Should I get into kegging?

[theQuinny]

That pic looks like the kitchen fridge.

Your a brave man.

Yep - that's the kitchen fridge

Trouble is ... I have to replace it with something better ... so I think the Missus played me a little into getting a new kitchen fridge ...


Thanks for all the replies boys,

I'd rather wash one big 19lt bottle than 30 small 750ml bottles. Fill keg, cool, carbonate and enjoy

Yep ... I'm over washing bottles ...

kiss your wife, rub her feet and go find some kegs

Partially Done ... just need to get the kegs ...

Maybe, If I can get my tax done ... this will all come together nicely ...

setting up the keggerator was far easier than I thought it was going to be!

I hope so ... I'm going to try to make it look a little smicko ... see how we go... - I almost have aproval for a small bar.

Don't go flow control taps, they sound easier to set up, but days end a standard tap on a balanced line will give a better and more consistent pour. Line length calculators are all over the net google is your friend.

Thankyou for your advice ... I have read a lot on taps. Now I need to figure out a good tap to use. I know there's plenty of advice on here, but if you feel like giving a sugestion that would be great ...

 

[theQuinny]

Not sure about turning the gas bottle off after a session. This tip is at odds with the FC taps view. Take time to get ALL your tubing right, not just the liquid side. Also, let’s say you only drink a beer or two with dinner during the week and turn the gas off except when serving and you have put in a fresh keg to chill and carbonate - it will take forever to carbonate Then again, you could quick carb, but then you would want FC taps as the chances of overcarbonating have just increased dramatically.

I'm guessing this will come with experience ... thanks for the comments

 

[mashmaniac]

Not sure about turning the gas bottle off after a session. This tip is at odds with the FC taps view.

Commercial pubs and hotels, no FC, and they disconnect gas every night. I was a cellarman and Bar keep for years, I still went perlic FC's when I built my first keezer (they were all the rage). Yes you can pour an over carbed beer with them, or at higher pressure than line length allows, but that beer goes pretty flat pretty quick. The turbulence created by the FC mechanism also messes with beers that are perfectly carbed. Line messes are easily fixed by setting a coil (spring) in each line.

 

[Brewno Marz]

Commercial pubs and hotels, no FC, and they disconnect gas every night. I was a cellarman and Bar keep for years, I still went perlic FC's when I built my first keezer (they were all the rage). Yes you can pour an over carbed beer with them, or at higher pressure than line length allows, but that beer goes pretty flat pretty quick. The turbulence created by the FC mechanism also messes with beers that are perfectly carbed. Line messes are easily fixed by setting a coil (spring) in each line.

Commercial kegs are carbonated to a specification. Easy to set the resistance to get a good pour and no impact if you disconnect every night. I force carb in my keezer, which means I need gas on all the time. I agree with your advice, except for someone new to kegging with all the variables we experience in the aussie craft brewing environment, FC makes sense.

 

[JDW81]

Yes you can pour an over carbed beer with them, or at higher pressure than line length allows, but that beer goes pretty flat pretty quick. The turbulence created by the FC mechanism also messes with beers that are perfectly carbed. Line messes are easily fixed by setting a coil (spring) in each line.

I'm not sure I agree with the beer going flat if it's been poured through a flow control tap. I've got flow control taps and have no such trouble. I have <1m of beer line from each keg to tap (due to a tightly fitted out fridge), and use the flow control mechanism in the same manner that others use longer lines. Each flow restrictor is set for each particular beer that comes out of that tap, and the carbonation (and head) is perfect from first to last sip.

For mine the main advantage of flow control taps is you can drastically reduce the amount of line in your keg fridge/keezer, and not have to worry about poor foam. The other advantage I have found with them is during the hot weather when the taps are at room temp (particularly useful for me as my keg fridge lives in my garage, which gets freakin hot during the summer). You can run the first 1/4 of the pour with full restriction until the taps cool down, the open up to normal when cold. Means you don't get excessive foam if you're only pouring the odd beer during hot weather.

I'd recommend FC taps every time based on my experience.

JD

 

[Rocker1986]

Agreed with above, I've not had any problems with beer going flat or anything from my FC taps either. They've been in use on the kegerator for 3 years and I imagine they'll continue to be in use for years to come as well.

