KegLand Questions and Answers

[KegLand-com-au]

I am all in for this idea!

Also @KegLand-com-au are the digital pressure gauges looking like the will be on track for late November?

Cheers

It looks like we are going to change the software on these to save more battery power so we might have a small delay on the digital gauges.

We really want to ensure that the battery lasts at least 6 months but with some changes to the software I think we can get the battery to last more than 1 year and if you only check the pressure once 2 times a week then you can probably get 2-3 years from the one button cell battery. It attractive option to sell them like they are now as we can start recouping the development cost but I think if you guys can just wait slightly longer this further optimisation will really be worth waiting just one more month.

So we might hold off on the release until late December or early Jan.

 

[Mick Chopps]

@KegLand-com-au

You guys doing the 4 tap matte black font towers at all? No ETA at all on the website.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Hey mate i got this 6000L?H pump off ebay for $50 and it works awesome with a CIP
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1500-60...84520|ampid:PL_CLK|clp:2334524&frcectupt=true

Yes that is probably ok but my only small gripe with these pumps is that they are often made from ABS and if you happen to accidentally get concentrated phosphoric acid or Stellarsan or Starsan on the pump it will dissolve the plastic. Also these types of pumps are not good for hot liquids and will probably fail with hot 100C water. So if we could make a CIP solution that uses the commonly used magnetic drive pumps that meet these requirements I think this would be our preference.

 

[RRising]

@KegLand-com-au

Probably an odd request but can you list the ingredients of your canned tomatoes, i have a friend who is allergic to citric acid (330-335) and 99% of tinned tomatoes and sauces have it in as a cheap preservative.

These might be a good alternative for her as she loves anything tomato.

 

[Warwick]

@KegLand-com-au any ETA for the adapter that suits your 74g bulb? Mini Core 360 Adaptor for 74gram Cartridge/Bulb (G1/2 Male x 5/8-18UNF Female)

Bump

 

[CJW]

To be honest I think the big issue we have here is that all the current CIP spray balls are really designed for large commercial tanks that are 1meter in diameter or larger.
<snip>
Some customers just don't like the idea of plastic but I think for this application it's the way to solve the problem.

Yeah, I take your point. I guess what I am looking for is a solution, someone that provides the pump and matching spray head that will work for homebrewing and is a properly engineered and known to work.

I do like shiny stainless steel (it is a disease), but I can see the benefits of a well engineered "plastic" or polymer spray head and would consider that a reasonable compromise if matched with a suitable 240v/50Hz pump. Especially given the clearly articulated design challenges you mention.

[edit] The ideal spray head would work with regular homebrew pumps we can get in Australia.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Bump

Sorry about this. I think I missed this one. We still have a lot of brass parts that are slightly higher priority like our MK4 regulators that are out of stock again so we have been trying to clear the huge number of orders for other core product lines which has been the issue. I think by late December these 74g adaptors for the Core 360 Regulator should be available. Sorry about the long wait.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

@KegLand-com-au

Probably an odd request but can you list the ingredients of your canned tomatoes, i have a friend who is allergic to citric acid (330-335) and 99% of tinned tomatoes and sauces have it in as a cheap preservative.

These might be a good alternative for her as she loves anything tomato.

No worries. I have just uploaded a photo of the ingredients here for you:

Let me know if you need anything else.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

@KegLand-com-au

You guys doing the 4 tap matte black font towers at all? No ETA at all on the website.

We will most likely get this done eventually but it will be at least a few months.

In the meantime you could use this to cover the current 4 tap font:
https://www.kegland.com.au/insulati...tower-font-115mm-4-5-diameter-4-tap-font.html

 

[RRising]

No worries. I have just uploaded a photo of the ingredients here for you:

Let me know if you need anything else.

Awesome, thank you. I'll tell her about these.

It is amazing that nearly everything has citric acid in it because its a cheap preservative and over the years more and more food has it in.

 

[MashBasher]

To be honest I think the big issue we have here is that all the current CIP spray balls are really designed for large commercial tanks that are 1meter in diameter or larger. The issue is the spray ball design not really the pump. In larger breweries they would use a 300-1200watt pump for CIP and this size pump is expensive and really overkill. I my opinion I think what we need is a more efficiently designed CIP spray head that will spin and operate on much lower flow rate and pressure. If we were to design one that is made from plastic and work really well for tanks up to 500 mm in size I really think this is what we need in our opinion so customers can use the current 25watt and 65watt magnetic drive pumps.

It surprises me that nobody has designed a spray ball specifically for lower wattage pumps for smaller tanks.

