Ecofass Kegs

The forum for discussing all kinds of brewing paraphernalia.

Would you be interested in Ecofass Kegs

1. Nope I'm happy with my current cornies and or bottles
9
26%
2. Yes I am interested
18
53%
3. These look ace but I'm skint so won't bother
3
9%
4. I don't even know what day it is
3
9%
5. I want bigger kegs
1
3%
 
Total votes: 34

bobsbeer

Ecofass Kegs

Post by bobsbeer » Tue Jul 09, 2013 8:27 pm

On the subject of kegs and the different types the Ecofass kegs seem to fit the bill for home brewers.

http://www.draughtbeeronline.com/_uk/ecofass/index.html
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These kegs can be filled bright, gassed up, but there is no need to steralise. The keg has a replaceable plastic bag inside which is deflated by pressure outside the bag forcing the beer out of the keg and into your glass.
Image

The bags are fairly reasonable at less than £5 each and don't need to be steralised before use. This gets around the cleaning problems associated with kegs. They come in a variety of sizes including 20lt. Ecofass kegs use a standard Sankey keg coupler for dispensing that can be altered to act as a filler by removing both the non- return valves (NRV). They can be filled under pressure, gravity, pumped or CO2 blanket. Filling is carried out upright.

Ecofass have brought out a new design and range of kegs which were due for release earlier this year but as usual with this type of thing there has been a delay. This new range is now available as 10L & 20L kegs. This range will fill the gap in the market for both domestic use and low volume outlets. The 25L and 30L kegs are expected to market by the end of July 2013.

The new range of kegs is slimmer than the previous models -
Dimensions are:
There will be only one diameter for all the range of new kegs = 310 mm
Height 10 litre = 340 mm Weight: 3kgs
Height 20 litre = 482 mm Weight: 4kgs
Height 25 litre = 562 mm Weight: 4.3kgs
Height 30 litre = 642 mm Weight: 4.7kgs

A Cornie by comparison measures about 210 x 630 mm and weighs about 7.5 kg

I have found a supplier in the UK for these who has quoted the following prices:

Prices for the kegs are as follows:

20L Ecofass Keg £56.00 each
Sankey re-useable Valve £ 4.00 each
20L disposable bag £ 3.15 each

20L Test Kit available from 10/06/13, consisting of:
1 x 20L Keg
1 x reusable valve (A or S type)
2 x oneway bags 20L
2 x oneway sets 20L (A or S type)
1 x tightening tool
1 x cleaning adapter
1 x user guide £106.00 each kit (free delivery to England, Wales & Scotland)

30L Ecofass Keg £60.00 each
Sankey re-useable Valve £ 4.00 each
30L disposable bag £ 3.80 each

The prices exclude VAT and are offered with free delivery within England (excluding London), Wales and Scotland for a full pallet (20L x 32 off kegs & 30L x 24 off kegs) and Qty 150 x bags. At present it seems UK breweries are only interested in the 30L kegs so we only intend to bring these into stock initially.

Smaller quantities will be subject to availability and additional cost for courier delivery dependent upon the quantity ordered.

I was thinking that given the weight we could do a group order of a pallet load of 32 x 20lt kegs and get them at the above price with free shipping to the hub and then My Hermes onward cost would be about £8 so a total cost of about £75 delivered. That seems to compare well with current cornie prices. I have ordered a 20lt trial set to see how they work. Thoughts everyone? Would you be interested in a group buy?
Last edited by bobsbeer on Tue Jul 09, 2013 8:36 pm, edited 2 times in total.

bobsbeer

Re: Ecofass Kegs

Post by bobsbeer » Tue Jul 09, 2013 8:32 pm

The other thing I forgot to mention was that these kegs don't need CO2 to dispense. You can use compressed air with a compressor, or you can use regular co2.

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barneey
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Re: Ecofass Kegs

Post by barneey » Tue Jul 09, 2013 8:35 pm

The only question I would have is how to carbonate the beer if required? Unless of course you did it down the beer tube?

The compressed gas as way of dispensing is a good idea.

BTW what day of the week is it? :lol:
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Hops, cider pips & hello.

Name the Movie + song :)

bobsbeer

Re: Ecofass Kegs

Post by bobsbeer » Tue Jul 09, 2013 8:43 pm

I would think it was easy to carbonate through the beer in line after filling. Or even leave uncarbonated for use with beer engines and control the pressure on the outside. As no CO2 is being added it may even comply with CAMRA rules for real ale without the complications. I also forgot to mention we could do a group order for the bags as well and split the 150 between those that order. If we can get 10 people interested that works out at 15 bags each and 4 kegs ish each.

