KegLand Questions and Answers

[Malted Mick]

I have the KegLand BrewZilla 35l and use it with with malt pipe plus the fine stainless steal mesh as well. While mashing I run the pump to maintain temperature in the mash bed. Most times the pump blocks with some grain getting through I'm guessing between the malt pipe and the bottom screen in the malt pipe ? I do stir a couple of times while mashing. Is this something anyone else is experiencing? Something I'm doing wrong?

More likely though the overflow or malt pipe handle holes. I use plugs in the handle holes, are you sure the grist is not going through these? Seems unlikely the grist would get past the screen. I have not had a pump blockage with the same screen set up as you.

 

[peternew_za]

More likely though the overflow or malt pipe handle holes. I use plugs in the handle holes, are you sure the grist is not going through these? Seems unlikely the grist would get past the screen. I have not had a pump blockage with the same screen set up as you.

Thanks for the reply. I use the top screen as well when using the pump - so was hoping that would prevent any suck back in the pump pipe. And I use the plug in the overflow pipe when filling the malt pipe with grain. The overflow goes down the overflow pipe if draining through the grain bed so I don't think it is reaching the level of the handle holes. But something for me to check. Maybe grain is getting through the malt pipe handle holes while I'm pouring the dry grain in initially.

 

[theSeekerr]

Maybe grain is getting through the malt pipe handle holes while I'm pouring the dry grain in initially.

I use a little alfoil around the rim to cover that gap and the handle holes while mashing in.

 

[Warwick]

@KegLand-com-au

1) Did I hear right that you guys are making a new quick disconnect? If so, what improvements are coming?
2) Are there any plans to get stuck back in to the new FC quick disconnect? I acknowledge and appreciate the FC Nukataps were priority to make and market but I'm sure I'm not alone here when I say I have a pretty big demand for the FC disconnect, specifically for soda water dispensing and portable keg tap systems.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

@KegLand-com-au

Now we have made it to 2021 and you have started shipping the Series X Plus (does it include the regulator board mounting points internally?), I thought I'd ask again about updated time frame for the RAPT Fermentation Chamber?

I am desperately waiting for the RAPT chamber to become available.

We have been unable to find the perfect solution for the mounting point for the gas board. One of our customers had the idea of removing the cylinder bracket then using the screws for the cylinder bracket to screw the gas board and cylinder bracket together. You just have to get a screw that is about 12mm longer than the one that comes on the back of the kegerator.

Once we get ontop of the back orders of Series X Plus we are going to come back to this and then revise the tooling to see if we can make some more mounting options work. Definitely if the gas board goes inside the fridge it will reduce the ability to hold 8 kegs.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Best bet might be taking it to a place that deals with high pressure cylinders, they might be able to de-pressurise the cylinder and replace the stem assembly.

If not it might be easier and safer to just buy a new cylinder.

If this has happened to you then the spindle has been sheered off. Sometimes it's not necessarily your fault. It can also get damaged during the CO2 refilling process or when the cylinder is used by a different customer. It's easy to replace and you can see the part and instructions here:

Replacement Spindle for - CO2 Cylinder Valve

It's probably under warranty so you can probably just dig up the purchase invoice and lodge a claim if you purchased directly from us.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

@KegLand-com-au

1) Did I hear right that you guys are making a new quick disconnect? If so, what improvements are coming?
2) Are there any plans to get stuck back in to the new FC quick disconnect? I acknowledge and appreciate the FC Nukataps were priority to make and market but I'm sure I'm not alone here when I say I have a pretty big demand for the FC disconnect, specifically for soda water dispensing and portable keg tap systems.

1. Yes we are making a new type of quick disconnect that will be compatible with all the existing ball lock stuff but be more compact, easier to clean, be able to handle higher pressures and have better chemical resistance. We are also making the duotight fitting integrated into the disconnect and also making it easier to fit other products to it. (for instance a new mini tap). We have not publicly spoken about this new product much at all yet but it's about time that the humble plastic ball lock disconnect saw some innovation and a re-design. You can see the product really briefly 14:57min into this video here:


2. Yes the FC ball lock disconnect is also getting finished. We are using some of the parts from the new duotight ball lock disconnect in the FC disconnect so we really wanted to design this first before we started making the FC ball lock disconnect version.

So hopefully both of these products will be released sometime later this year.

 

[RRising]

@KegLand-com-au

Any update or ETA on the RAPT Pill?

 

[contrarian]

We have been unable to find the perfect solution for the mounting point for the gas board. One of our customers had the idea of removing the cylinder bracket then using the screws for the cylinder bracket to screw the gas board and cylinder bracket together. You just have to get a screw that is about 12mm longer than the one that comes on the back of the kegerator.

Once we get ontop of the back orders of Series X Plus we are going to come back to this and then revise the tooling to see if we can make some more mounting options work. Definitely if the gas board goes inside the fridge it will reduce the ability to hold 8 kegs.

