Show Us Your Beer Engines

[raven19]

Slightly :icon_offtopic: Bull and Bear still there from memory... Linky

Have not been for a number of years... poor form considering I work about 200m up the road!

 

[mckenry]

Slightly :icon_offtopic: Bull and Bear still there from memory... Linky

Have not been for a number of years... poor form considering I work about 200m up the road!

Oh, I didnt even concider the bull may be gone, but yeah, these things can happen! Glad to hear it's alive and kicking. It was, maybe still is a great joint. Get in there raven and do us a Pub review.
I was wondering more about the hand pump and if it was still there. Like I said before, I cant be entirely sure thats what it was, as I wasnt that into beer in those days. Coming from NSW and in my early 20's I thought Coopers was about as extreme as it got....
But looking back, I remember the funny handle that was pulled twice for a beer, so assume it was one of these.
mckenry

 

[drsmurto]

I've been in there a few times this year and no handpump.

Its been done up not that long ago so very shiny. Does good food but the beer is the usual suspects.

EDIT - will try and get the pump commissioned in the next week or 2 to see if i can pump via the beer out post otherwise i will need to get another keg and modify the lid. Should be no reason why i cant be portable, Hearlys is! Once a few more get them running we MUST have an AMB real ale day/night.

 

[warrenlw63]

That is impressive Smurto... Does it come with a buxom lass to draw the pints? :icon_chickcheers:

Now off to the shop for some Brasso.

Warren -

 

[thelastspud]

I used to work in a pub in london with 4 of these. We had Greene King IPA and fullers London Pride and the other 2 had different guest ales. Every monday morning I had to clean all the handpump lines. It was a great arm workout

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Christmas has come early!

Inspired by the IBU Real Ale Fest on the weekend I have finally connected up the bit and pieces I received from http://www.barleybottom.com/

I'll run through how I plumbed everything up - as I spent a while researching it and could not find anything concise on the net

Here's the order - 3/8" OD John Guest (JG) Line, Drip Trays, 3/8" to 5/16" JG Adaptors, Sparklers, a Cask Breather, Demand Valve / Check Valve. The clear hose connects to the breather with a barb and 3/8" JG fitting to make the breather have 3/8" fittings on both sides (Paul supplied this free of charge).

My intention was to have real ale dispensed from a corny keg sitting in my keg fridge like a lot of the users on http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/index.php do - so the plumbing runs like this

GAS IN -- Existing 5/16" gas line in fridge --> JG 5/16" to 3/8" adaptor --> Breather --> 10mm hose? --> Barb / 3/8" JG Fitting --> JG 5/16" to 3/8" adaptor --> 5/16" line --> Gas QD --> Keg

BEER OUT -- Keg --> Beer QD --> 5/16 line --> JG 5/16" to 3/8" adaptor --> 3/8" line --> Demand Valve --> 1/2" silicon hose --> Beer Engine

Some pictures of the gas side

Some pictures of the beer side

The beer engine

I pulled some beer through the engine and it all ran smoothly - I did not find any meaningful restriction from the small line or keg poppet

I did discover that the demand/check valve actually stops the beer from pouring itself (this was not the case with the other check valve I was using) - as I hooked up the engine to a keg of soda water and it still needed to be drawn by the pump

This discovery kind of leads me to think the breather itself is a bit of overkill as just a quick squirt of CO2 occasionally would probably suffice

After a couple of pints I was able to flush the engine by connecting a carbonation cap to the QD (there are other was of achieving this) and drawing a few litres of water from a bucket

Also worth mentioning is that the beer lost to the engine is exaggerated as the final 1/2 pint can be collected while the water starts to enter the cylinder - I doubt that I would be leaving beer in the cylinder as it is quite easy to flush the engine

Now I've just got to make a hole in the fridge for the line and secure the breather inside the fridge (polish the brass, build some sort of bar, get a chest freezer and the list goes on...)

Cheers

 

[raven19]

You could almost make a Beer engine article based on that post Cortez.

Awesome setup, with some great info on what is involved in getting one of these puppies up and running.

Well played. :icon_cheers:

 

[gap]

Hello Cortez,

I have a question. I have 2 beer engines and have not had any need for a demand valve , I use an aspirator( cask breather).

Why do you need the demand valve?
The aspirator regulates the gas pressure into the keg at very low to minimal pressure so beer is not driven into the engine.

You need to actually pump the beer from the keg it does not flow freely.

