New to Kegs - Installing taps and cleaning for first time

[SBOB]

Breaking my kegging virginity this weekend, thankfully I have keg lube.

Have a basic fridge and went out this morning and grabbed a couple of SS intertaps and long shanks

Have drilled a couple of holes in the front of the fridge for the two taps and my questions are:

1) Seems a faucet wrench would be a handy addition for ensuring a tight fit of tap to shank.. so back to the store for one of those i assume?
2) Once the taps are installed, whats the best way to clean them prior to use? Fill a keg with a bit of cleaner and run that the line and the taps? Then some sanitiser?
3) How long should my beer line be? I have 5mm flexmaster line for gas and beer and the height of the taps are only going to be just above the tops of the kegs (~10cm?)


Thanks for any help...

Plan is to keg the beer this afternoon with some gelatine. Either force carb so I can give it a try tomorrow night, or leave it at 10psi as I'm away for work for next week..

 

[bevan]

check out this topic. Third post has a spread sheet for calculating length.

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/14988-ahb-wiki-balancing-a-draught-system/page-2

 

[Blind Dog]

personally, I'd soak the taps in sodium perc overnight (pulled apart if you're happy you know how to reassemble) as they're likely harbouring machine oils and maybe other crap from the manufavturing process.

A faucet wrench is a must have as you're unlikely to be able to tighten the tap collar properly without it, and end up with beer spraying oeverywhere (at least, I did)

Can't help with line lengths as I use flow control taps.

 

[peteru]

Clean the taps before finalising the installation. Disassemble the tap and take pictures / pay attention as to what goes where. Dissolve about 5g of sodium percarbonate in 0.5L of warm tap water and wash all tap parts. You don't need to soak overnight, 10 minutes will be plenty. When you reassemble the taps, make sure you put keg lube on all parts that need to seal or will rub against each other. That's pretty much the whole shuttle and most of the shaft. When you washing the taps, you might as well wash the disconnects too - don't try to disassemble those.

When it's all assembled, just run some warm water through the lines to flush them. Once you had some beer through the lines, you will need to actually clean them, but if everything is new, it should be clean enough for now.

I'd start off with about 2.5-3m of 5mm ID beer line and see how that goes. You can always trim it down to a shorter length if required.

Depending on the style of beer and the temperature, leaving it at 10psi for a week may result in a beer that's too flat. I'd probably leave it at around 5C and 14psi to carbonate.

There are calculators / look up tables for beer line length and regulator pressure and both of these will depend on the temperature and desired level of carbonation.

 

[homebrewkid]

you might as well wash the disconnects too - don't try to disassemble those.

Why? I just pulled apart and cleaned 4 disconnects, they are very simple.

 

[peteru]

You must be using the plastic disconnects. I'm used to the steel ones, which as far as I know don't come apart. At least, I can't see an obvious way.

 

[SBOB]

thanks.. already been back to the store for the faucet wrench

ended up pulling apart the taps, 10 min perc soak and rinse/clean
Put it all back together with lube on all the seals then ran through some boiling water from an empty keg and some starsan

spreadsheet said 2.2m of 5mm line should be right so thats what my first 'attempt' is cut to

 

[gezzanet]

2.2 should be ok. I'm using 2.5m 5 mm flexmaster with keg top almost same height as top of kegs and 14 psi co2.

 

[SBOB]

2.2 should be ok. I'm using 2.5m 5 mm flexmaster with keg top almost same height as top of kegs and 14 psi co2.

thanks
I did the calc at 10psi which may be a bit low for carbonation
Luckily i bought plenty of line and it was only $2/mtr so its not going to be hard to re-try a longer length if need be

 

[Moad]

you can always cut it shorter so give yourself an extra .5m

I find 11-12 psi is a good middle ground for the beers I make, I think its about 2.5 for 5mm hose at 4 degrees.

Enjoy that first pour, I love seeing people pour their first tap beer at home!

 

[Digga]

Have you assisted many a virgin moad?

 

[JFergz]

Have you assisted many a virgin moad?

[emoji23][emoji119]

 

[Moad]

Have you assisted many a virgin moad?

always willing to lend a... hand

 

[Jack of all biers]

You must be using the plastic disconnects. I'm used to the steel ones, which as far as I know don't come apart. At least, I can't see an obvious way.

Not sure if you have found this out Peteru, but have a look at the video from Keg King about pulling apart disconnects. Video should start with pulling apart the plastic disconnects, but at 9 min 15 sec is how to pull apart the stainless steel disconnects.

https://youtu.be/Wf-W8vE5kjY?t=524