I know a lot of you guys like stainless steel but if we make the spray ball from stainless we will then have to used bearings and because spray balls can't have lubrication in them they require a bit of pressure to get them spinning due to the resistance. If we design the spray ball from plastic we can use some slippery grades of plastic that slide well without bearing and if its quite light it will spin much more easily than stainless. If we use good quality engineering plastics we can design it to be strong, resist chemicals and boiling water. It's really just the perception of having a plastic spray ball in a nice stainless tank. Some customers just don't like the idea of plastic but I think for this application it's the way to solve the problem. Also plastic lets us use complex shapes that are difficult to machine from stainless and to get the CIP spray head to work in very low pressures we will need some complex shapes to direct the flow efficiently without loss in velocity.

Not a critique but an observation:

I have an SSBrewtech Chronical fermenter, and their 10 gal Brite tank as well. They are 304 stainless construction. Both have diameters of about 380mm.

I have their CIP ball. Checkout Newera’s website, but the same thing is on AliBaba all over the place.

I have a KeglLand bucket blaster too. Awesome bit of kit. Here’s what I do (for the fermenter):

- Whack a scoop of StellarClean into 5 lites of water in the bucket blaster
- take out the riser from the pump on the bucket blaster
- thread a camlock into the pump tee
- run a camlock to camlock hose up to the CIP ball
- put a waste out back into the bucket from the bottom port of the fermenter
- hit the power, RDWAHAHB

15 minutes later, all clean. In cases of extreme soiling, may need a wipe with a scotch brite pad (around the krausen line) and 5 minutes more CIP.

The Brite is pretty much the same, except just invert over the BB, with a line to a liquid in.

So easy. No more soaking. Absolutely clean, every time.

The moral of this story is the bucket blaster pump is adaptable. Adapt it!

 

[brisie]

Not a critique but an observation:

I have an SSBrewtech Chronical fermenter, and their 10 gal Brite tank as well. They are 304 stainless construction.

15 minutes later, all clean. In cases of extreme soiling, may need a wipe with a scotch brite pad (around the krausen line) and 5 minutes more CIP.

The Brite is pretty much the same, except just invert over the BB, with a line to a liquid in.

SS Brewtech advise never use scotch brite on stainless. Maybe a little to over padantic maybe but I'll only use soft wipes and or soak longer as they suggest.

Removing krausen deposits:

Use PBW or similar caustics as these are good at removing proteins left behind after fermentation. Best to clean your fermenters ASAP after you rack your beer out of them. If there is any stubbornness, then just let it soak a bit to allow it to work.

Removing manufacturing residues:

Caustics (like PBW) don't deal with oils and residues from manufacturing very effectively, but TSP (non-chlorinated only) does a great job at cutting residues, oils, grease, polishing waxes, that kind of stuff. If you don't have TSP available, then a good detergent is fine. Use a soft cloth only and don't use abrasive pads or cloths. Prior to passivation you should use TSP to clean first

 

[Bark0s]

The Type 1 and Type 2 were not very popular but I will see what we can do about getting them back in again. If you guys are after some bulk generic fresh wort we could talk with a few breweries and see if we can make a generic batch of "base" fresh wort that you can alter into various recipes. If we were to commit to purchasing several thousand litters we might be able to bring the price down to about $29.95 for a 20L kit of base fresh wort. This would be possible then you could dry hop it yourself. Is this something you guys want us to pursue?

I'm most definitely interested in both of the factors listed here, the ability to experiment with hops and the price! Also I like the idea of 20 litres over 16.5. Me adding 3 litres of water to a batch adds nothing but a potential contamination vector.

 

[fdsaasdf]

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.

@KegLand-com-au how is the small carbonator unit coming along. Any sign of this making it to market soon?

Also I don't think there was a reply to this query about the volume, can you update on whether you're still going for 2L and what the effective dispensing rate is for carbonated water?

 

[Bark0s]

I'm most definitely interested in both of the factors listed here, the ability to experiment with hops and the price! Also I like the idea of 20 litres over 16.5. Me adding 3 litres of water to a batch adds nothing but a potential contamination vector.

I just realised something, the 3L of water to add, well that can be a bloody great hop steep/whirlpool. So maybe keeping volume under 21 on a generic fwk is a good idea. Allows for both hop and grain steeping, or other late boil additions.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Not a critique but an observation:

I have an SSBrewtech Chronical fermenter, and their 10 gal Brite tank as well. They are 304 stainless construction. Both have diameters of about 380mm.

I have their CIP ball. Checkout Newera’s website, but the same thing is on AliBaba all over the place.

