Pimp my King Keg!
Pimp my King Keg!
There are regularly posts on here about King Kegs and problems holding pressure so I thought I should show how I “pimped” my kegs. This is my first time posting photos so apologies if the links do not work first time.
I can be a bit of a worrier and used to spend time fretting about what pressure was in my keg and whether my hard earned brew was spoiling or not. I decided to find a way of monitoring the pressure. Following the recommendations of another forum member I decided to fit tyre valves to my keg lids. My local tyre shop was very helpful and gave me a few for now’t as they are only pennies to buy. I drilled 12mm holes in the caps and pulled the rubber valves into place using plenty of washing up liquid for lubrication. You can also buy valves with a locking nut on the bottom which are even easier to fit. This worked really well and it was easy to measure the pressure using a cheap digital tyre pressure gauge from Hellfrauds. The added advantage with tyre valves is that you can use them to vent excess pressure without disturbing the cap.
A couple of brews later I happened upon some low pressure dial gauges on ebay. I can’t remember the cost but I think they were around £13 each. I decided to keep the tyre valves and added the gauges to the cap too.
image by Wezzell, on Flickr
King Keg by Wezzell, on Flickr
I also changed the taps to these which were less than a fiver and offer much better control over the standard drum taps.
image by Wezzell, on Flickr
My kegging routine is now as follows:
Prime the brew (23 – 25 litres) with 85 gms of dextrose.
Wrap 10 – 15 turns of ptfe tape around the keg threads.
Lightly grease the o-ring with Vaseline.
Screw the cap on hand tight.
Give the keg a squirt of Co2 from the S30 bottle to pressurise to about 5 psi.
Wait for approximately 30 minutes to check that the keg is holding pressure. If the needle is dropping I will tighten in small increments until I know I have a good seal.
I will then vent off excess Co2 and unwanted air using the tyre valve to 1 psi and put the keg in the brew fridge at about 19 degrees to carb up.
After about 7 days the pressure is normally at about 10 psi. At this point I drop the temperature to cellar temperature (about 12 or 13 degrees) for conditioning. I’ve noticed that pressure does still build even at cellar temperature albeit slowly (0.2 – 0.3 psi per day) but it is easy to vent excess pressure using the tyre valve. Incidentally, I wouldn’t put too much trust in the pressure relief valve as I once found mine at 15 psi with no sign of letting up.
I realise that these additions put up the overall cost and shouldn’t be necessary but in my mind well worth it for the peace of mind.
I can be a bit of a worrier and used to spend time fretting about what pressure was in my keg and whether my hard earned brew was spoiling or not. I decided to find a way of monitoring the pressure. Following the recommendations of another forum member I decided to fit tyre valves to my keg lids. My local tyre shop was very helpful and gave me a few for now’t as they are only pennies to buy. I drilled 12mm holes in the caps and pulled the rubber valves into place using plenty of washing up liquid for lubrication. You can also buy valves with a locking nut on the bottom which are even easier to fit. This worked really well and it was easy to measure the pressure using a cheap digital tyre pressure gauge from Hellfrauds. The added advantage with tyre valves is that you can use them to vent excess pressure without disturbing the cap.
A couple of brews later I happened upon some low pressure dial gauges on ebay. I can’t remember the cost but I think they were around £13 each. I decided to keep the tyre valves and added the gauges to the cap too.
image by Wezzell, on Flickr
King Keg by Wezzell, on Flickr
I also changed the taps to these which were less than a fiver and offer much better control over the standard drum taps.
image by Wezzell, on Flickr
My kegging routine is now as follows:
Prime the brew (23 – 25 litres) with 85 gms of dextrose.
Wrap 10 – 15 turns of ptfe tape around the keg threads.
Lightly grease the o-ring with Vaseline.
Screw the cap on hand tight.
Give the keg a squirt of Co2 from the S30 bottle to pressurise to about 5 psi.
Wait for approximately 30 minutes to check that the keg is holding pressure. If the needle is dropping I will tighten in small increments until I know I have a good seal.
I will then vent off excess Co2 and unwanted air using the tyre valve to 1 psi and put the keg in the brew fridge at about 19 degrees to carb up.
After about 7 days the pressure is normally at about 10 psi. At this point I drop the temperature to cellar temperature (about 12 or 13 degrees) for conditioning. I’ve noticed that pressure does still build even at cellar temperature albeit slowly (0.2 – 0.3 psi per day) but it is easy to vent excess pressure using the tyre valve. Incidentally, I wouldn’t put too much trust in the pressure relief valve as I once found mine at 15 psi with no sign of letting up.
I realise that these additions put up the overall cost and shouldn’t be necessary but in my mind well worth it for the peace of mind.
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Re: Pimp my King Keg!
NIce one...
what did u use to mate the guage to the tyre valve??
what did u use to mate the guage to the tyre valve??
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate
Re: Pimp my King Keg!
They're separate and not linked. I don't really need both but the tyre valve is great for venting excess Co2 without disturbing the cap seal.
Re: Pimp my King Keg!
Have a link to the pressure gauge and what was the install procedure for this?
Pimp my King Keg!
Thanks Jay
Nikster, I can't find the chap on eBay anymore but thebrewshop do them for £9.20. Theirs are rated at 30 psi but should be fine. There are loads on eBay but you need one that is 50mm dia. With a locknut on the bottom. When I installed mine I had to drill a 8mm hole. The gauge has a rubber o-ring to make an air tight seal.
http://www.thebrewshop.com/contents/en- ... html#p1560
Nikster, I can't find the chap on eBay anymore but thebrewshop do them for £9.20. Theirs are rated at 30 psi but should be fine. There are loads on eBay but you need one that is 50mm dia. With a locknut on the bottom. When I installed mine I had to drill a 8mm hole. The gauge has a rubber o-ring to make an air tight seal.
http://www.thebrewshop.com/contents/en- ... html#p1560
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- Telling imaginary friend stories
- Posts: 5229
- Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2011 1:49 pm
- Location: Cowley, Oxford
Re: Pimp my King Keg!
on a big screen i can see that now DUH!!Wezzel wrote:They're separate and not linked. I don't really need both but the tyre valve is great for venting excess Co2 without disturbing the cap seal.