Regards

Graeme

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Hi Graeme

My beer engine did not actually come with the internal check valve inside it - it had been removed - so I needed something to allow the engine to actually pump (ie the valve to close on the back stroke of the pump)

The demand valve does the job of a check valve but also this one stops the flow of liquid should it be at a higher carbonation / or even if the cask were to be higher than the engine

When I tried to run the engine with a normal check valve and a soda stream bottle the beer kept pouring itself when I gave it a squirt of CO2

So at the end of the day it is possible to run an engine off a keg with

1) a demand valve only using CO2 to top up the head space in the keg occasionally
2) a cask breather with a normal check valve (these are usually inside the engine)
3) both a breather and a demand valve

Hope this makes sense

Cheers

 

[peas_and_corn]

I'm bookmarking that post cortez, for if I eventually get one of my own.

 

[Bastow]

Hi, First post for me......

I currently live in London and absolutely love British ale, especially the Guest Ales at my local Weatherspoons. There is always something new and tasty to try. I am a former home brewer doing extract/fresh wort, and spirits (in Australia) . I am coming home at the end of the year and want to start AG brewing asap, as my love and respect for beer has grown exponentially whilst living here. I have been researching the price of buying a Beer Engine in Australia and it looks like its going to be $200 plus. I can get a beer engine from ebay over here for the 60 quid mark and as i'm sending a lot of stuff home in boxes by ship i will have some extra room so am thinking of buying 1 or 2 engines for my future projects. I have already got a bit of a collection of beer clips and it is going to keep growing.

I am going to a real ale festival this weekend and i think i may be able to source a cheap engine there, fingers crossed.

What do you guys think??

Also, im not sure if this is in another thread (sorry) has anyone seen these 40 pin pressure barrels in Australia and has anyone used them?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Home-brew-Homebrew-b...#ht_1080wt_1166

From London,

Adam

 

[raven19]

What do you guys think??

Definately grab at least one for yourself, and ship it back home.

Lots of brewers are keen for a beer engine. I am sure you may even find some takers here for excess ones if you end up with a number of them.

(Welcome to the Forums too!)

 

[Offline]

My beer engine restoration is nearly complete.
Here are some pictures

 

[white.grant]

Nice work there Offline. That brass is super shiny.

cheers

grant

 

[drsmurto]

Tested out the beer engine today.... finally. Jaysus i am slack. Its been attached to the bar since October. :wacko:

So slack that i got beerbelly to drill the hole in the keg lid and fit the special fittings. As he tends to do he buffed the lid so i can now see my reflection in it!

So i pulled some sanitiser through it to test it out. A few tweaks and voila, a pint of sanitiser.

Couldn't resist so i vented the keg of ESB and pulled a pint :beerbang:

Happy days. I can now smack that last pack of WY1469 and make a batch of Landlord to properly christen her. :wub:

 

[Frank]

Tested out the beer engine today.... finally. Jaysus i am slack. Its been attached to the bar since October. :wacko:

So slack that i got beerbelly to drill the hole in the keg lid and fit the special fittings. As he tends to do he buffed the lid so i can now see my reflection in it!

So i pulled some sanitiser through it to test it out. A few tweaks and voila, a pint of sanitiser.

Couldn't resist so i vented the keg of ESB and pulled a pint :beerbang:

Happy days. I can now smack that last pack of WY1469 and make a batch of Landlord to properly christen her. :wub:

Nice work. It might be time for me to check how the wine is going again.

 

[raven19]

Nice work. It might be time for me to check how the wine is going again.

I may need to supervise. :icon_cheers:

 

[cdbrown]

Finally got some spare time tonight and figured I should sort out the beer engines so that I can use one this weekend. Ross provided some old style corny lids which had a different relief valve setup. So with the dremel I expanded the hole to suit the bulkhead fitting. Added some washers for good measure as well. Will do the same to the other lid for the 2nd beer engine I have. Need to get hold of some different fittings so I can split the outlet of the aspirator to two kegs, but at the moment with the use of some screw clamps and 10mmx6mm line I'll be able to connect the gas up to one keg. Hopefully the english bitter I have in the fermenter will be ready for the beer engine this weekend.

The plinth on the 2nd beer engine got damaged during shipping so it's currently being glued back. Both engines have been tested but not with the check valve or aspirator, nor through the 1/2" tube which is being used as the dip tube in the keg from the lid.

 

[Vlad the Pale Aler]

I wonder how many beer engines are up and running in Perth?

1. Vlad TPA

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Just scored 2 more engines!!!

They are in fairly good nick

Will give them a good clean etc when I get a little time

I'll post a pic when all three engines are lined up and shiny

Cheers