KegLand Questions and Answers

[fdsaasdf]

Triggered and off topic, but.. soda water and an appropriately flavoured garnish is all you need for a good gin..

Agreed. Tonic water ruins a nice gin (unless it's an exquisite tonic that probably cost more than the gin).

Aside from fermented things, soda water is the only carbonated beverage I like to drink.

 

[theSeekerr]

@KegLand-com-au has the diaphragm pump solution suggested in the carbonation reactor instructions actually been tested? Can you give any more specific suggestions for a suitable pump? My keezer doesn't have access to a mains water supply, and I rent so I can't (neatly) fix that. Using a second keg as a reservoir is more than reasonable at our consumption rate, though, we only drink around 2L per day, so it seems like this should work.

I just don't want to either
a) spend more than I need to on a pump, or
b) buy a cheap pump that turns out to leech plasticiser into my drinking water or something

 

[Engibeer]

@KegLand-com-au has the diaphragm pump solution suggested in the carbonation reactor instructions actually been tested? Can you give any more specific suggestions for a suitable pump? My keezer doesn't have access to a mains water supply, and I rent so I can't (neatly) fix that. Using a second keg as a reservoir is more than reasonable at our consumption rate, though, we only drink around 2L per day, so it seems like this should work.

I just don't want to either
a) spend more than I need to on a pump, or
b) buy a cheap pump that turns out to leech plasticiser into my drinking water or something

Just food for thought - I'm also renting.

Kitchen sink and dishwasher is opposite my fridge.

I went to bunnings and got a t-piece for the dishwasher water supply with a check valve ( don't want backflow of dishwasher water) for dirt cheap.

I ran a 6mm water line around the kitchen underneath the cupboards (e.g. just above the gap where your feet would go so you can stand close to the bench - so run externally, but hidden) using these kind of cable clips - https://www.bunnings.com.au/antsig-6mm-white-cable-clips-30-pack_p0046774 sure it's a small nail but who's going to notice this underneath a cupboard?

This ran into our fridge water dispenser. It also had a t-piece with another line on it, with a tap on the end, post the external fridge filter, so I have ~5m of filtered water line to run into the garage for brewing and filling up soda kegs.

The fridge cut-out in your kitchen will probably have a hole above it, behind the cupboard, into the roof space, to allow for the ventilation of your fridge.

Pending the imminent arrival of my soda water reactor, I've run the water line with the tap into the roof, though said cut out, and into the garage through the man-hole. I was planning to make my own ply man-hole cover with a hole cutout for the line, but it works just fine and the manhole cover sits slightly ajar.

I'll plumb this into my kegerator, which sits almost directly underneath this in the garage.

Might not work in your house, but is an easy solution in mine.

Cheers

 

[theSeekerr]

Might not work in your house, but is an easy solution in mine.

In my house the problem is right at that first step - there's no existing plumbing for a dishwasher or fridge dispenser, so all of the water lines are inside the cabinetry. If I could neatly get it out of that cabinet I could probably make something work.

 

[djebel]

In my house the problem is right at that first step - there's no existing plumbing for a dishwasher or fridge dispenser, so all of the water lines are inside the cabinetry. If I could neatly get it out of that cabinet I could probably make something work.

Is there a mixer tap anywhere you could tee off?

Could leave a cupboard door slightly ajar I suppose.

 

[Blackman]

In my house the problem is right at that first step - there's no existing plumbing for a dishwasher or fridge dispenser, so all of the water lines are inside the cabinetry. If I could neatly get it out of that cabinet I could probably make something work.

Probably need to move this away from the Kegland thread, but depending on the age of the kitchen the kick board at the bottom of the cabinet (the bit your toes hit when standing close) should be removable. That would give you access to the cavity underneath to run a line, and if you use a small diameter tube you could possibly drop it down beside the waste pipe to get it down there or just drill a small hole in the back corner.

 

[splitice]

@KegLand-com-au Any chance you know of a single piece CGA320/Sodastream adapter, preferably one with a pin adjustment like your regular adapters? I've been searching high and low on all the usual suspects and yet to find a single CGA320 adapter.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Everyone is chasing the same old Ventmatic design here. There are many ways to open and close flow of a valve. Rotary concept is more in line with how all modern plumbing fixtures work.



1. Greater thermal mass also means they stay at temperature longer. So when cooled, they stay cool longer. But in a new design, there's no reason the mass couldn't be reduced. I'm not suggesting releasing the same product someone else already has - not much point in that.

2. No. There's no cavity at all. The path exposed within the valve when rotated is the same diameter as the hole in the shank. There's nowhere else for beer to go. The "business" parts total (what opens and closes the flow of beer), is basically two pieces. A faucet body and a rotating valve which features two integrated o-rings. That's it. Rated to over 1 million pours before the valve cartridge even needs to be considered for replacement. There's nothing else on the market that's even remotely close in terms of hygiene.