I have a KeglLand bucket blaster too. Awesome bit of kit. Here’s what I do (for the fermenter):

- Whack a scoop of StellarClean into 5 lites of water in the bucket blaster
- take out the riser from the pump on the bucket blaster
- thread a camlock into the pump tee
- run a camlock to camlock hose up to the CIP ball
- put a waste out back into the bucket from the bottom port of the fermenter
- hit the power, RDWAHAHB

15 minutes later, all clean. In cases of extreme soiling, may need a wipe with a scotch brite pad (around the krausen line) and 5 minutes more CIP.

The Brite is pretty much the same, except just invert over the BB, with a line to a liquid in.

So easy. No more soaking. Absolutely clean, every time.

The moral of this story is the bucket blaster pump is adaptable. Adapt it!

I must say we did not find the ball added any benefit and it cleans just as well without the ball. With that said we did not test with the Chronical Fermenter. When you cleaned the SS Brewtech Chronical did you try without the ball? How did the results compare?

 

[KegLand-com-au]

I'm most definitely interested in both of the factors listed here, the ability to experiment with hops and the price! Also I like the idea of 20 litres over 16.5. Me adding 3 litres of water to a batch adds nothing but a potential contamination vector.

Yes the only reason that we would want to make a slightly concentrated 15L is to save a little bit in shipping cost. For those of you in Melbourne probably no saving but if we ship these interstate it means if you are in QLD you will pay an extra $5 in shipping or something like that. One good method is just boiling the kettle then letting it cool down again then pouring the water into the fermenter from the cooled kettle water. This is relatively straight forward and eliminates infections.

Would you guys prefer a full volume kit that costs more to ship but doesn't require additional water? Either way it would be extract free and made from all grains and have no other sugars added.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

@KegLand-com-au how is the small carbonator unit coming along. Any sign of this making it to market soon?

Also I don't think there was a reply to this query about the volume, can you update on whether you're still going for 2L and what the effective dispensing rate is for carbonated water?

Yes it's funny that you mention this. The carbonation unit is coming along well.

We are making small 2.8L keg sizes at the moment that fit into a domestic fridge more conveniently. This is the smallest keg we can manufacture that still uses the standard oval corny keg lid so you can use it just like a normal keg too for beer. I personally prefer to use this shape much more than the current mini kegs that end up a bit tall and bulky once you fit the tapping head.

So the idea is that customers can fit one of these small 2.8L mini kegs into their domestic fridge and put one of our standard carbonation keg lids in the top so they can dispense carbonated water. If you use this setup then you will be able to dispense about 1-2L per hour and the unit will keep up. With that said if you are able to pre-chill water it will be able carbonate instantaneously so you can pretty much keep pouring carbonated water continuously. We set the CO2 pressure on this system quite high at 50psi and get good results. The easiest way to pre-chill is to use a second keg inline that just holds water in it so it can pre-chill the water before it goes into the 2.8L carbonation keg. Alternatively you could use a glycol chiller if you are a high soda water turnover customer.

Lastly I should not that we are also starting to make some bench top chillers like this one. Some time next year we will finish the bench top carbonator. So you will be able to just plumb the water to this unit and it will carbonate and dispense cold carbonated water from one tap and still water from the other tap. This unit will have relatively high capacity and be able to dispense about 20-30L per hour.

 

[reddog]

Nah do not worry about it. They come already irradiated so they are sterile when you get them. Would be great to hear what you think of the bladders. Usability, tips, how quickly the wort cools down compared with cube etc. We are looking for some more feedback from our customers on this one.

Yesterday I had two trial runs filling the wort bags with boiling water. The 1st attempt was a bit of a disaster when the neck of the bag pulled through the hole in the milk crate that I was using to hold it in place dumping lot of water all over the kitchen floor, lost of fun if you don't have shoes on.


The second attempt went better (I had boots and gloves on this time) and I managed to get 17 litres in the bag before chickening out, there was still room in the bag but I lost faith in my securing system.


The hole in the milk crate was a perfect fit for the neck of the bag but the plastic gets to flexible as it gets hot allowing the neck to pull through.


I really want to be able to use these bags just need to figure out a better way of filling them, love to see what other solutions people have come up with.

 

[CJW]

@KegLand-com-au As it is coming up to Christmas I was wondering if you could give us an update/teaser on the Rapt fermentation fridge? This is something that I think many are waiting for, as it is a great idea.

I do have one question that I wonder if you guys have given thought to, what do you expect users to do between fermentations?

• Turn it off?
• Set the temp to ambient?
• Set it to fridge temps?

I expect I would use the cabinet as dedicated for fermentation, I don't think I'd use it as a fridge in between sessions as I would want it available whenever I put down a brew. I'd rather not waste power running an empty chamber.

Is there something that could be done to help with storage in between sessions?