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Re: Pimp my King Keg!
I am "The Little Red Brooster"
Fermenting:
Conditioning:
Drinking: Southwold Again,
Up Next: John Barleycorn (Barley Wine)
Planning: Winter drinking Beer
Fermenting:
Conditioning:
Drinking: Southwold Again,
Up Next: John Barleycorn (Barley Wine)
Planning: Winter drinking Beer
Re: Pimp my King Keg!
This is an old thread I know, but I wanted to add that I have done exactly the same with my King Kegs - added pressure gauges bought on eBay. I have them on all three of my KKs now, and they are invaluable.
You can read about it on my blog here, rather than repeating it all:
http://cheshirepeaks.blogspot.co.uk/201 ... gauge.html
On the subject of the pressure getting too high - you are right, I have never seen the pressure relief valve do anything. I have found that when kegs get over 10 psi or so (usually due to a bit of residual fermentation when it is warm) the place where the tap screws into the keg starts to seep. This is messy, so the pressure gauges help me a lot in being able to spot this and release some pressure before I get a puddle of beer...
You can read about it on my blog here, rather than repeating it all:
http://cheshirepeaks.blogspot.co.uk/201 ... gauge.html
On the subject of the pressure getting too high - you are right, I have never seen the pressure relief valve do anything. I have found that when kegs get over 10 psi or so (usually due to a bit of residual fermentation when it is warm) the place where the tap screws into the keg starts to seep. This is messy, so the pressure gauges help me a lot in being able to spot this and release some pressure before I get a puddle of beer...
Re: Pimp my King Keg!
I added a pressure gauge to my bottom tap KK and I'm getting strange readings- suspect I've got a slow leak. Filled it with a kit ale, applied vaseline to the washers etc, gave it a blast from an 8g CO2 to check- the pressure shot up then vented down to 10psi, over the next few hours it slowly dropped. Currently showing only 3PSI. I've got some carbing dextrose in there which hopefully soon will kick in and create some pressure. I can't decide whether the drop in pressure is the beer absorbing CO2 under pressure or whether there is actually a slow leak. I went to stick the KK in the bath but the baths not deep enough! Guess I'll just keep an eye on the pressure and see if it keeps on dropping....
Re: Pimp my King Keg!
At least with the pressure gauge you can see that the pressure is slowly going down, so you can top it up.
The question is has fitting the gauge caused the leak? Do you have another lid that does not have a pressure gauge? Or could you borrow one? Try that - fit the lid and put some gas in. Leave it a few days and see if it has all leaked away.
I suspect we often get leaks with our KKs, but without a pressure gauge we're not aware if it!
The question is has fitting the gauge caused the leak? Do you have another lid that does not have a pressure gauge? Or could you borrow one? Try that - fit the lid and put some gas in. Leave it a few days and see if it has all leaked away.
I suspect we often get leaks with our KKs, but without a pressure gauge we're not aware if it!
Re: Pimp my King Keg!
My money would be on CO2 absorption.BenB wrote:I added a pressure gauge to my bottom tap KK and I'm getting strange readings- suspect I've got a slow leak. Filled it with a kit ale, applied vaseline to the washers etc, gave it a blast from an 8g CO2 to check- the pressure shot up then vented down to 10psi, over the next few hours it slowly dropped. Currently showing only 3PSI. I've got some carbing dextrose in there which hopefully soon will kick in and create some pressure. I can't decide whether the drop in pressure is the beer absorbing CO2 under pressure or whether there is actually a slow leak. I went to stick the KK in the bath but the baths not deep enough! Guess I'll just keep an eye on the pressure and see if it keeps on dropping....
To check for leaks, spray some soapy water on all the likely spots and look for bubbles.
Re: Pimp my King Keg!
Here's hoping! I'd checked for leaks at the pressure gauge and the s30 valve and all looks okay so if it is leaking it can only be the main washer or something like the s30 valve itself or the pressure dial leaking slowly. I discovered a quite spectacular leak at the tap when I pressurised it to 10psi which meant removing the beer into a sanitised FV and nipping up the back nut. All the washers have vaseline on them, I worry I might have over-tightened the lid which I understand can actually lead to leaks...
Re: Pimp my King Keg!
Pimp my KIng Keg.
Hi This is my first posting.
I have fitted car valves to my kegs.
I now use the 16G cylinders that fit in a puncture repair kit for motorbikes etc. ebay item number 152952137398 .
I like these because you can just git it skewer you save a lot of gas that way. the one I have picked has a trigger on it. Also the 16G cylinders will last longer. I found that using the 8G cylinders just wasted half of the gas if the keg is quit full.
I was looking at the cap and thought I can get a blank cap and just put the gauge and car valve on it then. I realised there would be no pressure relief valve.
Thanks Ade
Hi This is my first posting.
I have fitted car valves to my kegs.
I now use the 16G cylinders that fit in a puncture repair kit for motorbikes etc. ebay item number 152952137398 .
I like these because you can just git it skewer you save a lot of gas that way. the one I have picked has a trigger on it. Also the 16G cylinders will last longer. I found that using the 8G cylinders just wasted half of the gas if the keg is quit full.
I was looking at the cap and thought I can get a blank cap and just put the gauge and car valve on it then. I realised there would be no pressure relief valve.
Thanks Ade