Planning For A Keg Setup

[cdbrown]

Hey guys,

Currently living and working in London but will soon be packing my bags and heading home to Perth. The wife has given the green light to turn the front room into an entertainment room with a bar and projector to watch all the sport. I have been checking out this site as I'd like to get back into homebrewing and this time actually doing it correctly instead of trying to make it quick, strong and nasty. While living in London I've come to appreciate all the wonderful beers that are available - especially the huge selection in belgium and the purity of the german and austrian beers.

Anyway due to the market being so much bigger over here I thought I'd start gathering bar related stuff of ebay and then pack them up with the rest of the stuff and ship it home. I'm glad I checked out the aus ebay and compared it to uk as I was shocked to see some of the aus prices.

So far I have won 3 beer fonts - Fosters (I know I know, but it's not a bad drop over here, very popular and brewed not far from my work), Grolsch and a ceramic Lowenbrau which I'm pretty darn excited about. Have also picked up some coasters and beer mats. Looking out for a Guiness font and perhaps and traditional cask ale pump.

When these fonts arrive is there anything I should check for to make sure it will actually work? I believe the fosters and grolsch just need a 24v transformer to light them up but I don't think I have anything here to test it with so will probably get one when I get back to Perth.

Should be getting them early next week and will post some pics when I do.

Cheers
-cdbrown

 

[Vlad the Pale Aler]

hello CD
Welcome home. I have a Celli Cobra from the UK fitted with Alumasc branded taps. I am sure your taps will be similar, these are heavy duty commercial grade taps, and apart from looking at the general condition of them there is not a lot to do until you can test them under pressure. the only thing that can stuff up are the seals which should be easy to get hold of.
Be careful when packing the ceramic font as one of our clan recently had one smashed in transit.
If you are bringing a beer engine get hold of a cask breather as well, if you plan to use it yourself ( get 2 and I'll buy the other)
CAMRA hate them but a keg of real ale will go off pretty quick in Perth without one.
And of course, when you get back, check out Westcoast Brewers, link below.


This post has not been edited.

 

[kook]

I bought a few fonts back from the UK too. I ended up selling them on ebay separately and using the funds to purchase a 4 way font and other accessories.

One tip - Bring back one or two beer engines if you can. If they're in good nick the sale of them will fund your removal costs.

 

[cdbrown]

Thanks for the quick reply Vlad.

I saw the thread about the destroyed ceramic (in fact that exact same brand of ceramic is on ebay.co.uk). I got in contact with the seller of the ceramic and pleaded with them to pack it well, and thankfully he ensured me it was. The ceramic will be shipped home in boxes with other glassware with various handle with care labels, but I'll make sure it's got plenty of protection. I just missed out on an old style ceramic becks which would have been cool as well.

I quite enjoy some of the english ales. London Pride and Fullers ESB would be at the top of my list. Nothing like a cellar temp ale during the cold winter months. Can the normal 18l kegs be used for ales with the pump engine?

Edit - is this what you are talking about http://www.ukbrewing.com/sundries.cfm

 

[Vlad the Pale Aler]

Yes that is one version, although you can get them cheaper.
Check out the thread show us your beer engines

 

[cdbrown]

Well I've now got my ebay watching about 5 different auctions at the moment for beer engines. After mentioning the potential resale value of these back in Perth the wife agreed that buying more than 1 (at the right price) is a good idea. So to accompany my 3 fonts already purchased a few more will be added to the shipment.

I read that the scotsmand is the cheapest place for aspirators and that Docs also said to get the check valves (or was it non-return valves). Should I get an aspirator and check valve for each engine? edit - what are the parts I should get?

Currently watching this one http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=320218286403 just because it's cheap (at the moment).

 

[gap]

I read that the scotsmand is the cheapest place for aspirators and that Docs also said to get the check valves (or was it non-return valves). Should I get an aspirator and check valve for each engine? edit - what are the parts I should get?

Hello,

I have recently purchased an aspirator from the UK and had it sent to Australia ( I have 2 beer engines and am also a lover of Fullers both ESB and London Pride).

Here are 2 places to check for the aspirator. They both give very good advice . Check with them for your particular requirements.


Centriflow Services Ltd (This is where I purchased my aspirator)
beerengines.com
Alistair [email protected]

Beer Clear Cellar Services Ltd
beerclearstore.co.uk
Richard Pyle [email protected]

There are others including the one you mentioned but they did not even bother to acknowledge my emails. You may have better luck being in the UK.

A beer engine recently sold on Ebay Australia recently for $170. There was only 1 bidder.

I am also looking at bringing some fonts back from the UK. My wife is a Geordie and will be visiting her mother in the UK later this year.

Good luck with the aspirator, the auctions and the move.

When you get here Vlad will be able to help you with setting up a beer engine to 19 litre cornelius kegs . He has helped me recently.

Graeme

 

[mattwest]

Having just arrived for a stint in the UK, I expect there will be increasing amounts of quality kit on Ebay. Unfortunately the smoking ban is really hurting the traditional pubs over here with reported reductions in turnover of up to 50% in some places. I will be looking for a bit of kit before I leave.

