Wa Christmas Case Swap 2012

[krausenhaus]

We could really do with that incredible piece of machinery right now..

Have just had a complete and utter ******* disaster trying to use a CPBF for the first time to do our swap beers.

Beer went everywhere. Gave up at 1am, sticky and sad.

We're using a stainless CPBF from morebeer with a larger bung to fit the PET bottles. Seemed to either get an assload of foam or end up with a full but unpressurised bottle.

We had to pour the failures and excess (caught in a sanitised pot) back into the keg so we've probably introduced a fair bit of air now. Will also possibly not be able to make the full 24 now as there is probably a couple of bottles worth soaked into my clothes.

This is fucked, have watched videos, read threads, still can't get it working reliably.

We're going to try again but if things go to shit this time all we can do is just bring the whole keg to drink on the day.

Anyone got any 11th hour tips on how to use this thing properly? I realise it was pretty stupid giving it a maiden run on the case swap brew but this was the first chance we got.

Will do some more reading and see if I can figure out what's going wrong.

 

[krausenhaus]

I realised when filling that a little beer is actually leaking out around the lever on the ball valve. I also had to buy a bigger bung to fit the PET bottles that is probably a tiny bit loose, although I did attempt to seal it up a bit.

So maybe there's some pressure leakage going on that's causing it all to foam up. Will seal it all up nice and proper and try again.

Really hope I haven't fucked the beer by adding stuff back into the keg, but it's desperate times.

Sorry in advance, guys. Spot the new brewers.

 

[dent]

Pretty wierd. You understand the concept of why it works right? Before you start letting the gas leak out of the relief valve, you should be seeing no flow of beer into your bottle. If beer is coming in with the relief valve closed then you have leaks (not the end of the world, but it is the test). The valves should also be wide open throttle if they're open at all - never try to flow down the flow with the ball valve. If the beer is coming in as foam (you should be able to see it as it comes out of the stainless tube) then there is something very wrong, like a blockage or crud in the beer side foaming it up.

I am really interested to know your cycles etc. That is the coolest thing I have seen for a good while.

Filling time is pretty similar to what you get with the usual manual ones everyone has - maybe a bit quicker since I have a larger ID tube that keeps the beer velocity low. There is an auto purge feature that fills and releases CO2 from the bottle a couple of times if desired. There is a sense circuit that cuts off the flow and finishes the cycle when the beer fills the bottle to the correct level. All this so my thumb doesn't get sore holding in the bung of the old one.

 

[drew9242]

There is a sense circuit that cuts off the flow and finishes the cycle when the beer fills the bottle to the correct level.

Sweet it gets better and better.

 

[Aces High]

MENU @ CASE SWAP 2012
Feel free to add to the lists.
Thanks for the food option

Drew9242---- Cheese and crackers.
Nev------------Turkish bread and dips.
Krausenhaus--Baked Muscles
jyo- Creamy Potato Salad
Mikey - Safron Chicken Wings
Nev- lamb leg and baked potatoes in the spit
Nev-Tofu- lemon grass and chilli , just for me
Doug - Chips/ Pi$$tachios


Beers will be on a four tap rotation.

BEERS ON THE DAY
Nev--- Real Ale x two on hand pump-Keg (if it arrives)
Grego-German Wheat -Keg
Zig - Oak IPA - Keg
jyo- 9 litre mini keg of ESB
Aces high - American Ale

 

[malt_shovel]

We're going to try again but if things go to shit this time all we can do is just bring the whole keg to drink on the day.

Anyone got any 11th hour tips on how to use this thing properly? I realise it was pretty stupid giving it a maiden run on the case swap brew but this was the first chance we got.

Will do some more reading and see if I can figure out what's going wrong.

There are other options.

Maybe consider bulk priming in a bucket, make up any losses with boiled and cooled water to get the required number of bottles and then carbonate as normal in the bottle. If needed throw some healthy yeast in there. It will scavange a lot of the oxygen while it processes the priming sugar and if the beer has been in the fridge the oxidarion process will be retarded somewhat. You will probably need to bleed some gas pressure off before re-carbonating with priming sugar so that the CO2 vols don't get too high. It will be a bit hit and miss.

This is what i would do. Not sure what beer you brewed but if it isnt a delicate lager i think this will be fine.

The other option is to just dial back the gas pressure on the regulator and carefully fill from the keg on the day of the swap, and advise people to drink it early (maybe even try to evacuate the bottle a little with the CPBF if that is still an option).

