Hello to AHB from East London

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

Hi Guys,
Irish bloke, living in UK. Brewing properly since 2013.

Brewing profile:
- All grain/BIAB/No-chill
- ghetto mash recirculation with a pump & silicone hose
- brewlength ~55L beer into fermenter
- temp controlled FV, good enough for lagers & crash cooling

Prefer paler styles, and prefer to make sessionable beers ( < 50 gravity ) at home.

Got interested in AHB when I saw what you guys were doing with those 4/5L hybrid growlers/kegs. They are not popular in the UK (price comparison with cheap cornies). And I want to experiment with making a downsized kegerator with just the 4L/5L units.

 

[Mardoo]

They're good little units. I'd love to see a mini-kegerator built on them. Good for using with a hand pump too. You can easily make your way through 5L before the beer starts to go off, without rigging CO2 back pressure.

 

[Grott]

Welcome aboard. The mini kegs and tap/regulator set ups are great. Remember the dimensions are different between the 4 and 5 litre ones in diameter, not just height. The 5l are shorter and easier for Esky set ups.

 

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

I got the 4L ones before the 5L ones got popular, and they are just too tall for the off the shelf fridges.

Never thought of cask dispense options, with them, and you can fix the O2 pick up in a few cool ways.

I have a maxi cooler so I am thinking of chilling the mini kegs with a DIY cooling jacket:

Early days but hopefully you can see that it's just 3/8s and cheap insulation.

Before I figure out a kegerator, that might do for home dispense

 

[Pnutapper]

I got the 4L ones before the 5L ones got popular, and they are just too tall for the off the shelf fridges.

Never thought of cask dispense options, with them, and you can fix the O2 pick up in a few cool ways.

I have a maxi cooler so I am thinking of chilling the mini kegs with a DIY cooling jacket:

View attachment 109223

Early days but hopefully you can see that it's just 3/8s and cheap insulation.

Before I figure out a kegerator, that might do for home dispense

You would have the cooling coil inside your insulating wrap though, right?

 

[captain crumpet]

hopefully you can see that it's just 3/8s

What chu talkin bout Willis?

 

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

You would have the cooling coil inside your insulating wrap though, right?

Hah! Yeah just using the insulation as a scaffold to secure the coil onto. The beer line coil is a b*tch to work with.

Going to cut it out this weekend and I should have a freestanding coil that the 4L unit will just slide into.

 

[Pnutapper]

Use your empty keg as a mandril to wrap the 3/8 tube around, and put the whole lot in very hot, but not boiling water Leave it there until the water cools right down. The tube will stay in a coil.

https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/where-to-buy-curly-beer-line.95193/#post-1457702

 

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

Use your empty keg as a mandril to wrap the 3/8 tube around, and put the whole lot in very hot, but not boiling water Leave it there until the water cools right down. The tube will stay in a coil.

https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/where-to-buy-curly-beer-line.95193/#post-1457702

^ Must try that for the next coil. Need an empty mini keg first. Got a 60th birthday party coming up, so that should free up 2 of them I think.

Its this kind of advice that made me join AHB. Nobody tries this kind of stuff in the UK.

 

[Pugdog1]

Google ikegger or YouTube them. They have done a kegerator using a bar fridge that fits 4 mini kegs

 

[koshari]

Sunbeam did a little 5l keg fridge a few years back. They were pretty exxy when they came out but u can occasionally pick em up cheap now as they never really took of. I grabbed one for 50 bucks. I dont know if there were something similar in the uk though.

 

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

Hence the cooling coil idea. If I can't find a fridge that fits I can DIY a jockey box out of construction insulation and run coolant from the maxi cooler, or keep an ice bath in the jockey box an use my solar pump to cool internally