My Beer Engine Setup

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Dennis King
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Re: My Beer Engine Setup

Post by Dennis King » Sun Oct 27, 2013 4:40 pm

When I first started using the polypin/handpump set up I did prime but not bothered for a few years now.

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floydmeddler
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Re: My Beer Engine Setup

Post by floydmeddler » Sun Oct 27, 2013 6:04 pm

Nice!

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Dennis King
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Re: My Beer Engine Setup

Post by Dennis King » Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:19 pm

Doingatun wrote: how do you deal with natural co2 build up in a pin if unattended for a few days or if going away leaving a near full pin?
With my set up I leave the beer for a few weeks in the pin to mature and only connect to the pin when I'm about to start using it. On the rare occasion there is a big build up I can tilt and let off excess gas.

andybiochem

Re: My Beer Engine Setup

Post by andybiochem » Thu Nov 07, 2013 11:22 pm

I've added a blue 3 way valve to allow the pump to be flushed through with mains water (it shares the mains water connection to my reverse osmosis unit).

I've also 'plumbed in' the waste tray so it drains directly to the sink waste in the next room.

This makes it really easy to clean out the beer engine after I've had a pint or two from it. I pull a pint, pull air through to remove all the remaining beer, throw the water valve and let it run until the engine is cleaned out. The waste water all drains away.

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sub82

Re: My Beer Engine Setup

Post by sub82 » Sat Jan 04, 2014 11:59 am

Andy - this looks great!

What size of beer line would you recommend for the polypin tap?

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Re: My Beer Engine Setup

Post by steambrew » Sat Jan 04, 2014 2:21 pm

Lovely set up why did I not think of using poly pins looks better than my firkin set up =D>

JabbA

Re: My Beer Engine Setup

Post by JabbA » Mon Jan 06, 2014 2:42 pm

I've added a blue 3 way valve ...I've also 'plumbed in' the waste tray so it drains directly to the sink waste in the next room.
Now that's a great idea! I've got a couple of beer engines in the garage, an Angram (which I fear needs a new seal a newish Worthside.

The thing that put me off using them with my cornies was the amount of waste, I'd end up wasting at least 1/2 pint per session, having a beer or two at a time the wastage soon adds up! It was also a bit of a phaff moving it when getting beers in and out of the fermenting fridge!

Cheers,
Jamie

andybiochem

Re: My Beer Engine Setup

Post by andybiochem » Wed Jan 22, 2014 12:29 am

sub82 wrote: What size of beer line would you recommend for the polypin tap?
Sorry for the slow reply - busy January!

The polypin tap was an absolute pain. It seems to be a completely non-standard size, so no pipes/pushfits fit well at all.

What I did in the end was cut a 1" length of 1/2" hose and push it on to the tap, even though it's not a tight fit. Then I popped a 1/2" JG speed fit over the hose, which clamps the hose on a little better.

sub82

Re: My Beer Engine Setup

Post by sub82 » Wed Feb 12, 2014 11:25 am

No worries that's great - have ordered the parts so we'll how it goes!

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scotia
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Re: My Beer Engine Setup

Post by scotia » Wed Feb 12, 2014 2:36 pm

andybiochem wrote:
sub82 wrote: What size of beer line would you recommend for the polypin tap?
Sorry for the slow reply - busy January!

The polypin tap was an absolute pain. It seems to be a completely non-standard size, so no pipes/pushfits fit well at all.

What I did in the end was cut a 1" length of 1/2" hose and push it on to the tap, even though it's not a tight fit. Then I popped a 1/2" JG speed fit over the hose, which clamps the hose on a little better.

I was thinking of this thread last week regarding the three way valve for cleaning after use I have ordered 12mm JG stem elbows for mine after speaking to a brewery that use them for their polypins he did state they must be genuine JG as exact copies are well NOT EXACT but suppose the taps on polypins may be different.
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Nikster

Re: My Beer Engine Setup

Post by Nikster » Fri Feb 14, 2014 3:27 pm

The wife acquired me a beer engine for Christmas along with some fonts for visual purposes for a home bar, but the engine works so I wanted to have a crack at the pin route but I have no means of crashing primary.

What's the best route in that case? Primary as normal (leave as much as I can to make sure the FG is as low as it's going to go) then put in the pins and leave for a few weeks for final conditioning then rig up to the beer engine?

andybiochem

Re: My Beer Engine Setup

Post by andybiochem » Mon Feb 17, 2014 10:46 am

Nikster wrote:The wife acquired me a beer engine for Christmas along with some fonts for visual purposes for a home bar, but the engine works so I wanted to have a crack at the pin route but I have no means of crashing primary.

What's the best route in that case? Primary as normal (leave as much as I can to make sure the FG is as low as it's going to go) then put in the pins and leave for a few weeks for final conditioning then rig up to the beer engine?

Can't really answer that one I'm afraid! I always crash to 4 deg c before fining, then transfer to pin. Doing that keeps a fair amount of condition in the beer all the way to the pin, and the end pint from the engine is spot on.

I don't know how you'd go about conditioning in the pin - looking at other users posts it looks like a delicate balance of venting excess gas out of the pin before it explodes.

Mr Dennis King, or Jim, are probably the best people to ask.

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Dennis King
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Re: My Beer Engine Setup

Post by Dennis King » Mon Feb 17, 2014 2:25 pm

andybiochem wrote:
sub82 wrote:
The polypin tap was an absolute pain. It seems to be a completely non-standard size, so no pipes/pushfits fit well at all.
I use one piece of tubing from the polypin tap to the beer engine, an Angram, plus jubilee clips to tighten.

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Re: My Beer Engine Setup

Post by GrowlingDogBeer » Mon Feb 17, 2014 10:39 pm

I use a very short bit of upvc hose to connect between the polypin and standard 3/8 beer line. That then connects to a check valve and then some silicon hose between the check valve and the beer engine.

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Re: My Beer Engine Setup

Post by jaroporter » Wed Jul 09, 2014 9:10 am

hey, saw this first time around and thought it looks great. love the idea of having it all fully plumbed in! i need a coupla three-way valves like in the OP but am finding it hard to source. only thing i've found that looks similar is a branch valve from a1barsupplies but the postage is crazy high for one piece. any ideas where to look would be much appreciated!
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