KegLand Questions and Answers

[Nullnvoid]

Thanks for that. We certainly need product testers for this type of stuff so we can get feedback before the product is released to the public.

This 8L keg system and mini fridge is a really exciting product and it's one of the products that I am personally looking forward to. I hope that it will get a lot of customers into home brewing that perhaps cant be bothered with bottling but then also cant justify the space of a traditional Series X Kegerator.

Also, given that so many customers go camping in Australia I was thinking about possibly making a 12v model of the above fridge too. Do you guys think this would be something you would want?

12Volt for camping would be the ducks nuts!! Take my money!

 

[fdsaasdf]

If it's 100L struck capacity you could just about get away with 2 X 2400W/10A elements in separate circuits, which I think is what Brewtools have done. It'll take a while, but should get there. If it's 100L of finished beer then 6.5kW is about the right number. That could be done with a triple element, either running each element in series on single phase or separately on 3 phase - I assume there will be two models to choose from if this is the case.

It'll presumably sell far fewer units to homebrewers than the 35L or 65L because of those requirements, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't make it anyway if the business case stacks up.

I had to upgrade my mainline and switchboard as part of a renovation, it was about $400 extra to upgrade to 3 phase rather than just higher capacity single phase, and allowed me to run a larger capacity solar PV system so I went ahead with that. Fortunately for me my brewery is about two feet from my switchboard so I got 3 X 20A outlets installed (one on each phase) to run my current gear, and can reasonably cheaply get a 3 phase outlet installed as well if I need it. So yeah it's not the most common thing to have a 3 phase house (although I suspect it's becoming more common in newer builds), but if it's available on the street it could be an upgrade option.

Similar to you I've put 15 & 20A points in my last 2 places; the first one was under $200 for a 30cm run off the switchboard during a major reno, and at this one it was part of a few grand of work we were getting done - I now have 2 dedicated circuits for the brewery. The house already had a 3 phase supply (and 3 phase points in the back shed that is a long way from the house) so at least I have capacity to burn. 3 phase is everywhere in my semi-rural area but I know it's much less common in established residential suburbs. I also have >12kWh solar PV so running a bunch of fridges and brewing during the day hasn't lead to any questions from the boss about "how much does this all cost to run?"...

@KegLand-com-au As far as the proposed bigger 1V unit goes, I'd certainly upgrade for a bottom-draining 100L vessel that needed up to 25A (split across 2x 15A plugs if that was necessary and electrically certified) but probably wouldn't go for anything needing 30A+.

Thanks for that. We certainly need product testers for this type of stuff so we can get feedback before the product is released to the public.

This 8L keg system and mini fridge is a really exciting product and it's one of the products that I am personally looking forward to. I hope that it will get a lot of customers into home brewing that perhaps cant be bothered with bottling but then also cant justify the space of a traditional Series X Kegerator.

Also, given that so many customers go camping in Australia I was thinking about possibly making a 12v model of the above fridge too. Do you guys think this would be something you would want?

I would certainly be in the market for a 12/240V camping-style model that took a 9L corny as long as it could get to 0 degrees and had an inbuilt circulation fan. I already sit a 9L corny in my 45L Waeco fridge for the odd camping trip or bbq (food is usually relegated to the esky). If you go down the path of making a fridge that fits the 8L or 12L mini kegs then please make sure it fits a small corny (and ideally one with the soda carbonator lid installed).

As an aside, I'd probably be able to purchase a benchtop fridge as a dedicated soda water dispenser for the office - you might find there is an untapped market here in general.

 

[GrumpyPaul]

12Volt for camping would be the ducks nuts!! Take my money!

You don't have any money

 

[Fry]

Bit of debate over the simple question of what power it will need!
I'm very close to signing our new houses building contract. 3 phase in a new build is almost a no brainer imo so will be getting that.
Building a small dedicated brewing area which will have 15a.
Still tossing up if we will put 32a in the garage for future EV charging. I don't mind paying a bit extra now to future proof the house to a certain point. If the 100L will need it then I'm leaning towards putting one in.
All this is heaps easier and cheaper to be planned for and installed during the build obviously!

 

[Ballaratguy]

Thanks for that. We certainly need product testers for this type of stuff so we can get feedback before the product is released to the public.

This 8L keg system and mini fridge is a really exciting product and it's one of the products that I am personally looking forward to. I hope that it will get a lot of customers into home brewing that perhaps cant be bothered with bottling but then also cant justify the space of a traditional Series X Kegerator.

Also, given that so many customers go camping in Australia I was thinking about possibly making a 12v model of the above fridge too. Do you guys think this would be something you would want?

