Practicing with new kegs until brews are ready

[carniebrew]

My 3-tap kegerator should arrive tomorrow, the little Pinnacle/keg king style jobbie that fits 3 cornies....complete with Perlick 545PC flow control taps and a full 6.8kg co2 bottle. Oh and 4 kegs, figured having a spare wouldn't hurt.

Problem is, I won't even start brewing my first beer to put in these kegs until this weekend (a Kolsch), given I've been away over new years and the decision to buy a kegging setup all happened pretty quick.

So, what else can I do with these kegs in the interim? The Kolsch won't be ready to keg for nearly 3 weeks, and it'd be good to get some practice with kegging given I'm completely new to it. I've got 3 young kids, should I fill a keg with water and carbonate it, then they can put some cordial in a cup and pour cold soda water on it for a fizzy drink? My eldest was asking for non-alcoholic apple cider the other day (or fizzy apple juice as he put it), is that as simple as pouring apple juice in a keg and carbing it up? Will that taint the new seals up like I hear soft drink does, or is that only 'coz it's concentrate?

Any other thoughts?

 

[Camo6]

Soda water sounds like a good choice for one keg, and can't see why the appletise wouldn't taste good. I've never noticed any carry over taste in my kegs from ciders. One thing I'd do is put a co2 charge in all your kegs while empty and check the pressure via the relief valve over a few days to make sure they all seal well.

 

[Rambo]

Definately go for the soda water, goes well with most quality spirits. I also find I drink more water when I have soda water on tap, and wake up with less hangovers.

 

[adryargument]

I personally wouldnt use juice... But soda water is always good for that 'i need a beverage' feeling at 9am.

 

[carniebrew]

Why not juice ada, because of the seal tainting issue?

 

[manson81]

I've always thought of putting a couple bottles of scotch and either coke or ginger ale in and having premix on tap. Never actually done it though.

 

[adryargument]

Why not juice ada, because of the seal tainting issue?

I don't like juice, and i cant see sparkling juice being any better

How bout a soda lemon lime and bitters?

 

[bradsbrew]

Can't see why the juice would effect the kegs. I swap and change my kegs with cider and beer.

I would only give them one or the other. Otherwise you might lose keg space before you even get a beer on tap. Rum and coke is always an option though.

 

[Florian]

If juice then I would go with an apple juice/soda water mix. Pure juice carbed up is too full on in my opinion.

It is and always has been a very popular drink in Europe (Apfelschorle in Germany), for some reason it just hasn't taken off here yet.

Soda water is all that comes out of my kegerator in the kitchen these days since I haven't brewed for more than 6 month. Wife and kids love it carbed to 200 kpa, I just fill an empty keg with RO water (any filtered water will do) and hook up to gas only over night at close to 400 kpa or until your pressure relieve valve on the Co2 bottle gives way. Rock the keg back and forth a few times to speed up the process.

Next day turn the gas dial on the bottle off, let it sit for a bit, maybe pour a glass to minimise pressure in the keg, then turn gas dial on bottle back on and set your regulator to 200 kpa. Hook up your beer out post (I find threy often leak when carbing at 400 kpa, hence i leave them off while force carbing) It's good to drink then and there, but will reach optimal carbonation over the next one or two days.

Personally I don't let my kids mix soda water with juices, only a couple of times a year on special occasions. We go through 19L every three or four days, in summer even more often.

Believe me when I say that your wife will love you for it, be prepared to have one of the taps set aside for soda water permanently though. I don't mind as I love the stuff myself.

 

[carniebrew]

Cheers for the responses everyone. My kids don't seem to like soda water, the other day we were driving somewhere and they were moaning about being thirsty, so I pulled over at a servo and sent the missus inside to grab some bottled water. Without realising it, she came back with something that was "lightly carbonated". The kids took one sip and refused to drink any more, the spoiled bloody brats! Had to stop at the next servo to get them un-carbonated water....

That being said, add any kind of flavouring to it, and the 9yo will chug it like you've never seen (if we'd let him).

I like the idea of diluted juice, I often fill a 3 litre bottle of apple juice up with water when it reaches 2 litres, when the kids aren't looking...they never seem to notice and I figure it reduces their "empty calorie" intake...

