The Jerry Keg is Born! - Cheap Pressure Keg Option

[floydmeddler]

Right... I've been busy and using the ideas of others on here, I've put together what can only be called, The Jerry Keg. Big thanks to: Travis, The Dribbler, ChuckE and Fil for all your ideas and head scratching.

Here are the threads that sparked this idea off.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=52098
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=37389

Basically, if all goes according to plan, the Jerry Keg will hold 10L of bright beer and will stay fully carbed. This thing should easily fit in your kitchen fridge. If you have a dedicated beer fridge, you could have many in there, with lots of different beers. No worries about them going off. No reason why this won't work with a 25L too. However, I'm excited by the 10L size.

Here it is. Suppose you could call it the mother of all budget pressure kegs.



What you'll need:

A 10L Jerry can (£6): http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10L-10-LITRE- ... 3377c222d2
A tyre valve (£2.50 for 4): http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320860124122? ... 1497.l2649
A drum tap (£6.50): http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Plastic-Home- ... 4ab4edf948
A co2 tyre inflator (£10) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190637833756? ... 1497.l2649

Total cost: £25. The inflator only needs to be purchased once and I'm hoping the gas lasts. Refils are pretty damn cheap: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/16g-Threaded- ... 43b11f8e40

Making it is pretty simple. Cut a hole on the lid of the Jerry can and attach the drum tap (or even a Dalex tap??). Drill a hole on the jerry can and pop in the tyre valve. I used a counter sink to make the hole as my forstner bits were too big. However, i would like the hole even smaller again; just slightly. Fixing on the tyre valve was a piece of piss. I fed it through using string. No nuts required. Just pull it through with a pair of pliers. Took seconds. I put my valve at the back as it was easiest place to put it. Suppose it doesn't matter where it goes, just as long as it's on top. Ideally it would go at the front so that I can carb it up in the fridge without removing it... hindsight!

Anyway, like I said, I haven't even tried carbing this this thing yet as I've only just bought the co2 inflator on Ebay. However, I did attach a nozzle and blew into it. Air can enter the nozzle but not exit through it. I managed to pour off 2.5 pints of water with just the pressure I created by blowing into it. After 2.5L, it started to gurgle. Not good obviously. I'm hoping the cannister will do a better job than me and hopefully allow me to draw off maybe 3 - 4 pints before topping up again. However, the whole thing could of course FAIL! We'll see.

I like the idea of being able to grab this from the fridge and take it to a friends, or even connect to my beer engine:



When attached to the beer engine, I prob wouldn't worry about co2 as I would only attach it if friends were around or if there was only a few litres left that I would drink within a few days. I would insert the nozzle so that air could enter as the pints are drawn off. It will shut the valve off as soon as it has taken in enough air, resealing the Jerry Keg. Likewise, if I'm heading to a party, I could top up with c02 before leaving and bring the nozzle with me. As soon as the pressure has dropped, the nozzle will kick in and allow air to enter without the gurgling.


SO... the idea is to fill the Jerry Keg with bright beer from secondary, carb up with the tyre inflator and away you go. Admittedly, I haven't tried carbing it with the co2 inflator yet but I can't see this failing unless I've missed something? I suppose the main issue is pressure... how much could it handle? I don't want fizzy beer. Just a way of keeping beer fresh in bigger quantities...

Again, big thanks to: Travis, The Dribbler, ChuckE and Fil.

Do comment. Be great to add more ideas to this.

[oldtom]

It looks like a raelly interesting idea. Keep us up to date with how it goes. I would imagine that the systen could hold 2-4 psi easy enough which would be just right for me to serve ale from my keg fridge.

Paul.

[Manx Guy]

Hi FM!

Good work there!
Let us know how your trials go!

This could also work with the cask breather Chuck E mentions in one of the above threads!

Cheers!

Guy

[Pinto]

Do we have some longer term results on the viability of the jerry keg ?

Im very interested in making up a few as TBH, I dont want to be paying £30+ for a budget keg and then having to pop another £20 on a dalex tap to make it work properly

I have another question too - what pressure will these kegs hold sucessfully ? For the brews im looking at kegging, storing them at 3deg c would allow me the option of force carbonation if it could safely hold 10psi.....

[floydmeddler]

Hey. I've managed around 6psi and to be honest, I wouldn't feel comfortable with more than that. I'm away from home at the minute and have been for around 3 weeks so haven't been able to experiment much with the jerry keg. When I return, I'll carry on updating.

I did fill it with beer and used the co2 tyre inflator to keep it pressurised. However, it lost pressure overnight. Not sure if this is because the beer obsorbed it or there was a leak. Any ideas? Overall though, I am very happy with the results so far. 10l of beer stayed perfect for over a week. No reason why it shouldn't last longer.

I'll fill it again and keep you posted.

[oldtom]

If there is a leak it must be from the tire valve as anywhere else would leave a wet patch. Probably absorbed by the beer.

Have you checked round the valve with some washing up liquid soloution while the jerry is pressurised?

Paul.

[floydmeddler]

If there is a leak it must be from the tire valve as anywhere else would leave a wet patch. Probably absorbed by the beer.

Have you checked round the valve with some washing up liquid soloution while the jerry is pressurised?

Paul.

I haven't Tom... will try this though. Cheers.

[ciderhead]

Sorry to piss on your chips as it looks great but that drum looks like its made from HDPE, which will permeate gases and in particular Co2 , and the reason why you only ever see carbonated drinks sold in PET bottles. try having a go with 3 litre Pet bottles and the valve.

[oldtom]

That could cause a problem. How permiable is it to CO2, enough to loose conditioning gas overnight?

This still wouldn`t be too much of a problem if the jerry were used to feed a hand pump and gassed to maintain a CO2 blanket though which is what I`m thinking of doing.

Paul.

[floydmeddler]

If this is the case, ah well... still good for parties and beer engine.

[floydmeddler]

Check out my new baby:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=58098

[Underground Joe]

Is the CO2 food grade? When searching for CO2 gas bulbs I have found some of them say not food grade, some say they are and some say nothing at all. I haven't found any of the screw type that you are using that say they are food grade. Hopefully someone can find something that I can't, but if not use the other type with a different bulb holder.

[lindsay]

Hi

Brilliant idea.

I was just thinking, I do a lot of caravaning and if you look at the Towsure website there are quite a few different types and sizes of water containers on there. Some have two caps with a tap already fitted. It might make it easier than trying to fit a tap to the container you have.
Have a look and see what you think.

Cheers

Lindsay

[floydmeddler]

Hi Lindsay. I've seen these. They'd do the job nicely.

[Dr. Dextrin]

I would not expect these cans to lose pressure overnight unless there is a leak. However, HDPE is quite permeable to gases, so oxygen will get in through the plastic and mix with the CO2 and this will limit how long the beer lasts. Having said that, however, I'm not convinced that most standard pressure barrels are made of anything much better, although possibly the plastic may be thicker.