Options for conditioning/serving bigger than a bottle, but smaller than keg?

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Re: Options for conditioning/serving bigger than a bottle, but smaller than keg?

Post by vacant » Thu Sep 12, 2019 9:24 am

I never used them but there are lots of success stories with polypins on the forum. This link crops up and is still live:

http://www.baginboxonline.co.uk/buyit1.html
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Re: Options for conditioning/serving bigger than a bottle, but smaller than keg?

Post by f00b4r » Thu Sep 12, 2019 1:49 pm

ingo wrote:A bit OT, but what is the build quality of the 6l ones? The handle bar weld looks flimsy in the images, but is it? Looking at them for yeast slurry storage and put them on a gas flame to boil "sterile" (will not be pressurised).

What's a UK price for a corny? When I hop over the border here to Germany I pay 50E for a 18l ball lock or pin lock, without the vent. The vent is the first thing I replace anyway, with a stainless one. Including a vent it's E 10 more. A used 10 l corny is unobtainium :( same price a new from Italy.

Ingo
It's a decent build quality but there again I have not thought about heating them on a flame. They are small enough that you could boil in a pan or even put in a bigger pressure cooker.
I usually buy my kegs new as I know they will seal at low pressures and the price gap isn't that great if I don't have to replace the seals etc so someone else might be better giving you an answer on that one.
Shipping from the UK to some parts of the EU can be cheap though through places like Parcel2Go, I regularly have up to 30kg parcels shipped here for around €14, so if you find private/eBay sellers here in the UK they may well be happy to have you send the label for a parcel and have it picked up by a courier or drop it off at a shop for delivery by courier.

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Re: Options for conditioning/serving bigger than a bottle, but smaller than keg?

Post by MuckyFunster » Thu Sep 12, 2019 4:48 pm

I quite fancy a mini keg as well, and have been looking at the GrowlerWerks one for some time. My brews are all one or two gallons at a time so a mini keg would be ideal for me. The price point of the GrowlerWerks really puts me off though, plus the prospect of having to import spare parts of anything goes wrong....headache!

This one here seems reasonable and has been on my eBay watch list for a while too...

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2900550862


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Re: Options for conditioning/serving bigger than a bottle, but smaller than keg?

Post by f00b4r » Thu Sep 12, 2019 7:04 pm

MuckyFunster wrote:I quite fancy a mini keg as well, and have been looking at the GrowlerWerks one for some time. My brews are all one or two gallons at a time so a mini keg would be ideal for me. The price point of the GrowlerWerks really puts me off though, plus the prospect of having to import spare parts of anything goes wrong....headache!

This one here seems reasonable and has been on my eBay watch list for a while too...

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2900550862
I have one of the 1.9L Gowlerwerks kegs too, although I have not yet used it but am planning on doing soon. I actually picked it up for 25% of retail cost and was happy paying that but would have baulked at paying retail, especially given I have seen they appear to have had reliability issues with some of the lids in the past and if that stops working you are basically screwed. I will post a review though when I get to test it out.

In terms of the linked mini keg too I think that you might be able to get something better. A lid with corny connections would give you more flexibility and the tap is not forward sealing so will jam up if not used every day (?) and there is nothing to control the flow pressure so you will likely pour a lot of foan and when it settles you will have the wrong carb level left in the beer in your glass.

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Re: Options for conditioning/serving bigger than a bottle, but smaller than keg?

Post by MuckyFunster » Tue Sep 17, 2019 2:12 pm

I went ahead and ordered this one...

https://www.darkfarm.co.uk/product/5l-m ... -flow-tap/#

It’s the same seller as the eBay link above, but on their own website they had the 5L keg on sale in a weekly special offer thing. And with a flow control tap too, for £115 with free delivery ImageImage I don’t know if the tap is forward sealing (I had to google what that meant), but for the price I’m happy to give it a go!

I’ve got three 1 gallon demijohns full of beer ready to be bottled so I’ll earmark one of them for the keg’s first bit of action!


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Re: Options for conditioning/serving bigger than a bottle, but smaller than keg?

Post by f00b4r » Tue Sep 17, 2019 4:39 pm

MuckyFunster wrote:I went ahead and ordered this one...

https://www.darkfarm.co.uk/product/5l-m ... -flow-tap/#

It’s the same seller as the eBay link above, but on their own website they had the 5L keg on sale in a weekly special offer thing. And with a flow control tap too, for £115 with free delivery ImageImage I don’t know if the tap is forward sealing (I had to google what that meant), but for the price I’m happy to give it a go!

I’ve got three 1 gallon demijohns full of beer ready to be bottled so I’ll earmark one of them for the keg’s first bit of action!