In my keg fridge I don't have a board like this but I do have a 5 way manifold that I have mounted to the roof of the fridge inside. Would this be an option? It might making adjustment a little bit fiddlier but that would be the case for anywhere in a fridge full of kegs.

 

[dkril]

Space wise could it be mounted on the inside of the door?

 

[KegLand-com-au]

@KegLand-com-au

Any update or ETA on the RAPT Pill?

I think RAPT Pill Hydrometer will be released at some stage after July this year. We are getting new boards made up to further optimise the wifi signal strength. As the date gets closer I should be able to provide a more accurate release date. The injection moulded housing is already finished which is made from Tritan. We just would like to make some small improvements to the software and electronics.

 

[postmaster]

@KegLand-com-au
Any update on the Rapt fridge, I would be looking at 2 of them

 

[Keano16]

Looking for suggestions on mounting my Coolosus counter flow chiller to my stainless bench. What is the best way to mount to ensure it fully drains after cooling?

 

[cb341982]

O.K. Kegland I've got a bit a multi part question about Reverse Osmosis Water Storage for you. Is it possible to have your Reverse Osmosis Water Filter setup so that it feeds into a 60L All Rounder through a pressure lid with a Duotight Flow Stopper on the gas post so as once the All Rounder is full, it will stop the water flow? Also would there be enough pressure from the outlet of the R.O. filter to overcome a duotight one way check valve? R.O. water storage tanks are too small for a brewer's needs without spending mega bucks so I was just wondering if I could do it with unconventional parts

 

[golfandbrew]

O.K. Kegland I've got a bit a multi part question about Reverse Osmosis Water Storage for you. Is it possible to have your Reverse Osmosis Water Filter setup so that it feeds into a 60L All Rounder through a pressure lid with a Duotight Flow Stopper on the gas post so as once the All Rounder is full, it will stop the water flow? Also would there be enough pressure from the outlet of the R.O. filter to overcome a duotight one way check valve? R.O. water storage tanks are too small for a brewer's needs without spending mega bucks so I was just wondering if I could do it with unconventional parts

Are you not on municipal water? Seems like a lot of fussing around considering Melbourne has great water for brewing once you get the chlorine out.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

@KegLand-com-au

Any update or ETA on the RAPT Pill?

We still have a bit more optimisation work to do on the RAPT Pill. My best guess is that this should be finished by about May/June this year.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

@KegLand-com-au
Any update on the Rapt fridge, I would be looking at 2 of them

These are really coming along well now. We made some final changes to the injection moulds recently and I think we should have the first shipment of the RAPT fermentation chamber available in end of May this year.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Looking for suggestions on mounting my Coolosus counter flow chiller to my stainless bench. What is the best way to mount to ensure it fully drains after cooling?

It drains out fairly well just sitting flat on the bench. It's difficult to make this product drain out completely but with that said it's not that important anyway. As long as you give it a good rinse out at the end of the brew day that's all that really matters.

We have been considering putting a mounting bar on this product as shown in the image below. It would only cost a few extra bucks to do this but I think it would make the product a lot easier to mount.

At the moment the other way to mound this is to use pipe clamps like this.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Are you not on municipal water? Seems like a lot of fussing around considering Melbourne has great water for brewing once you get the chlorine out.

If you really want to get very consistent results it's hard to hone in the recipe with town water as it varies through the year and the report gives such wide range of values it's not useful. Yes you can probably make good beer but without it with some variation from batch to batch. If you really want to make highly consistent beer RO is really the best option. If any of you guys just find water chemistry too complicated then simply use Brewfather. This software makes it really easy and Nathan did a great video on this here. We do give free RO water away at our Distribution Centre at (410 Princes Hwy, Noble Park North) so if you live in the area bring your tanks or whatever and fill them up for free.

Now with your question about putting some type of flow stopper/float switch or something like that to block the output this is not a good idea. When the output of the RO water system is blocked water will continue to flow and get diverted into the drain so this would be a waste of water. You could use the fill-o-meter on the input side of the RO Water System however you must remember this would measure total water into the filter including the waste water not volume of good RO water collected. This would however be much better than nothing and still be really useful.

If you wanted to go one step further than this then I would recommend getting an inexpensive float switch that looks like this:

Then use a power supply and one of these inexpensive solenoid valves and then install using this inexpensive 1/4 water tubing. So put the float switch into the bucket/brewery or vessel you want to fill the use the solenoid valve to turn off the water supply into the RO water system. This will be the most efficient and reliable way to solve the problem but you will need to do some basic wiring yourself.

I should also mention that if you have back pressure into the vessel you are filling up (such as going into a Fermzilla) this will also effect the efficiency of the RO membrane so it's also not a good idea. It's really best to come out of the RO vessel and straight into a bucket or unpressurised container or into the brewery directly. Higher pressure differential into and out of the RO filter will give you better efficiency, faster flow, and reduce waste water.

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

@KegLand-com-au couple of quick ones.

What does RAPT stand for?

And in relation to your supply of ro water, what do you do with the waste water from the filtering process?