Homebrewing Into 50lt Kegs

[chefeffect]

I am new to this forum so hello im Adam, i am in the process of setting up a 50 lt keg system for my home brew at home, i have a swan coupler for german style slider, harris gas regs, and soon have beer lines, tap, and fridge set up, what might i be missing? and does anyone have some info on setting up these comercial kegs? Is it dangerous etc? and hows the best way to store kegs not in fridge since i will have 3 on the go and was thinking of filling from 2x 23lt home brew kits using cans? I have posted same message in grumpys.

 

[Black Dog Brewery]

Hi Adam and Welcome,

You say that you will have 3 kegs on the go. I would have said that you would have been better going with Corny kegs as you could have all 3 in the fridge and on tap versus only have 1 style / beer for drinking at any one time. IMO they are also easier to use.

I would also suggest that you find a larger fermenter so you can brew one batch to fill the keg versus mixing two separately brewed batches or once again if you were using corny kegs you could be brewing two different styles at any one time.

Cheers BDB

 

[chefeffect]

Thanks for the welcome,

Yeah i am starting to think the same about those kegs yet i have a 20lt post mix keg and it will fit with the 50ltso i can have 2 going but still have the drama of mixing my brews with 2x 23lt worts. I just went with this option because i figured it would be cheaper, what would you recommend to brew in that is about 50lt?

Cheers Chefeffect

 

[Black Dog Brewery]

Adam,

There are 60 litre fermenters around such as http://www.brewcraftsa.com.au/listProduct/...ntation+Vessels (no affiliation)

Or you can covert a 50 litre keg to a fermenter. Once again the cost of the 60 litre fermenter is the cost of a corny keg!

Cheers BDB

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Moving 50 litres around is also cause for a bit of back strain

The cornys are much more manageable

I've got 4 at the moment - and will hopefully be getting 2 more (my fridge holds six)

Variety is the spice of life!

Just ask Ross

Cheers

 

[brettprevans]

Adam,

There are 60 litre fermenters around such as http://www.brewcraftsa.com.au/listProduct/...ntation+Vessels (no affiliation)

Or you can covert a 50 litre keg to a fermenter. Once again the cost of the 60 litre fermenter is the cost of a corny keg!

Cheers BDB

60L fermentors are on special atm, at brewcraft
Got mine delivered Monday morning cause Im not kegging yet and
A) wanted another fermentor
B ) wanted to be able to brew RIS/toucans etc without making a hell of mess with overflow.

Ross is a legend

 

[chefeffect]

Thanks for the links to 60lt worts,

Still if there are any large consumers of beer who brew in 50lt kegs i would really appreciate some tips. Othere wise i will be just giving it a crack anyways and it would be better if i knew what i am doin. As for the weight im not to worried and i am aware of the cons would love some pros. Good luck with the RIS/Tuscans citymorgue2.

Cheers Adam.

 

[brettprevans]

Thanks for the links to 60lt worts,

Still if there are any large consumers of beer who brew in 50lt kegs i would really appreciate some tips. Othere wise i will be just giving it a crack anyways and it would be better if i knew what i am doin. As for the weight im not to worried and i am aware of the cons would love some pros. Good luck with the RIS/Tuscans citymorgue2.

Cheers Adam.

Pros
- less time consuming doing one large batch than 2 smaller batches (double sanitising, fermentation time etc)
- you have more of the beer to enjoy (assuming its good otherwise its a con if its bad)
- you run out of a beer so quickly.
- less sanitising costs
- less equipment costs? (because you have less couples, beer lines etc?)
- easier to put some aside to age rather than drinking all your supplies
- bulk purchases will be more useful to you as your using more ingredients for each batch
- can make smaller brews which require lots of headroom with out the worry of its exploding/leaking all over the place (of course your still going to have this problem if you make a full batch.)

Cons
- less variety
- each batch is double the cost of normal smaller batch which is bad if your strapped for cash
- heavy to move (only if you have to move it around)
- if you make a bad batch then you have a lot of bad beer.

