New to the forum, been lerking around for awhile, whilst I pluck up the courage (or should that be find the time) to kick off my first kit brew.
Well the brew is brewing nicely, so before I'm ready to rack my first brew, I have a couple of questions I'd like to ask.
1) I've bought a couple of Cornelius kegs as the thought of cleaning all 40 bottles (not to mention storing them) put me off. So how long will my beer stay fresh for (assuming I use CO2) ?
2) By the same token, I'll have a few pints left, that I'd like to bottle, so how long will this stay fresh for in the bottles ? As whilst I like a beer as much as the next man, I'm only a pint or so a night bloke at heart, well until BBQ season is here
3) On the subject of CO2 (for above), where's the best place to buy it i.e I've seen the 'bulb' CO2 bottles & dispenser for my Cornelius kegs, as well as the puka regulated brewgas stuff? I did notice my local brew shop sells some smaller gas cylinders (the widget one & another make) which seem reasonable to refill but he couldn't tell me if there were fixings for my Cornelius kegs?
4) When I get a little more into brewing, I'd like to fit a handpull & so was wondering what your experiances of them were, as I seem to remember reading a similar thread about having to use a cask breather to help preserve the brew (any idea where I can buy a cask breather?) ?
Anyways, thanks in advance, I've found this forum very usefull & I'm sure I'll be back with more question soon, as ideally, I'd like to move into full grain brewing.
Many thanks in advance.
Darren.