Groundhog day :D

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barneey
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Re: Ecofass Kegs

Post by barneey » Tue Jul 09, 2013 8:45 pm

The only other question I can think off is in terms of serving pressure, i.e. if you have a highly carbonated beer I assume you would step down the inner pushing pressure to prevent a shower. On the other hand if you were after a cask style of beer with no co2 added they could be a very good idea?
Hair of the dog, bacon, butty.
Hops, cider pips & hello.

Name the Movie + song :)

bobsbeer

Re: Ecofass Kegs

Post by bobsbeer » Tue Jul 09, 2013 8:59 pm

I recall using something like this in USA called a Party Pig. It only held about 5lt and as the tap was on the keg it was difficult to control the head. They used a self inflating bag inside but were expensive compared to this commercial version. With the Party Pig you added the beer after fermentation with no need to add priming sugar, but it still came out foamy.

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Befuddler
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Re: Ecofass Kegs

Post by Befuddler » Tue Jul 09, 2013 9:02 pm

It's basically a non-disposable keykeg.
barneey wrote:The only other question I can think off is in terms of serving pressure, i.e. if you have a highly carbonated beer I assume you would step down the inner pushing pressure to prevent a shower. On the other hand if you were after a cask style of beer with no co2 added they could be a very good idea?
The idea is that you balance the serving pressure so it's just slightly higher than the bag pressure, then turn down the flow control at the tap to prevent fobbing. A lot of bars don't seem to have the hang of it yet, leading to half the contents of a keykeg ending up in the drip tray. #-o
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chris2012
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Re: Ecofass Kegs

Post by chris2012 » Tue Jul 09, 2013 9:12 pm

These sound pretty interesting!

Stupid idea: you could pump cold water into the gas line, to keep the beer cold maybe ;)

och29
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Re: Ecofass Kegs

Post by och29 » Tue Jul 09, 2013 9:43 pm

Really interested in these. Have ordered one of the trial kits and should be able to put up pics tomorrow.

bobsbeer

Re: Ecofass Kegs

Post by bobsbeer » Tue Jul 09, 2013 9:43 pm

chris2012 wrote:These sound pretty interesting!

Stupid idea: you could pump cold water into the gas line, to keep the beer cold maybe ;)
Not sure how you get it out though :D

Belter

Re: Ecofass Kegs

Post by Belter » Tue Jul 09, 2013 10:00 pm

I have The same problem with these as I do with standard kegs. 310mm means a new kegerator if I want more than one. I can fit 2 cornies in my kegerator... And they just fit.

darkonnis

Re: Ecofass Kegs

Post by darkonnis » Tue Jul 09, 2013 10:36 pm

Not a huge fan of the price of bags myself, I found this before (posted it on here its in one of kevs threads and somewhere else too) and I just couldn't get away with it for my own use. If i was a brewery I'd really consider this sort of thing as it fobs off cask washing, sanitation issues, and a whole host of other problems as a cask would by definition last almost indefinitely, but for personal use I don't see taking the spear out and giving it a good old clean as an issue with bright beer. Also means I can force carb which is how I like to do things.

I'd be very interested in seeing how people get on using one of these with a beer engine though as that would be the big seller as far as I can see. Wouldn't even need an aircompressor, just leave the gas in line open and let the engine to the pulling.

bobsbeer

Re: Ecofass Kegs

Post by bobsbeer » Tue Jul 09, 2013 10:42 pm

och29 wrote:Really interested in these. Have ordered one of the trial kits and should be able to put up pics tomorrow.
I will be interested to see them. I just ordered the 20 lt test kit this evening.
darkonnis wrote:I'd be very interested in seeing how people get on using one of these with a beer engine though as that would be the big seller as far as I can see. Wouldn't even need an aircompressor, just leave the gas in line open and let the engine to the pulling.
They seem ideal for both force carb and ale dispense. The bag issue isn't too big a deal as they are less than £5 each and I don't get through that many in a year. But the knowledge that the inside is sterile is a big plus for me.

darkonnis

Re: Ecofass Kegs

Post by darkonnis » Tue Jul 09, 2013 10:58 pm

Aye, see I think dont think I would either and it might be a goer, but having spent a fortune building my rig I am now not looking forward to continual expense. I think I'd have to go for 30 or 50L at the price of the bag.

Quick one though, how do you force carb one of these without it going BANG in your face?

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Pinto
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Re: Ecofass Kegs

Post by Pinto » Tue Jul 09, 2013 11:36 pm

Looks like you'd fit the bag, then fill it and carb it inside the barrel which is pressure rated and would contain everything. How you'd prevent the beer exploding from the spear when you went to swap it round tho.... :lol:
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