Keg help

[IrishH]

Evening folks,

I am at the point that I can see many have been at, kegging > bottling. I have come back to brewing after a hiatus and recently bottled up my latest brew and at this stage that was one bottling session too many! :) I am completely new to kegging and having looked through the threads here, videos online and the various retailer websites, I am none the wiser!

I have a Grainfather and am currently fermenting in my old buckets and hoping to upgrade my brewing to kegs! I have looked at iKegger, HomebrewIreland, GeterBrewed and more and it seems quite confusing. I would plan to brew quite a bit more if I had the capability that comes with kegging but I am not sure which ones to go for. I can see the 19L cornies seem to be the best, but some mention carbonating lids, using priming sugars etc and even on those websites the amount of parts to a kegging setup has just baffled me. I am happy to spend a bit more for ease and knowing what I have is a system I can understand easily and get my out of the headlights!

I would love to know what you think of the above, and what recommendations you may have. I am based in SW Ireland so access to most products is restricted to online.

Thanks in advance!

 

[colm89]

I don’t have much space at the minute and only brew smaller batches so got a 5 litre keg kit from ikegger, but going for cornies is the long term goal.

Sounds like this has everything to get started, and they have a warehouse in Dundalk so no hidden import costs. I get 80% of my brewing stuff from GEB.

 

[colm89]

Brülosophy have some good articles on carbonating in a keg, but here is a good place to start.

I usually start with 24hrs at 30psi, then leave it rest at serving pressure for a week if I can wait that long.

 

[IrishH]

I don’t have much space at the minute and only brew smaller batches so got a 5 litre keg kit from ikegger, but going for cornies is the long term goal.

Sounds like this has everything to get started, and they have a warehouse in Dundalk so no hidden import costs. I get 80% of my brewing stuff from GEB.

I was looking at that option but I decided to go straight for the 19L cornie as I will end up there eventually anyway. Im the same, got most my stuff from GEB so I think if I can get the above that you linked which I had looked at, it may cut everything out. Although this option for €50 less seems to have more kit in it?

 

[colm89]

I might be wrong but I think they’re the same and the more expensive one includes co2?

I‘d suggest giving them a call or email and they’ll sort you out!

 

[DavidB]

Kegs and Cornies both work on the same principles and the attachments are generally all interchangeable.
In order to advise you of which route you should go down and what kit you need we really need to know how you are going to use it, both now and also what is the 'end game' (if there is one).

Are you brewing 23l and want to store it all in bulk or do you want just a 'certain amount' in bulk and more in bottles?
How much do you brew/need to store? Litre for litre your cash outlay will be less for cornies.
What is your storage solution? Bottles you can put in the fridge when you want a cold one. Even some smaller kegs you can do that. Cornies really need a keezer, kegerator or a dedicated empty fridge to chill them in.
What occasions/where are you going to drink it? Bottles and kegs are transportable but 19L cornies are a bit big! You can get around it though, either by using carbonation caps on bottles or using the cornies for bulk storage and transferring to smaller kegs for dispensing (can be done easily with a keg to keg transfer).
Think about what your end solution will look like. No good going for smaller kegs if you really think you want to have kegerator in 6 months time. Likewise cornies are going to be a pain if you can't get them cold in the middle of Summer! You don't want to invest in stuff that will end up being redundant.

Once you get your head round kegging, its quite easy.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

If you decide to use corny kegs (and that’s a good choice) you will obviously need the keg(s) but also some other bits.

You don’t need to worry about carbonating drops or priming sugar for carbonating your beer in a corny keg, you’ll use CO2 gas for that so let’s start there.

You need a supply of CO2. This is normally obtained from a bottled gas supply company - I use Adams Gas. You pay a one-off deposit (around £50) for the bottle and then pay for the gas (around £20 for 6Kg which will last many months).

You need a primary gas regulator to regulate the pressure coming out of the bottle. The pressure in the bottle is around 500psi but you won’t be putting anything like that in your corny - this is more likely to be in the range 10psi to 30psi. The primary regulator fits directly to the gas bottle and has two gauges; one showing the bottle pressure and one showing the pressure you’re sending to your keg(s).



You need some pipe to take the gas from the regulator to the corny keg. This is usually 3/8 inch. If you have more than one keg you need a manifold, this has one gas input and 2 to 6 outputs. Each output has it’s own isolation valve and has a “check valve” to prevent back-flow. Again, these usually have 3/8 push-fit inputs and outputs.




At the keg end of the pipe you need a ball-lock gas disconnect with a 3/8 John Guest push-fit connector. The picture below shows a pair. The grey one is gas, the black one is beer (we’ll come back to this). They are different sizes so make sure you use the right one on the right post of the corny keg.