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I don't think those ones are. Essentially forward sealing taps get round the issue of homebrewers taps jamming up from not being used regularly like bar taps would be and are considered to be more sanitary. Also be aware that the flow control will also only let you compensate so much, e.g. on the Intertap ones they let you drop just a smidge over 12 PSI (if memory serves) so you may want to not prime them too heavily.
Hopefully the awareness of this and the fact they are going on small kegs will let you get away with these limitations. Let us know how they work out as it's useful info for others and you might get help tweaking the setup.

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Re: Options for conditioning/serving bigger than a bottle, but smaller than keg?

Post by MuckyFunster » Tue Sep 17, 2019 5:17 pm

Ahh I see I see. Can you disconnect and remove the tap from a keg full of beer if it’s going to be a few days in between uses? Or remove the tap for cleaning while the keg is full?


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Options for conditioning/serving bigger than a bottle, but smaller than keg?

Post by f00b4r » Tue Sep 17, 2019 5:28 pm

Not with that setup. Get a squeeze tattoo bottle or similar and clean the spout with sanitiser after each use, hopefully that will help. There are others on here who have used those taps before though that might be able to give you a better idea.
Last edited by f00b4r on Tue Sep 17, 2019 5:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Options for conditioning/serving bigger than a bottle, but smaller than keg?

Post by MuckyFunster » Tue Sep 17, 2019 9:14 pm

One for the original poster... what about bottling into 2 litre fizzy juice bottles and then just pouring into a pitcher or something once your party comes around, and your guests can just help themselves from that. That’ll mean just one pour per big bottle and will save the yeast being all stirred up...?


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Re: Options for conditioning/serving bigger than a bottle, but smaller than keg?

Post by Digby » Tue Sep 17, 2019 10:23 pm

My advice with priming kegs is to be super cautious to start with. It is far easier to add some gas later than faff around degassing. I know this from bitter experience with my kegs!

Matt

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Re: Options for conditioning/serving bigger than a bottle, but smaller than keg?

Post by MuckyFunster » Tue Sep 17, 2019 11:18 pm

Yeah, I’ve been reading about and have watched a few videos. Folk are suggesting 10g of sugar to prime the full 5L. For force carbonation I’ve read (copied and pasted)-

3 ways to force carbonate
Method 1 – Set the pressure to 12-15psi for 48 hours+. This will not over carbonate your brew.
Method 2 – Set the pressure to 20-25psi for 12-24 hours. Quicker than method #1 but you can run the risk of over carbonating your beer.
Method 3 – This is the quickest method. Set the pressure to 20-25psi. Swirl and shake the keg and contents for a couple of minutes allow to rest. Repeat if necessary.

I’ll have a go at force carbonation, but I’ll try priming at some point too. That way I don’t have to drink it all within a week or whatever, and can just keep the small lid on the keg and the switch over to the tap once I’m ready to go.

Since watching a few of the videos I’ve realised that the keg and tap which I’ve ordered doesn’t come with a gas release valve, so I suppose I’ll need to be careful with it.

It’ll be a new experience for sure!


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Re: Options for conditioning/serving bigger than a bottle, but smaller than keg?

Post by MuckyFunster » Thu Sep 19, 2019 4:04 pm

I’ve been watching and reading up on force carbing in the keg and this Co2 release valve seems to be pretty necessary, to obviously alleviate any excess pressure and also to purge any oxygen in the keg. It seems to be the failsafe part of the entire keg of beer not failing can anyone offer any advice?


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Options for conditioning/serving bigger than a bottle, but smaller than keg?

Post by LeeH » Thu Sep 19, 2019 4:07 pm

They are if you are using a welding regulator, not so much if you have a ‘pub gas’ regulator as these have both primary and secondary PRVs built in.

But, they are very useful to purge with as you said.


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Re: Options for conditioning/serving bigger than a bottle, but smaller than keg?

Post by MuckyFunster » Thu Sep 19, 2019 5:15 pm

So, if setting the pressure at 12-15 psi for 48 hours to carb, I take it just pulling a pint will reduce the pressure a bit, as I’ve read that pressure should be around 5-8 psi for pouring?


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Options for conditioning/serving bigger than a bottle, but smaller than keg?

Post by LeeH » Thu Sep 19, 2019 6:06 pm

Search for a carbonation chart.

You need a fixed temp and pressure to ‘fizz up’ at your chosen number. Eg 2 volumes. For this you require say 10 psi at 10 degrees.

You serve at the same pressure so you either need a flow control tap OR decrease your beer line diameter or increase its length to reduce the flow rate.

If you go high to force carb quickly you will A not benefit from the conditioning time and B probably over carb your beer so you just pour foam.

Low and slow is the game, takes around a week depending on the volumes of co2 you require.


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