I’d definitely be interested in the 12 v version and would be awesome if it was 12/240v and 9.5Lt capacity
As a retired guy who home brews and also does a lot of camping this would be awesome and I would love to test one for you in various locations around this great country. (That is IF we are ever allowed to travel around the country again)

 

[jobson292]

Thanks for that. We certainly need product testers for this type of stuff so we can get feedback before the product is released to the public.

This 8L keg system and mini fridge is a really exciting product and it's one of the products that I am personally looking forward to. I hope that it will get a lot of customers into home brewing that perhaps cant be bothered with bottling but then also cant justify the space of a traditional Series X Kegerator.

Also, given that so many customers go camping in Australia I was thinking about possibly making a 12v model of the above fridge too. Do you guys think this would be something you would want?

Hi Guys

Like I said in the email. A 240/12v system would be fantastic. I'd be in for one for sure and reiterate my earlier offer of being a tester.

Regards
MJ

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Hey @KegLand-com-au I just noticed you guys have an R0 water tap at the pick up area. First of all, great idea and thanks heaps. I like that alot.

Secondly, what's the kind of flow rate if you happen to know? Like if I wanted to fill 2 x 20L cubes?

Sorry about this. I missed this question before. The Free RO Water is now dispensed using a pressure activated pump so it's faster than it used to be. I think the filling rate is about 5-10 liters per minute. It varies a bit depending on the pump cutting in and out so it's hard to give you an exact number.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

I’d definitely be interested in the 12 v version and would be awesome if it was 12/240v and 9.5Lt capacity
As a retired guy who home brews and also does a lot of camping this would be awesome and I would love to test one for you in various locations around this great country. (That is IF we are ever allowed to travel around the country again)

You can put one of the 9.5L kegs into this fridge design but if you do this it will only fit one. It's hard to make a fridge that is really suited to all keg types. One of our design objectives was to make this design fit onto a standard counter top so it's a bit difficult to meet the 600mm deep and 300mm wide requirement if we use 2 x 9.5L corny keg.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Definitely be interested in it if had built in 12v/240v like most 4wd fridges.

I haven't watched the webinar; is there any reason you couldn't make it take 9.5L cornies instead of 8L mini kegs? It would open up a much wider market.

Hi Guys

Like I said in the email. A 240/12v system would be fantastic. I'd be in for one for sure and reiterate my earlier offer of being a tester.

Regards
MJ

No worries. We will investigate the 12V model options. This will be a bit more expensive as the 12v/240v compressors with suitable controller do add about $60 to the cost. So the standard 240 only model might be about $300 and the 12v/240v model would be about $360 or something like that.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Bit of debate over the simple question of what power it will need!
I'm very close to signing our new houses building contract. 3 phase in a new build is almost a no brainer imo so will be getting that.
Building a small dedicated brewing area which will have 15a.
Still tossing up if we will put 32a in the garage for future EV charging. I don't mind paying a bit extra now to future proof the house to a certain point. If the 100L will need it then I'm leaning towards putting one in.
All this is heaps easier and cheaper to be planned for and installed during the build obviously!

For the BrewZilla Gen 4 100L model you will be able to use 20amp three phase or 28amp single phase to run this. To switch between the two designs you will need to make some minor modifications to the wiring. We have not decided which wiring to make the standard yet. As it's a resistive load it really makes no difference which one you run it on.

 

[Nullnvoid]

You don't have any money

It's hypothetical money....

 

[onemorecell]

I used these guys the other day: 10 x 20L Hot Fill Wine/Wort Cask Bladder - Hot Cube Alternative (Irradiated)

The good:
- Nice to throw out after you're done with it and not have to worry about cleaning
- Works the same as a cube.
- Surprisingly easy to fill.
- Easy to minimise oxygen if you don't quite fill up 20L - looks like it does a much better job than kicking the air out of a cube.

The not so good:
- Hot as ****, making it hard to move after filling. I was scared to drag it, so kind of flopped it over itself. Would fill on a matt next time so could just drag the matt + bag out of the way somewhere.
- Was pretty hard to put the lid on, but probably get used to that pretty quickly.
- Bit difficult to pour into the fermenter; made a bit of a mess so would recommend doing it outside. I did a beer without only a small amount 'cube' hops so I could pour straight in. If it had lots of cube hops, I don't know how you'd go filtering them out (I use a sieve normally).
- You're throwing out more plastic.

Overall, I like it except for the extra plastic usage, which does suck a bit.
Toss up between saving water (no cleaning) vs more plastic in the environment I guess.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Let me draw 6.5KW from a domestic circuit and burn my house down. Wonder if its covered by the warranty...

If you have an electric oven/electric hob it would not be much different to this power draw. So it's quite normal for people to have this type of power available but you might need an electrician to make some modifications. The easiest way to solve it is to just get rid of your oven and plug the brewery into your kitchen instead.