3. No, not at all, not by a long shot. Maybe you're thinking of some chinese rotary valve. Take a look at the Intertap parts list and then one for the Rototap.

View attachment 117166 View attachment 117167

A1.
The tap itself sits outside of the font and is relatively un-refrigerated. From our testing larger thermal mass ends up in more wasted beer overall. If you really want to test this yourself you can easily add a large heat sink to the tap itself and I am fairly confident you will be really quite unhappy with the results. Would be keen for you to try this for yourself and then let us know what you think.

A2.
Between the two o-rings and on the outside of the rotating barrel you have a gap that we would not really what we would call ideal as it fills with liquid and this liquid sits in this gap indefinitely. The tap has a few other similar types of cracks that also have a similar issue.

A3.
That parts list for the Rototap is not complete. Once you take apart both part 5 and the part 6 assembly you will end up with a higher part count than the current Intertap SS tap. The new Nukatap taps will have an ever lower part count again and also be even more sanitary again.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

I was thinking a mark machined on the top of the knob, whether proud or indented. Perhaps a dot, or a line from the centre to outer edge. Or a "master spline" somehow distinct from the rest of the rest of the knurling on the side of the knob.

The outlet fitting will suffice as a reference point on the main body of the fitting.

We have come up with a number of other ideas for improvements so we are going to make a whole new mini-regulator design. We will make quite a number of changes to improve the functionality. Do you guys have any other particular improvements you want to make to this type of mini regulator. Let us know now so we can also consider these changes.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Yep. They became available about 11am yesterday, but the email notification arrived after midnight this morning.
I was refreshing my screen all day yesterday waiting for them to drop. PIcked one up along with a new corny keg and a bunch of hoses and fittings just to make sure I can install without issue. I just need to grab a water filter tap from Bunnings and then I'm going to install this on my kitchen sink, running through the wall to my Kegerator in the garage. Very excited to have cold carbonated water flowing in the kitchen. I love my Soda Stream but it's expensive and it's fiddly.
I bought a set of "syrup pump" lids off Amazon, designed to fit on a SodaStream syrup bottle and they work great. A couple of quick pumps into a glass, add the soda water and you're set.
https://www.amazon.com.au/Nifty-SP1-6-Soda-Stream-Syrup/dp/B00BTI9Z8A/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Nifty+SP1-6+Soda+Stream+Syrup+Pump(Pack+of+6)&qid=1578433123&s=home&sr=1-1
With six lids in the pack, I have six different soda flavours in the cupboard and can make up a glass of whatever I want.
With this hot weather, it will be great to have all the tonic water I can drink for G&T's!!

Thanks for that. Those pump packs look good and we did not know they were available. Would be keen to get some feedback from you about the soda carbonator lid once you have been using it for a while.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Hey Kegland, what's the permeability coefficient of the EVABARRIER tubing?

Cheers

We use a multi-layer barrier in all EVABarrier tubing. The main tubing that we pack with the kegerators is the 4mm ID tubing. With 1.5meters of tubing we found that the oxygen permeability over 6 month was undetectable which was similar to tubing sold under the Valpar brand name for more than 5 times the price. If we did longer testing eventually we would be able to find a readable threshold but in 6 weeks were not able to get a oxygen transmission reading at all so it was very close to 0. With that said in real terms we would recommend cleaning out your beer lines more regularly than 6 weeks so you should never really be going beyond this point anyway.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Bump. @KegLand-com-au if this is true, is this a new version, or just a firmware update on the 3.1 models manufactured after a certain date?

Cheers

Yes we have made this very slight adjustment and technically these new versions with the new firmware are called a 3.1.1 model. The change in the firmware is only very minor and for many home brewers you may not even require this feature. Customers have already been making consistent prize winning home brew on the BrewZilla without this feature. With that said we will sell the upgrade boards separately if you really feel this upgrade is something you want to do. Flashing the firmware is really very complicated so would recommend just replacing the board if you think it's necessary.

I am out of the office at the moment but on Monday I will check with the dates and let you know the switch from 3.1 to 3.1.1 has been done and let you know.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

@KegLand-com-au has the diaphragm pump solution suggested in the carbonation reactor instructions actually been tested? Can you give any more specific suggestions for a suitable pump? My keezer doesn't have access to a mains water supply, and I rent so I can't (neatly) fix that. Using a second keg as a reservoir is more than reasonable at our consumption rate, though, we only drink around 2L per day, so it seems like this should work.

