KegLand Questions and Answers

[Coalminer]

I bought 6 x 20L HDPE dangerous goods cubes in early 2013
I have used them for 207 brews.
Thats an average of 34 brews each and still going strong
cost $72 - $12 each
That works out at about 35 cents each brew and nil transport costs either and they are always in stock

 

[Coalminer]

Sorry Rob
I was typing as you posted

 

[malt and barley blues]

I agree that on the face they appear to be a more economical investment for people, and the fact they are somewhat reusable is a bonus. However, as I stated earlier those people who view this as a single use item for dispensable fermenting or hot cubing should think about the environmental factors.

Also, I would imagine most people use their hot cubes more than a dozen times if they are seriously into no chill brewing, so I don't think your statement that people use hot cubes less than that is correct.

Moving on from that, if you look at the bans on single use plastic bags at supermarkets, that came about from the incredible amount of wastage from them. As you are aware you can now purchase reusable plastic bags. Sure, they probably weigh more but I would argue they are more environmentally responsible then the single use bags.

Oh, and if you want to comment about packaging, why do you then have all of your products manufactured in China which is notorious for not abiding by environmental laws, and then shipping it to Australia by boat, as opposed to the HDPE cubes many of which are manufactured here in Australia.

So no, I don't think brewers should take comfort in throwing out these bags as single use items. I'm sure you take comfort in it from a money making aspect, but that's shameful.

Additionally HDPE cubes can be recycled, so can glass and aluminum cans that most beer comes in from the bottle shop, so stating that you think people using single use plastic bags is somehow more environmentally friendly as opposed to recycling their glass bottles boggles my mind. Distilling down your argument:

HDPE cubes get used less than a dozen times by brewers (highly unlikely)
The bags weigh less than a HDPE cube so are better for the environment (false)
People throwing out plastic bladders is better than buying commercial beer in glass / aluminum packing (false)
Manufacturing plastic bladders in china and shipping them to Australia is better than using reusable, recyclable Australian made HDPE cubes (false)

As usual comes down to $$$$$ in the coffers of the distributor. There will be a tidy profit on bladders. Not so on cubes.

 

[Nullnvoid]

what do you do, just a little bit and shake it round?

i fill them up and let them sit there and think about what they've done for a day or so (or a couple of weeks...)

I normally put a kettle full in and top it up another litre or so with hot. Then shake like Cray Cray. Then turn it on its lid for as long as I forget then turn it back onto its bottom and just shake when I feel like it.

But I'll say this, I have been home for 7 months so I have more time to pop down to the garage go shake and then. And also I hose/rinse out before I perc

 

[S.E]

Why would you not do the same in a HDPE cube?

You can’t no chill and ferment in a HDPE cube because they need to be filled completely for the no chill bit. With the bags you don’t need to completely fill them with wort so can leave a headspace for fermenting. I have pointed this out a few times to @KegLand-com-au now but they seem to be ignoring me for some reason?

 

[S.E]

I normally put a kettle full in and top it up another litre or so with hot. Then shake like Cray Cray.

That’s more or less how I clean real ale cubes with caustic or sodium percarbonate. With polypins I just part fill them and leave them overnight with a few litres of caustic as sod perc inflates them so the surface is not fully in contact.

 

[Nullnvoid]

That’s more or less how I clean real ale cubes with caustic or sodium percarbonate. With polypins I just part fill them and leave them overnight with a few litres of caustic as sod perc inflates them so the surface is not fully in contact.

Yeah sorry full kettle and perc.

Also I reread what I wrote and not much of it makes sense. So have a drink or two and it will

 

[GrumpyPaul]

Ok. I think the point has been made. If you wish to have an ongoing discussion about the environmental impacts of this or any other product please start another thread.

The point has been put Kegland and they've answered.

Let's leave it at that so as not to derail the thread.

 

[GrumpyPaul]

Sorry, @philrob

Didn't see you had already jumped in on this one.

I've deleted any unnecessary posts after KL responded.

Any further posts flaming that particular fire will be deleted too.

 

[S.E]

Yeah sorry full kettle and perc.

Also I reread what I wrote and not much of it makes sense. So have a drink or two and it will

It made perfect sense to me. Hadn’t noticed the error in your post. Only see it now you have pointed it out. Hadn’t even had a drink when I replied.