Chill out dude and dont stress.

 

[willigan]

Hey guys/Nev i'll drop my beer off tomorrow morning but i have to work 12-8 at the IBS so won't be around for much of the festivities.

Cheers

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

I just filtered out the pils today (filter since I figured some extra yeast time wouldn't hurt, and I didn't want to have to trust it to get bright on its own - usually they do, but I get some duds too), wasn't quite up to volume in the end. Some of the bottles will be the strong pils instead (6.5%). Both seem to be pretty good, the strong one is more interesting.

They will require consumption fairly promptly (within a week or two I reckon) since I really don't trust the oxidation/infection probability with all the handling involved with kegs and counter pressure filling.

This (stupid) thing will be getting a workout tomorrow, first time used in anger.

You bringing the frankenbottler over to do my beer today ?
Nev

 

[dent]

I aint doing em for you!

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

I aint doing em for you!

We will see ! :lol:
I might break the beast

 

[krausenhaus]

Pretty wierd. You understand the concept of why it works right? Before you start letting the gas leak out of the relief valve, you should be seeing no flow of beer into your bottle. If beer is coming in with the relief valve closed then you have leaks (not the end of the world, but it is the test). The valves should also be wide open throttle if they're open at all - never try to flow down the flow with the ball valve. If the beer is coming in as foam (you should be able to see it as it comes out of the stainless tube) then there is something very wrong, like a blockage or crud in the beer side foaming it up.

Yeah, I understand how it works, which makes it all the more confusing as to why it isn't. Thing is, the first few bottles were okay and things started to go to shit after that. Going to clean it all out, tighten connections and try again.

There are other options.

Maybe consider bulk priming in a bucket, make up any losses with boiled and cooled water to get the required number of bottles and then carbonate as normal in the bottle. If needed throw some healthy yeast in there. It will scavange a lot of the oxygen while it processes the priming sugar and if the beer has been in the fridge the oxidarion process will be retarded somewhat. You will probably need to bleed some gas pressure off before re-carbonating with priming sugar so that the CO2 vols don't get too high. It will be a bit hit and miss.

This is what i would do. Not sure what beer you brewed but if it isnt a delicate lager i think this will be fine.

The other option is to just dial back the gas pressure on the regulator and carefully fill from the keg on the day of the swap, and advise people to drink it early (maybe even try to evacuate the bottle a little with the CPBF if that is still an option).

Chill out dude and dont stress.

Thanks for the tips, will move to bottle carbonating if I can't sort things out today.

 

[mfeighan]

i am a little disappointed with the carbonation level of my CPBF filler. Carbonated it with 120kpa (slow method ~ 1.5 weeks) after bottling with the filler i ended up with it feeling like it is carbonated to ~60-70kpa. No foaming in the bottles, and filled as high as possible so there wasn't much airspace for the gas to leak out. Oh well still tastes good.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

I am still waiting on Dent to fill mine, hope he does a good job
Nev

 

[Bizier]

I would almost make a single-head long-tube filler as well to do my yearly swap bottling. We need a second ram to work the other way and do a double pre-evac+purge on glass.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

I would almost make a single-head long-tube filler as well to do my yearly swap bottling. We need a second ram to work the other way and do a double pre-evac+purge on glass.

I will see if Dent will leave the bottler here so we can check (break) it out.
Nev

 

[drew9242]

It's good to see we all got our bottling techniques up to scratch h34r: :chug: h34r:

 

[mfeighan]

its because bottles are obsolete to keggers

 

[krausenhaus]

Crisis averted, after cleaning it and tightening all the connections she seems to be working like a trooper now. Won't know for sure until someone cracks a bottle though.

Had to stop after 10 cos I've got a wedding to go to, but will do the rest tomorrow. If we come up one or two short, some lucky swappers will have to get a present from IBS.

 

[drew9242]

its because bottles are obsolete to keggers

I know, i had to go out and buy 30 Pet bottles. Bloody cost me $30 just for that. Then took me about 2 and half hours to get in the right frame of mind to bottle. Then a hour to work out how much priming sugar was needed. Finally we get our act into gear and im to pissed because i have been drinking the whole time while i was working this out. Ohh well have to try again tommorow. By the end of the week we finally completed the challange. <_<

 

[thanme]

Do we rock up at 12 tomorrow, or are we doing the swap before that??