa until i can compare it to the bottled version, so about 4 weeks. To bad i don't have much else to put on until i ferment the cubes of english ales i have waiting. Might have to fill some up from bottles!


More details tonight when i'm not usinge the phone.
Have you considered using cubes as casks? I caused a bit of controversy suggesting this here

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/70056-carbingconditioning-in-a-cube-before-keg/

but if you are ok with priming polypins I guess you would be ok with cubes. They don’t collapse like polypins but I have made a sort of re-usable keystone by drilling a hole in a spare cap and fitting an air lock grommet (Keystone Caps :D ).

When I want to vent the cube and connect to the beer engine I just replace the un-drilled cap and push in a race cask ventilator. Or you could use an aspirator if you have co2.

They do have a few advantages over polypins.

They are easy to clean and re-use.

The taps don’t leak even under pressure. (if you put them in a cup of boiling water pull them apart and smear a little Vaseline).

The beer will clear and condition much better under the pressure a cube takes.

Cube.JPG

race vent.JPG


Cheers
 
I have tried Cosmic Berties beer. The hand pump is fantastic, his accent is hard to understand at times (Yorkshire accent) but after a few pints of his beer and the beer engine my brain doesnt seem to mind. Hey nice hat Bertie is that a hat from colombia or somewhere south america??
 
After some more google-fu, I've found a decently priced RV pump, i believe the same on as in the BYO article

http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/rocket-hand-pump/14040

I'll look into how much the postage will be when i get home this afternoon and price the whole shebang up to see if it's worth it
hopefully I'll be enjoying some nice stouts and porters from a home made beer engine by the time winter rolls around :D
 
Cosmic Bertie said:
I didnt think it was too difficult, and have no problems with my setup.
This is filling the 20L bag straight from the fermentor. It'll hold about 23L. No leaks.
Looks exactly like the 20L jobby from BCF refered to earlier. I bought a 20L collapsible water container from someone on EBay in England. I dropped it with beer in it and it broke. I bought two replacements from BCF - they are identical to the one I got from England.
So I have a length of 1/2" silcone hose - it shoves neatly over the barb on my beer engine and also shoves neatly onto the tap of the bag. No clamps or any hose securing device needed. The tap on my bag does not leak in the period of time it takes me to drink it's contents.

Edit: Bertie, I had my bag on a bar about the width of yours. Make sure you tie a bit of string to the bag handle and then to your bench etc. For unknown reasons they can just move or roll (and land on the floor and break thus spilling the precious beer onto the floor).

Furthermore, I find that the bag is best placed at about the height of the drip tray or higher. With the bag down on the ground I found I had more CO2 coming out of solution up the hose to the pump. YRMV.
 
sp0rk said:
After some more google-fu, I've found a decently priced RV pump, i believe the same on as in the BYO article

http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/rocket-hand-pump/14040

I'll look into how much the postage will be when i get home this afternoon and price the whole shebang up to see if it's worth it
hopefully I'll be enjoying some nice stouts and porters from a home made beer engine by the time winter rolls around :D
SpOrk can also get them off Amazon.com, if i recall slightly cheaper again. Amazon's postage is pretty lean too if it ships from their warehouse.

Cheers,
D80
 
Heh, i was just coming back to report on that
http://www.amazon.com/Valterra-RP800-Chrome-Rocket-Hand/dp/B000BGM2XG
just under $36 including shipping

BCF have the collapsible water containers for $13 each, which is a little more than on Ebay, but I can return them easily if they fail
so I'm anticipating the whole setup to cost less than $75 including building a stand for the pump and all fittings, the pump and 2 bags
 
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sp0rk said:
Heh, i was just coming back to report on that
http://www.amazon.com/Valterra-RP800-Chrome-Rocket-Hand/dp/B000BGM2XG
just under $36 including shipping

BCF have the collapsible water containers for $13 each, which is a little more than on Ebay, but I can return them easily if they fail
so I'm anticipating the whole setup to cost less than $75 including building a stand for the pump and all fittings, the pump and 2 bags
Read the reviews first not very good comments, leaks apparently. .
Nev
 
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The delivery costs would be quite high
I'm guessing a decent beer engine would weigh between 5 to 10 kilos
I've seen posts round here talking about postage costing more than the beer engine itself (second hand units)
 
Diesel80 said:
How much would one look to be paying for a legit beer engine?

I am keen as on one of these authentic ones.
Have seen some on ebay.co.uk aswell for about $160AUD but unsure of delivery costs.
Most quotes - even from other beer-lovers on the UK-based JBK forums - to have one sent from the UK to Australia are around £75-100.
If you look on UK-ebay sometimes they sell for as low as £20-50.
 
Diesel80 said:
How much would one look to be paying for a legit beer engine?

Is this too steep?
http://www.a1barstuff.co.uk/single-clampon-handpull-p-173.html

I am keen as on one of these authentic ones.
Have seen some on ebay.co.uk aswell for about $160AUD but unsure of delivery costs.

Cheers,
D80
I bought a brand new EWL handpump for 99 quid + 79.50 quid for postage and insurance. It also included the drip tray, 1/2 hose and a plastic cask tap (everything to connect it to a barrel). It came via DHL express and arrived a lot quicker than via postal service. It is a great handpump. Can't find an image of it atm. Will give contact details of UK seller to anyone who wants them via PM.

http://www.worthside.co.uk/cask.html
 
another option to lower the price of postage may do a bulk buy of somekind (not really bulk but like 4 beer engines from the place above). Id be interested.
 
Diesel80 said:
Keen on the details, if of course they differ to the link provided.
Cheers,
D80
Yes different contact details to those of the EWL website. PM sent.
 
Diesel80 said:
How much would one look to be paying for a legit beer engine?

Is this too steep?
http://www.a1barstuff.co.uk/single-clampon-handpull-p-173.html

I am keen as on one of these authentic ones.
Have seen some on ebay.co.uk aswell for about $160AUD but unsure of delivery costs.

Cheers,
D80
I think I paid £60 for delivery. It was shipped on a Monday, and delivered to my front door on Thursday. Four days. I was shocked.

Cheers,
Jase.
 

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