 

[Bourkie]

Thanks for the feedback on the Webinar. I did not think many Australian people had seen this. It was originally produced for our European customers and it was done live at 2am in Australia. The guys at olbrygging.no have now uploaded this to youtube if any of you guys want to watch it:
(video broke sponsor rules)
It's a long video but it covers some cool new stuff that is in the pipeline.

The BrewZilla Gen 4 definitely will not be finished until next year. Sorry about this. We still have more work to do on this but we think it's quite possible this is finished early 2021. It's now on the top of our priority list to get completed so this is getting pushed along quite fast.

I'm a massive fan of David Heath and Kegland, so it was a perfect match really.

Thanks for the update on the timeline for the 4.0. I thought it was too close to Christmas for it to be released this year, but definitely really keen to wait for the additional features in the 4.0 coming out next year. I'm also really, really excited as you move into the IoT space.

Is there any timeframes on the digital hydrometer? All good if there's not, but thought I'd ask.

 

[Sidney Harbour-Bridge]

Will this tap Fermenter Tap - Adjustable Spout with Bulkhead fit the cap on these bladders? 10 x 20L Hot Fill Wine/Wort Cask Bladder - Hot Cube Alternative (Irradiated)

 

[jobson292]

It seems like this is the general consensus so we will continue to develop the product with a 12vDC/240VAC option in that case. Given that people will use this for camping etc and be using it off-grid battery situation we will also make sure it's very electrically efficient. We will probably use one of the Danfoss/Secop Compressors.

Perfect, the Danfoss compressors are pretty good for all around use and used in a lot of commercial car fridges. The engels use a Japanese-made sawafuji swing motor that is highly efficient and I've had mine keep the beers cold in 50 degree temperatures in the middle of the desert. I think they would most likely add a fair amount to the price though so the German danfoss is probably the best bet at the right price point

 

[kadmium]

I was wondering if it's possible to change the colour of the buttons of the items that are in stock on the website? It's a small gripe but when you are looking through something like the yeast page, it's hard to quickly tell what's in stock and what's not without reading the actual button. Perhaps red (current colour) for out of stock and maybe green or blue or something else for in stock. Just a thought to optimise it a little.

 

[djebel]

Did my first pickup from the new site the other day. Looked good (as much as I could see in the dark). Couple of points:

• you need a more conspicuous sign to point the way to the pickup lockers. Might be OK during the day, but I struggled to find it in the dark.
• The keypad to let you into the locker area is in shadow. I had to use my phone torch to see the keypad while I was reading the code off the screen.

 

[Engibeer]

Can you guys please make a round metal pizza turning peel?

I can't believe they're all on the market for around $100!!

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Any chance of getting in Samba hops and the Pink Boots 2020? (Pink Boots Blend | Yakima Chief Hops)

Also would love more cryo anything you can get. Holy shit it makes beer good.

No worries at all. Has anyone tried this Pink Boopts Blend? I have not had the pleasure yet. We will have to test it out and see what it's like so we can determine if it's something we can take on. We are considering increasing the range of Cryo hops and we seem to be getting good reports from our customers so if it's good it's quite likely that you will see it added to the range.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Can you guys please make a round metal pizza turning peel?

I can't believe they're all on the market for around $100!!

No worries. We are looking at some Pizza gear at the moment. I will talk to the others about this. What size were you thinking?

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Did my first pickup from the new site the other day. Looked good (as much as I could see in the dark). Couple of points:

• you need a more conspicuous sign to point the way to the pickup lockers. Might be OK during the day, but I struggled to find it in the dark.
• The keypad to let you into the locker area is in shadow. I had to use my phone torch to see the keypad while I was reading the code off the screen.

No worries. That's a fair point. We will organise some more spotlights. That's fairly straight forward. Thanks for the feedback. We will add a spotlight so it's pointing to the pickup sign and then another one where the keypad is.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

You can’t no chill and ferment in a HDPE cube because they need to be filled completely for the no chill bit. With the bags you don’t need to completely fill them with wort so can leave a headspace for fermenting. I have pointed this out a few times to @KegLand-com-au now but they seem to be ignoring me for some reason?

Sorry about that. Yes this is probably quite a good idea. We have not tried this yet but I will give this a go and see how easy it is to do this. Muntons did come up with a similar idea with this product:
https://www.muntons.com/brew-in-a-bag/
Just out of interest have any of you other guys had much success fermenting in bladders before. For instance the All In Brewing kits come in bladders. Has anyone used these for fermenting in?