Help Me Home Brew - Mini Kegging

[chrisluki]

I don't really know what I am doing with these mini kegs...can you tell?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6JvkNOBFbo

 

[Let's Brew Beer]

Great vid, yeah i only mini-keg due to space and finance constraints. Love them.

 

[Grott]

If you have a couple of kegs and only one spear with the gas and beer out connections you can use the flat plain cap if you fill the keg up with a carbonated brew that you are going to use in a relatively short time. Eg taking a couple of kegs to a party etc, one with the spear on one without and swapping caps after the first keg has gone.

 

[meathead]

You're not too far off the mark, a couple of tips.

ikegger has some good vids on YouTube
Beer line only needs to be about 1cm longer than keg height
Force carb overnight at 20psi via liquid post with liquid disconnect
Buy another spear and mini Reg

Good luck

 

[Grott]

You could also use the mini keg with the flat cap as a mini storage vessel. Fill right up to the top with a fermented brew and cap. When ready chill, open and tip a bit out ( better still, drink it ) and then carbonate - forced and ready to go with spear cap.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Is that tap set up spring loaded? It looked as if is wasn't but it should be so you shouldn't need to worry about knocking it on.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Another though that I cant answer is how many of those little bulbs will it take to force carbonate the beer? You might want to consider a co2 bottle. Or the Soda Stream bottles at minimum. You could crank it to 30psi for the first day can carbonate faster.
20psi overnight wont do it. More like 2 to 3 days I'd think.
I also need to check my reg for leaks because when left on overnight I just lost the bulb worth of co2 somehow. I'll need to carefully do a dunk in water, or detergent test to see were the leak is.

Keep us posted chrisluki we'll get it sorted.

 

[Lionman]

Or prime the mini kegs with around 15-20g of sugar and leave them warm for about a week. This will carbed them up nicely and then you can use the bulbs just to push the beer put of the kegs.

You will get a little bit of sediment but it will only be the first half a glass or so of the first pour.

If you don't already have a full keg system, this is a good way to save money.

 

[chrisluki]

If you have a couple of kegs and only one spear with the gas and beer out connections you can use the flat plain cap if you fill the keg up with a carbonated brew that you are going to use in a relatively short time. Eg taking a couple of kegs to a party etc, one with the spear on one without and swapping caps after the first keg has gone.

That sounds like what I want to do!

I would like to brew small test batches on my brewie...10l to start with and maybe keg half to a 5l and half to bottles...for now.

So i thought i would do 2 x 5l keg this time as it was my first run. Got the second one "flat capped" at this stage with no carbonation...hope i havent ruined it.

I have a large co2 cylinder and gauge, but I need to get a couple of connections sorted so i can force carb from that and the maybe use the full tap connection and the smaller snap lock gas connection together?

Spoke to Graham from BeerKat on the phone today, he was very helpful. Good service for a small start up company...I like it that I can help out a little bit.

Thanks for your help!

 

[chrisluki]

You're not too far off the mark, a couple of tips.

ikegger has some good vids on YouTube
Beer line only needs to be about 1cm longer than keg height
Force carb overnight at 20psi via liquid post with liquid disconnect
Buy another spear and mini Reg

Good luck

Awesome!

Thanks...all good advice!!

 

[chrisluki]

Is that tap set up spring loaded? It looked as if is wasn't but it should be so you shouldn't need to worry about knocking it on.

ill check...i dont think it was.

I have a couiple of taps from the old days I can test.

 

[chrisluki]

Another though that I cant answer is how many of those little bulbs will it take to force carbonate the beer? You might want to consider a co2 bottle. Or the Soda Stream bottles at minimum. You could crank it to 30psi for the first day can carbonate faster.
20psi overnight wont do it. More like 2 to 3 days I'd think.
I also need to check my reg for leaks because when left on overnight I just lost the bulb worth of co2 somehow. I'll need to carefully do a dunk in water, or detergent test to see were the leak is.

Keep us posted chrisluki we'll get it sorted.

Cheers mate

I have achieved exactly what I wanted with this video...a great list of bits and pieces for me to research, test and follow up on.

many thanks

 

[Lionman]

ill check...i dont think it was.

I have a couiple of taps from the old days I can test.

Apparently the springs from universal poppet valves can be installed in the tap to make it auto shut off.

Like these ones I think

Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/381848252283

 

[chrisluki]

Check out the latest development!!

 

[Grott]

You appear to be force carbonating? If so pressure and is keg cold.
I have a 5kg fire extinguisher but purchased the normal valve (about $20 KK) as the original handle type gives you the shits after a while.

 

[chrisluki]

You appear to be force carbonating? If so pressure and is keg cold.
I have a 5kg fire extinguisher but purchased the normal valve (about $20 KK) as the original handle type gives you the shits after a while.

Yeah, just playing with this. Got a real cylinder and will be force carbonating cold. Think I need to drill in the side of my fridge though!

 

[Grott]

Sorry picture not too clear but you can see the hose going into the fridge. There is a black grommet on the outside and one on the inside of the fridge which the hose goes through. Got them from Cheap Autos, there for vehicle electrical wiring, they have groove in the centre that allows the grommet to fasten on either side of the fridge panels. Then sealed with hard as nails although hose, grommets were tight fits.

Enlarge photo and stand on your head, why the photo transfer does this is beyond me.

 

[chrisluki]

Sorry picture not too clear but you can see the hose going into the fridge. There is a black grommet on the outside and one on the inside of the fridge which the hose goes through. Got them from Cheap Autos, there for vehicle electrical wiring, they have groove in the centre that allows the grommet to fasten on either side of the fridge panels. Then sealed with hard as nails although hose, gromme

IMG_0150.JPGts were tight fits.

Enlarge photo and stand on your head, why the photo transfer does this is beyond me.

Inspirational!

 

[goatchop41]

There is a huge thread dedicated to the mini kegs - tips on how to set up, use, etc.
It's in the gear and equipment section, exactly where you have posted this thread. Did you actually look first before you posted? Don't want to sound too asshole-ish, but a lot of this info is redundant and you could have found it in the other thread with just a little bit of searching and reading..........

 

[chrisluki]

There is a huge thread dedicated to the mini kegs - tips on how to set up, use, etc.
It's in the gear and equipment section, exactly where you have posted this thread. Did you actually look first before you posted? Don't want to sound too asshole-ish, but a lot of this info is redundant and you could have found it in the other thread with just a little bit of searching and reading..........

The thread originally started out as a link to my latest video, thought people might like to see it...kinda morphed into this from that.