The real ales though over here are superb and are keeping me going until I can get my Bruheat.

Unfortunately I have to make a quick trip to Munich for a few days work next week (insert Homer Simpson rendition of Aghhhhhhhh - Beeeerrrr! with dribble).

WestOz

 

[cdbrown]

WestOz be sure to visit the famous Hofbrauhaus for a stein or 8 and get stuck into a beautiful pork knuckle. The combination can't be beat. The germans sure do know how to combine food and drink.

I did win that heineken font - it's begining to grow on me.

Was having a look at CraftBrewer just getting an idea of how much to save for the gear. When it comes to their cornies what actually comes with them? Say I go for the 4 keg delivered deal with the seal kits - what do I also need to buy to get them to be a functioning keg for the homebrew? Body connects, dip tubes, poppet valves, QD's?

Cheers
-cdbrown

 

[cdbrown]

Hooray - as you'll see below, my ebay purchases have started to come through and the the gear for the future bar is taking shape. In the pics are a number of rubber backed bar runners, various pump clips, some Erdinger glasses and coasters and two of the fonts. Loving the lowenbrau font and glad it made it safe and sound. It's not in perfect condition with a chip near the top and some small amounts of paint have come off - but can't expect it to be perfect for 2nd (or more) hand.

Tomorrow night I'll try and take the fonts apart and give them a clean out with some nice hot water. I'll also have to come up with a way to mount the heineken font as it's not quite evident how it works.

Cheers
-cdbrown

 

[glennheinzel]

Damn. That's a nice collection of ebay goodies. I'm have to ask the Minister for War & Finance if I'm allowed to play on ebay again...

 

[gap]

Damn. That's a nice collection of ebay goodies. I'm have to ask the Minister for War & Finance if I'm allowed to play on ebay again...

Check beer taps or beer pumps located in UK on Ebay. There is a massive number mostly going cheap. Even better if you have somebody who can bring them back for you in luggage etc!!

 

[cdbrown]

There's a little bit of a lull on uk ebay for taps just at the moment, but over the next few days there's a few on offer. Now I just need to get a guinness font/pump for stouts and then a beer engine or 2.

 

[cdbrown]

Well I trotted off to the post office last night after work to collect 2 packages which were two big for the mail slot. Thankfully I took a rucksack along as there was no way I would have been able to carry both boxes. In fact I had to rely on the straps to hold the box in the bag as there was no possibility of zipping it up. But I digress.

Pics will follow once I get home after work

Opened up the first box to find a beautiful pump engine which about 6 pump clips strapped to it. This is the ebay link Working the pump you can hear it trying to suck air through the hose. It's in good shape and looks to have a cooling collar on it - just doesn't come with the drip tray so I'm on the look out for them now.

In the other box I found a boddingtons and tetleys pump/font. Now these babies are strange in that they have small electric pumps for the beer - instead of opening a tap you flick the switch. They both look in good condition, but I have no way of telling if they work at the moment. Will need to hunt around to find out what all the wires need to connect to. Boddingtons pump and Tetleys pump.

I have a feeling I'll be asking all sorts of questions about these bad boys. I had bought them as my brother asked me for one, but I'm not sure he'll be keen on the electric type pump.

Also got an Erdinger tap (not font) which came with a pack of john guest fitting of all different sizes and some tubing. Now the tubing is wierd. The tube that goes into the tap is 5/8" OD but has an ID of less than 4mm. There was a small coil of 3/8" OD line which had the same small ID. Not entirely sure what use these small lengths of small ID lines will be - but I'm happy about the fittings.

Cheers
-cdbrown

 

[cdbrown]

Ok so here's the pics of the new fonts. The two electric fonts each have 4 wires coming off the bottom. I'm guessing I'll probably need to take the tetleys one apart to see if there's any voltage rating on anything.

Any advice on what I would need to get it working would be tops.

Cheers
-cdbrown

 

[Doc]

Some great scores there.
Have you commissioned a complete shipping container to come back to Oz with ?

Doc

 

[cdbrown]

Not a full container - just a couple of cubic meters. Most of the space is going to be taken up with beer taps, with clothes shoved around them. Still waiting for another pump engine to turn up and may be winning a heineken font.

Not sure what I'll be able to do with the electric pumps.

 

[Vlad the Pale Aler]

Nice work.
My guess is that all of the electric bits are just for the illuminated display, the beer lines look pretty much standard.
The beer engine looks like a water jacketed version, cool water flowing around the cylinder to keep it cool, probably work with a pond pump and glycol.
Don't worry too much about fittings as we can get most of what we need over here.

 

[cdbrown]

Actually those last two fonts are electric pumps, The tap handle doesn't move, they both have small switches to turn the pumps on/off. The other fonts have only 2 wires for the 24v lamps, but these ones have 4 wires. I'm hoping it's all still 24v and that I'll just need to get a transformer to suit the number of taps I decided to go with.

So a cooling jacket is basically the same as a flooded font?

Cheers for the responses guys
-cdbrown

 

[KGB]

Wow, that is some cool $hit.