 

[fdsaasdf]

You can put one of the 9.5L kegs into this fridge design but if you do this it will only fit one. It's hard to make a fridge that is really suited to all keg types. One of our design objectives was to make this design fit onto a standard counter top so it's a bit difficult to meet the 600mm deep and 300mm wide requirement if we use 2 x 9.5L corny keg.

1 of the 9.5L corny kegs is fine by me. As per my question above, will it fit a corny with your carbonator lid?

 

[KegLand-com-au]

So 8L an hour? I'm talking flow rate not how much they average.

Sorry about that. I thought you were talking about the flow rate of our Free RO water that we hooked up at our warehouse. For those of you who dont know we have Free RO water for customers so when you pick up an order from us you get free RO water at the same time. This flows at a fairly fast rate.

Sounds like you are talking about this unit though:
https://www.kegland.com.au/reverse-...ll-mount-50gpd-removes-fluoride-chlorine.htmlThis one does about 8 Liters an hour but the rate will vary depending on your water pressure and condition of the filters.

As Melbourne water is pretty good your filters will last a long time. Even after several thousand litters through the one that we tested we saw no reduction in performance.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

1 of the 9.5L corny kegs is fine by me. As per my question above, will it fit a corny with your carbonator lid?

We are making some specific carbonation reactors that are only 2L in size that fit into this fridge. So this will enable you to fit 1 x 8L keg and then the carbonation reactor at the same time. Alternatively I think some Cafe's or commercial venues might end up using these 8L fridges as a cold water and sparkling water too. We are in the process of working out some solutions like this at the same time.

Alternatively if you would prefer to use the 9.5L corny keg then YES it will fit this with the carbonation lid too but you just will not fit any other kegs in at the same time.

 

[fdsaasdf]

We are making some specific carbonation reactors that are only 2L in size that fit into this fridge. So this will enable you to fit 1 x 8L keg and then the carbonation reactor at the same time. Alternatively I think some Cafe's or commercial venues might end up using these 8L fridges as a cold water and sparkling water too. We are in the process of working out some solutions like this at the same time.

Alternatively if you would prefer to use the 9.5L corny keg then YES it will fit this with the carbonation lid too but you just will not fit any other kegs in at the same time.

Thanks, sounds like a winner for me.

Do you think a 2L carbonation reactor would provide enough of a supply for average usage? We go through 3+L of soda water a day in this house, and would easily do 10 between us in the office.

 

[ozdevil]

If you have an electric oven/electric hob it would not be much different to this power draw. So it's quite normal for people to have this type of power available but you might need an electrician to make some modifications. The easiest way to solve it is to just get rid of your oven and plug the brewery into your kitchen instead.

this is how i run my 65l of the Stove power point but its only a 20 amp gpo

 

[Nullnvoid]

I used these guys the other day: 10 x 20L Hot Fill Wine/Wort Cask Bladder - Hot Cube Alternative (Irradiated)

The good:
- Nice to throw out after you're done with it and not have to worry about cleaning
- Works the same as a cube.
- Surprisingly easy to fill.
- Easy to minimise oxygen if you don't quite fill up 20L - looks like it does a much better job than kicking the air out of a cube.

The not so good:
- Hot as ****, making it hard to move after filling. I was scared to drag it, so kind of flopped it over itself. Would fill on a matt next time so could just drag the matt + bag out of the way somewhere.
- Was pretty hard to put the lid on, but probably get used to that pretty quickly.
- Bit difficult to pour into the fermenter; made a bit of a mess so would recommend doing it outside. I did a beer without only a small amount 'cube' hops so I could pour straight in. If it had lots of cube hops, I don't know how you'd go filtering them out (I use a sieve normally).
- You're throwing out more plastic.

Overall, I like it except for the extra plastic usage, which does suck a bit.
Toss up between saving water (no cleaning) vs more plastic in the environment I guess.

That's really good information!

When you say easy to fill...how did you fill it? Did you create any contraptions to hold the neck of the bladder or you didn't find that necessary?

Also grey deer about putting it on a mat to then drag it around. That would work wonderfully well for cubes as well! Genius!

I haven't used mine yet as I ran out of base malt, but feel a brew day coming up once the sacks of base malt turn up!

 

[GrumpyPaul]

That's really good information!

When you say easy to fill...how did you fill it? Did you create any contraptions to hold the neck of the bladder or you didn't find that necessary?

Also grey deer about putting it on a mat to then drag it around. That would work wonderfully well for cubes as well! Genius!

I haven't used mine yet as I ran out of base malt, but feel a brew day coming up once the sacks of base malt turn up!

If I cant find a grey deer....will a brown cow do?