Gas goes into the keg to carbonate your beer and push the beer out. The corny keg has a gas-in post and a beer-out post. The black ball-lock disconnect goes on the beer-out post and you’ll need some more pipe from the black disconnect to whatever tap you choose. Normally the beer pipe is a smaller bore, most commonly 3/16 inch. You may need a John Guest 3/16-3/8 straight coupler if the black disconnect comes with a 3/8 push-fit connector and you’re using 3/16 beer line. You may need the same at the tap end unless you buy taps with 3/16 John Guest fittings.

 

[Gerryjo]

A rough idea on your outlay is between£300 - £500 kegging depending on new or second hand or combination of both.
Returned kegs here.
Regulator here.
Manifold here.
Taps here.
This is just to start and as mentioned above email Johnathan and he'll put together what you need bar a fridge or freezer.

 

[chrisb8]

Have a look at brewkegtap - they do some starter sets including all you need to get started with a single keg system. This can be upgraded to multiple kegs with a manifold as mentioned by @Hazelwood Brewery. I don't know if they will deliver to you but at the least it shows what you need in one package. As you say it seems a bit complicated at first but really it is pretty straightforward once you know how it works. And definitely worth it!

 

[IrishH]

Folks, I cannot thank you enough! This has given me some great food for thought!!

I think I will go with the following... Complete Keg Set Up -19 Litre Corny Keg Starter Kit - Get Er Brewed

If I go with the above, is it easy to transfer from this keg to maybe a smaller 5L if i wanted to take it with me? Or is that a whole different ball game!?

 

[DavidB]

Buy 2 more black ball lock disconnects and john guest fittings and about a metre of beer line. Connect them to both ends of the beer line.

Put one black disconnect on the beer out of your main 19lt keg and the other black one on the beer out of the smaller 5lt keg.

Assuming that you have carbonated and have pressure in your big keg and gas linked up to it, the beer will transfer along the line and down into the smaller keg. The pressures in the two vessels will equalise at some point so you will have to keep pulling the pressure release valve on the lid of the smaller keg so that the beer keeps flowing.

Some people use a black and grey disconnect and attach the grey one to the smaller keg and use that for putting the beer in. Slight downside is that you are then splashing/aerating the beer a bit more in the smaller keg as it is now filling from the top down, but if you drink it soon enough it wont be a problem.

That's the keg filled but you will still have to have a regulator/gas on the smaller keg in order to dispense - maybe just one of the smaller regs and the co2 bulbs or sodastream?

 

[IrishH]

Buy 2 more black ball lock disconnects and john guest fittings and about a metre of beer line. Connect them to both ends of the beer line.

Put one black disconnect on the beer out of your main 19lt keg and the other black one on the beer out of the smaller 5lt keg.

Assuming that you have carbonated and have pressure in your big keg and gas linked up to it, the beer will transfer along the line and down into the smaller keg. The pressures in the two vessels will equalise at some point so you will have to keep pulling the pressure release valve on the lid of the smaller keg so that the beer keeps flowing.

Some people use a black and grey disconnect and attach the grey one to the smaller keg and use that for putting the beer in. Slight downside is that you are then splashing/aerating the beer a bit more in the smaller keg as it is now filling from the top down, but if you drink it soon enough it wont be a problem.

That's the keg filled but you will still have to have a regulator/gas on the smaller keg in order to dispense - maybe just one of the smaller regs and the co2 bulbs or sodastream?

That's fantastic, thank you David. Of course with restrictions in place I wont be going anywhere here but it's something on my mind for summer when hopefully we can travel to mates etc...

I'm going to buy the GEB kit I linked above and give it a go. I am attempting my first NEIPA in a couple weeks (off the amazing, but vague BrewDog list!) so want to at least attempt to get it some bit right via kegging!

 

[AnimatedGIF]

+1 on what @DavidB said. I recently started kegging and bought about 5m more 3/8 line than I expected to need, as well as a handful of extra disconnects, all of which have come in use at one point or another.

 

[Drunkula]

Also get 2 or 3m of 3/16" tube per keg, one of these :
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Beer-tap...var=542063096481&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649
And use the carbonation chart from this :
Keg Beer Pressure in the UK – Jolly Good Beer

It's better to know about line balancing before you start that end up squealing about having pints of foam.

 

[chillipickle]

If you dont mind recondition kegs, you can get 2 kegs and faucets for nearly the same price.The A grade recondition kegs are pretty much spotless, all new o rings no dents etc.

https://brewkegtap.co.uk/collections/keg-kits/products/premium-double-keg-kegerator-kit