Taking cornies on holiday?

[Kev888]

Norm's cylinder's are great, badly reconditioned fire extinguishers.. really good, the valve goes in a rather large dangerous hiss, wake's u up it does.. after a few month's... you email him and he just ignore's you.. £45 down the pan.. w*** and TWAT come's to mind.. Oh and my psi reg I got off him has packed up as well, so far in test it hurt's... BAD..

That sounds unfortunate; its also completely the opposite to my experience as when I had a small problem with my cylinder he responded almost instantly and offered to replace it FOC without quibble - complete with gas even though I'd almost emptied the original. he's also responded fast, with replacements, to a couple of issues I had with poppets and O-rings. The regulator I got from him a couple of years ago was also cheaper than most and has been faultless so far. Clearly your experience has been very different though, so its sad to hear things haven't gone well for you.

Cheers
kev

[testtube]

Was a long time ago, but I didn't get that treatment.. I have no respect for the man or what he sell's what so ever.. Even the people who filled the piece of crap commented on the bad job..

So you have the stuff anyway.. And have plenty of experience then?!

[boingy]

I'd echo Kev's experience of Norm. He's a good guy and very reasonable to deal with. He replaced poppets on my kegs for free when it was me that had damaged them. I couldn't have asked for better service.

Anyway, back on topic. Kev, I've taken cornies on holiday a couple of times. I use a party tap to dispense and a widget world manifold thing to inject gas. Just keep a minimum pressure in the kegs and foam is usually not a problem. It's a bit of a pain with a full keg because you end up squirting in a small amount of gas almost every pint but once there is a bit more head space in there the gas injections become less frequent.

[Skiptonian]

I have just purchased a spare Cornie lid that has been fitted with an S30 valve. I intend to just swap it over with an original when it's Holiday/Party time, regass it first at home from my pub gas cylinder and then use my old Hambleton Bard Co2 cylinder to top it up - simples

I suppose I could have drilled a hole (18mm) and fitted an S30 valve myself but I went to the Narrow Boat instead

Skiptonian

[Kev888]

Thanks chaps - thats really helpful. It looks like however I gas them the key is to do it gently and only when needed; I'll take less carbonated batches, or else try to de-carbonate existing ones.

Test Tube - I've a fair bit of experience with cornies having used them for a couple of years now, but I wouldn't claim to be an expert; I got things set up and working for me but (as in this instance) once I go off the beaten track its all new.

If you mean experience of Norm I've visited him four times to collect stuff - he seemed very genuine to me, though he's a robust character so possibly if you clashed I can guess it wouldn't be so smooth. I do recall that when I returned my faulty fire-extinguisher-type cylinder he was tearing his hair out about them; his supplier had fitted the wrong O-ring for an entire batch, and though he was replacing them FOC without quibble the postage costs were a real problem. I also heard that the cylinders were different until relatively recently; apparently they previously had tapered threads that are no longer allowed, the one I got from him earlier in the year has parallel ones. The tap seems okay on it but I found a local supplier of 7kg pub type cylinders for the keggorator and although much more battered they definately have more industrial looking taps.

Cheers
Kev

[testtube]

This must have been 4 years ago, I wasn't over impressed to start as they should have been 5 years test on it and there wasn't.. I was polite in my email/s. Bloody dangerous non the less.. Mine was sat in my bedroom at the time.. I don't think the reg has been tested.. If something does happen he's in big doodoo!

Hope everything goes alright for you..

[Kev888]

Oh dear, that does sound unfortunate. I don't suppose it'll help that much, but for what its worth I bought Norm's cylinder (to tide me over until I could find a local gas supplier) when I worked out that even if I threw it away when empty it would have been cheaper than disposable welding gas and S30 cylinders. Having found a local source of bigger cylinders now, I don't suppose I'll get this one refilled once its empty; unless I happen to visit him again for some reason and do a swap at the same time.

Cheers
kev

[far9410]

if you have larger cylinders and want to refill your small one for easy transportation, its a fairly easy procedure to transfer from large to small, but care must be taken so as not to expel high pressure gas to atmosphere (rockets!!). also this process is easier if donor tank is warmer than receiving cylinder.

[Kev888]

Ah, thats a useful idea for when it becomes empty, thanks! I'd need to get the proper hoses though - perhaps not the sort of thing I'd want to bodge together really!

Cheers
kev

[far9410]

I made up a suitable hose, it does the job quite well, you can always use it .

[Kev888]

Thanks!! It'll be quite some time' before I need to refill it, Norm recently swapped it for me, but I'll keep it in mind!

Cheers
Kev

[The_blue]

Holidays are the reason i went cornie.

I used to take a small cylinger. Now i just hoof the pub gas in the van.

[boingy]

if you have larger cylinders and want to refill your small one for easy transportation, its a fairly easy procedure to transfer from large to small, but care must be taken so as not to expel high pressure gas to atmosphere (rockets!!). also this process is easier if donor tank is warmer than receiving cylinder.

Seriously, don't do this. Connecting a full cylinder to an empty one without a regulator is very, very dangerous. Here be dragons.

[simco999]

Here's my corny I took to the broads this year. It made a perfect rod rest Its fitted with a SO30 adapter and after a bit of trial and error it poured ok. I kept it outside overnight which cooled it down and kept it out of the sun during the day...except when fishing !!

Stop it - this is highly illegal.

You're having way too much fun in one place.

The government will tax it and put an end to this sort of thing!!!

[smeggedup]

I have a fixation on taking cornnys away, its a must, have you seen beer prices when away, and its all sh1t.

this was the first time i've took them away



in a hoilday day inn at a wedding, only had cider on at the time but it beat boddingtons at £3.60 a pint or p1ss water (stella) down at the bar.



this one was taken from doncaster to newcastle in the bottom of a suitcase on the train, worked wonderful.




The most recent was a black ipa that i did for bonfire night, went down very well, with the keg tucked under the pushchair at the local scout hut

Theres been a few other times but cant find the photos.
in my experience i've found that low carbonated beer works best, as it tends not to foam up as much and makes it easier to dispense, or highly carbonated cider as that doesn't foam also works well, a pressure gauge isn't a must but helps avoid a face full of home brew, a lid with pressure release is needed, as you'll want to force about 30-40 psi into it when traveling to avoid leakage, and then be able to release the pressure without all the foam or the shower.


I tend to keg to keg transfer when taking beer away i simply use two black out disco's and a length of pipe, that way the beer travels from the bottom to the botom, minimising foaming all you need to is to pressurise both kegs to the same pressure connect them up together with the gas in with keg thats got the beer ready to transfer, and release the pressure in the other keg, worked every time for me.