I just don't want to either
a) spend more than I need to on a pump, or
b) buy a cheap pump that turns out to leech plasticiser into my drinking water or something

You can purchase food grade pumps that are used for water dispensing commonly in the caravan industry. The flow rate can be really slow so you can get away with quite a small pump if you only drinking 2-10 liters per day. The main reason we would recommend one of these 12v pumps in the caravan industry is that some of them are already have built in pressure switch that is also important so the pump is not running all the time. It's worth checking what the rubber is made from if you are concerned about plasticises but any good caravan supplier should be able to supply you this information.

I am not specifically recommending this supplier but just having a quick look on ebay this particular style of diaphragm pump is cheap, available and we have purchased some like this that have been surprisingly reliable:
https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?...in+Self-Priming+Caravan+Camping+Boat&_sacat=0

As we do not supply this pump it's best if you check with the pump supplier if it contains plasticises.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

@KegLand-com-au Any chance you know of a single piece CGA320/Sodastream adapter, preferably one with a pin adjustment like your regular adapters? I've been searching high and low on all the usual suspects and yet to find a single CGA320 adapter.

Can you give us a bit more information on what you are wanting to do with this device. We might have a solution in a new product that we are making at the moment. What parts are you trying to connect together.

 

[splitice]

@KegLand-com-au Sodastream bottle for a minikeg setup direct off a check valve (it's about the perfect height). Sodastream -> reg -> mfl -> gas check valve.

Played around with your mini reg and a eBay adapter to Sodastream but the lack of pin control makes it suck.

 

[dkril]

We have come up with a number of other ideas for improvements so we are going to make a whole new mini-regulator design. We will make quite a number of changes to improve the functionality. Do you guys have any other particular improvements you want to make to this type of mini regulator. Let us know now so we can also consider these changes.

I was referring to the FC disconnect in the post you quoted, but since you asked....

• Better retention of the nylon washer. Damn things keep trying to run away! So far only one has escaped . If not, could you make the washers readily available as a spare part like the $2 10 pack of keg post o-rings
  
• Instead of having to use a barb fitting if you want/need to use hose, could you fit an MFL to the reg so duotight fittings can be used?

If I think of anything else, I'll post here again.

 

[f00b4r]

We have come up with a number of other ideas for improvements so we are going to make a whole new mini-regulator design. We will make quite a number of changes to improve the functionality. Do you guys have any other particular improvements you want to make to this type of mini regulator. Let us know now so we can also consider these changes.

Don’t worry about the bells and whistles on this one, from what I have seen (from all the various manufacturers) you want to be spending 99% of the engineering/quality effort on making them more reliable. If you can do this then you will probably find there is a much bigger demand for them.

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

We have come up with a number of other ideas for improvements so we are going to make a whole new mini-regulator design. We will make quite a number of changes to improve the functionality. Do you guys have any other particular improvements you want to make to this type of mini regulator. Let us know now so we can also consider these changes.

I don't like the way the adjustment knob is exposed the way it is. Maybe some sort of recessed adjustment screw which the 'key' is attached to the reg by a lanyard. It is very easily knocked when moving around and the idea of these is for portable setups.

Not sure if it's possible to intergrate a on/off valve in there as well. I don't like relying on the reg to be the off switch when not in use. Maybe this is something that could be looked into for the SS bottle valves instead. I've got a paintball cylinder that has an on/off valve in it which works well but I just rely on the reg on my SS bottle to shut the gas off. I might be paranoid but I just feel better when I can close off the bottle in case a leak occurs.

Also what f00b4r mentioned, make them more durable. We've seen on here and other places that they can be a bit prone to failure.

 

[Engibeer]

I was referring to the FC disconnect in the post you quoted, but since you asked....

• Better retention of the nylon washer. Damn things keep trying to run away! So far only one has escaped . If not, could you make the washers readily available as a spare part like the $2 10 pack of keg post o-rings
  
• Instead of having to use a barb fitting if you want/need to use hose, could you fit an MFL to the reg so duotight fittings can be used?

If I think of anything else, I'll post here again.

Agree with the o-ring comment.

However, I have one of these on mine https://www.kegland.com.au/duotight-8mm-5-16-x-1-4-bsp-male-with-seated-o-ring.html

 

[fdsaasdf]

Not sure if it's possible to intergrate a on/off valve in there as well. I don't like relying on the reg to be the off switch when not in use. Maybe this is something that could be looked into for the SS bottle valves instead. I've got a paintball cylinder that has an on/off valve in it which works well but I just rely on the reg on my SS bottle to shut the gas off. I might be paranoid but I just feel better when I can close off the bottle in case a leak occurs.

I 100% agree with the need for a valve, for fixed and portable setups, as I don't trust having to turn the reg down (and with a portable setup you often want to make fine adjustments / leak test when you set everything up).

I have raised this with KK and KL in the past, however neither seemed interested in including the outlet ball valve with the regulator. I have a very old KK reg that came with a 1/4" valve and have subsequently fitted ball valves to each of my other regs.