 

[chefeffect]

Yes 50lt down the drain would be a major con and i think i would probably goto hell for the punishment!!! The aging was the main reason i went with this option and costs had a factor too.

Cheers Adam.

 

[Wasabi]

I might as well add my two cents worth.

We have 2 x 50L kegs and 150 x 20L kegs (Sankeys), and thats the way we like it. The 50L kegs are very heavy and a real bitch to move.

Also, depending on what sort of keg you have....

a) Cornies are a lot easier to clean at a home brew level, especially if you are not filtering because at least you can get inside them. And they are a lot easier to fill.

B) The 50L can be lethal, especially if you decide to open them up. I know a professional brewer in SA who released the spear while the keg was under pressure. The good news is that he lived.......the bad news, well you can imagine taking a spear fully in the mouth as it leaves the keg in an upward direction.

c) Corney fittings are cheaper, easier to work with, easier to clean, etc....

 

[chefeffect]

Thanks wasabi,

Shit that could be pretty fu##$d up, one thing more that i need to know if anyone does is, do i need a pressure relief valve for my coupler since mine does not and i dont need to be a new one to add to the lethal list!!

Adam.

 

[brettprevans]

a) Cornies are a lot easier to clean at a home brew level, especially if you are not filtering because at least you can get inside them. And they are a lot easier to fill.

B) The 50L can be lethal, especially if you decide to open them up. I know a professional brewer in SA who released the spear while the keg was under pressure. The good news is that he lived.......the bad news, well you can imagine taking a spear fully in the mouth as it leaves the keg in an upward direction.

c) Corney fittings are cheaper, easier to work with, easier to clean, etc....

yes cornies would be easier to clean from what I hear (I dont keg atm)
in the 5 years I worked in bars, changing kegs etc I may have got wet once or twice from a spray but never been anywhere near close to getting killed. wtf was that guy doing? good point though about safety. definate con.

i suppose its sort of elementary if you already ahve a 50L keg as your going to use it either way.

 

[chefeffect]

Yeah i have worked with kegs for a few years and i have heard of people getting killed trying to remove the spear with out releasing the keg pressure, as for getting sprayed in the face to release the presure i placed a towel over the keg and used a broom handle to depress the rubber grommet, or you can use your coupler. From there its pretty easy to remove the spear if you know how. Mine uses a A style coupler yet still unsure if i should use it since it does not have a pressure release valve, but from what i have read this is more for releasing gas manualy after pressure carbing and to stop back flow into your regulator in which case i could use a inline check valve is this correct?

Adam.

 

[Andyd]

Hey guys,

when you release the pressure, just tip the keg on it's side and then depress the ball with a happer or similar. No towel necessary...

Andy

 

[tangent]

the thing i like about cornies is they have safety valves

 

[blackbock]

I don't see how you could remove the spear without relieving the pressure first. At least with the Sankeys it kind of happens simultaneously..

 

[Andyd]

Yeah - at least with the CUB style kegs, the spear has a safety position into which it will lock if the keg is still under pressure. It'll scare the shit out of you, but it won't kill you because the spear can't be fully retracted.

Like I said earlier, put the keg on its side and use something heavy to depress the ball and release the gas. No scares, no scars and no beer showers.

Andy

 

[chefeffect]

Yeah i found it har to believe you could harm your slf since i had to realease the presure for my keg since there was no way around opening it with out depressing the rubber grommet, i guess you could get the spear out with an angle grinder and if it was still under preasure then maybey that could be deadly!! Ask citymorgue2 he seems to know alot about 50lt kegs.....!

 

[Leigh garnsey]

I recently received a 50L LION keg which I want to use for second fermentation . What I'd like to know is after the brew is in the keg and everything is tightened back up how do you get the co2 into the keg ? ..... Is it just by using the same coupling as you use to distribute the beer