 

[shacked]

Hmmm perhaps I'm regressive but I've been bottling a lot more beer these days. With most of my beers being Belgiany or sour or funky, I've had a hard time trying to replicate the bottle conditioned flavor with kegs. I've tried adding priming sugar to the keg, leaving warm and then chilling and serving on tap but I could pick it out of a triangle test every time.

If you are into lagers or hoppy beers then I'd say kegging is a must do!!

 

[Thurston Forabrew]

Really happy to be kegging. There is the little issue of being able to top up your glass constantly so you don't actually know how many beers you've sunk. But, when I say issue, I mean first world issue.

The initial cost to set up can be a big hit for some. You can get second hand kegs, 2 for the price of 1 new one. Get seal kits to doctor them up for between 6 and 10 bucks each and they'll serve you well. Also, the price of new kegs is really competitive at the moment so you can save some money there, where just a year ago the price was WAY higher!

Once you're up and going you'll find having the CO2 around in your brewery will actually give you some excellent advantages in your processes. You can push beer from vessel to vessel anaerobically, you can blanket and purge your beer after additions. You can also easily add a bottling tool to your keg systems so that you can fill a few bottles with carbonated beer. The beer gun is great for this and the T-type bottle filler is pretty simple as well.

 

[theQuinny]

Thanks for that Thurston ...

I was looking at kegland, They have 19L kegs for $98 +10 delivery - that seems about as cheap as I can find. (or second hand for around $50...)


Q

 

[theQuinny]

So ... to get the ball rolling, I'm thinking of getting a couple of these:

https://www.kegland.com.au/19l-ball-lock-keg-brand-new-594.html

I can't afford to get the whole kit in one go so It'll be a few pieces at a time ...



Q

 

[Ronwales]

So ... to get the ball rolling, I'm thinking of getting a couple of these:

https://www.kegland.com.au/19l-ball-lock-keg-brand-new-594.html

I can't afford to get the whole kit in one go so It'll be a few pieces at a time ...



Q

Where are you from mate? In perth someone is selling second hand ones for 50

 

[theQuinny]

Brisbane mate. I also saw second hand ones on kegland for around the same price ... Their new ones have a 5 year warranty - I'm trying to be a bit of a clean fanatic, so I thought I'd go new...

Did you see that kegorator with 6 kegs go for $500 bucks in Victoria? Bargain ...

 

[Ronwales]

Brisbane mate. I also saw second hand ones on kegland for around the same price ... Their new ones have a 5 year warranty - I'm trying to be a bit of a clean fanatic, so I thought I'd go new...

Did you see that kegorator with 6 kegs go for $500 bucks in Victoria? Bargain ...

No I didn't, that is a bargain!
I just got my first kegerator second hand off a mate. Got it for 200 with 3 kegs!!! Got 1st batch of beer carbonating at the moment, can't wait. So many bargains on gumtree

 

[theQuinny]

Lucky bugger

 

[theQuinny]

Can someone tell me (roughly) how tall is a 6kg CO2 bottle is with gauges attached? Trying to figure out the required fridge dimensions ...

 

[theQuinny]

Actually ... scratch that. I'll figure out a way to put the bottle outside the fridge.

 

[theQuinny]

Pulled the trigger ...

Bought two of these:

https://www.kegland.com.au/19l-ball-lock-keg-brand-new-594.html

You've heard of the slippery slope right? Well kegging is that small cliff the just increase your rate of decent, though just another part of said slope.
Do it! You'll love it! Just try to keep the number of taps down to less than what the local Tavern has.

Resistance is futile ...

Q

 

[Brewno Marz]

So ... to get the ball rolling, I'm thinking of getting a couple of these:

https://www.kegland.com.au/19l-ball-lock-keg-brand-new-594.html

I can't afford to get the whole kit in one go so It'll be a few pieces at a time ...



Q

I recently bought two second hand kegs from Kegland. The order was placed on a Friday and delivered Monday to Brisbane. Couldn’t fault the customer service or the kegs. In fact the kegs were in very good condition and far better than expected. I started with 2 kegs...now have 12...

 

[theQuinny]

12?

 

[koshari]

You wont regret this quinnie. Lives aboit to tet a little bit easier.