Lemon/Lime/Bitters is another great idea, the missus loves that stuff and I don't mind it when having to stay sober.

 

[angus_grant]

You should be able to go to Brew By U, Brew Brothers, or other brew on premise places and get them to fill up your keg with beer. Still a fairly decent price too. I got a keg of 9.5% Russian Imperial Stout for $60 from Brew By U.

Walked in with my keg, paid for it, went across the road to grab some stuff from Bunnings, came back and grabbed my keg. Went home, plugged keg in and poured a beer.

It would be a sin against the Beer Gods for your first drinks through the keg fridge to not be beer... And shame on everyone else for condoning soda water christening your new keg fridge...

 

[carniebrew]

I did actually think about walking into Carwyn Cellars (who do growler fills from a keg in their shop) with my 19l cornie and saying "fill 'er up thanks".....

But really the whole point of doing soda water or fizzy juice was to get used to how kegging works...not sure I want to pay $60 for someone else's beer in my keg, only for me to completely mess it up....

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

How can you mess it up? I've personally had kegerator dramas with the cooling coils icing up and requiring a 48 hour defrost, during hot days, so the kegs warmed up and then were cooled back down. Did not notice a taste difference. If you're worried about carbonation levels, fear not those brew by you places will carbonate the beer before filling your keg so you only need to tweak your serving pressure.

If you're not willing to experiment and gives things a go yourself, from the deep end, I'd say we need to revoke your homebrewer badge kind sir!

 

[angus_grant]

You will know (or somewhat safely assume) that the beer is properly carbonated taking out one of the factors for a foamy pour.

Then you dial in your serving pressure based on your line length and temp you keep the fridge at.

By the time you are putting your own beer into kegs, you will have serving pressure dialed in, and you just need to work on the carbonating side of your kegs.

You have 3 taps, so you will end up with your Kolsch in the fridge carbonating and not taking up a tap. Let's say it will take about 3 weeks to get your brew fermented and carbonated. That is a long time for your keg fridge to stand idle.

Are you going to spend $60 on beer in the mean-time? Wouldn't you prefer to be pouring it out of your brand new spanky beer fridge?

Go on, you know you want to!! :super:

<Edit: bad writering>

 

[maxim0200]

Put some carbonated juice on tap,
Aldi apple juice is the best for it and its only 1$/L :icon_cheers:

 

[mosto]

+1 for filling with beer if you can. Despite all the spreadsheets and calcs around the only way to get your setup pouring how you want is trial and error IMO.

 

[New_guy]

Tonic Water?
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/20421-tonic-water/

 

[carniebrew]

I'm warming to this idea of filling (or at least part filling) one of my new kegs with someone else's beer. I'm wondering though, would there be an issue keeping the beer fresh if I filled a 19l keg say with 10 litres of already-carbonated commercial beer from a growler-fill type of keg? Or should it be ok as long as I get it into the fridge and hooked up to my co2 bottle pretty quickly?

 

[angus_grant]

Purge (fill) your keg with CO2 and open the release valve a few times to make sure you have a good amount of CO2 in the keg.

If going to a brew on premise place, they will probably transfer from keg to keg (they did in my case) which avoids exposure to oxygen. A really nice way to do it is to feed in the beer through the liquid out post. This way the beer goes straight to the bottom of the keg, doesn't get all mixed up and shaken being poured in through the keg hole. That would depend on the place you go to and how they dispense their kegs.

Even if they just trickle the beer from a tap to the bottom of your keg with a growler setup it is going into a nice CO2 blanket because the oxygen has already been displaced. Seal up the keg, drive home, hook up your gas, purge the keg a few times to make sure it is all CO2, and then smash it! :beerbang:

If you wanted to be really pedantic, you could take your CO2 bottle with you and purge it when you get the keg filled.

 

[carniebrew]

I went to my local craft beer shop, where they used to do growler fills from a keg, but they've stopped doing it. The guy there did mention that his old man uses a shop down Geelong way, where a guy sells kegged beer in cornies...you pay a deposit on the keg which you get back when you return it. Bloody good idea that, surprised more places aren't doing it. I know you can buy 50l kegs of beer, but it's the first I'd heard of someone selling beer in a corny.