Hand Pull Beer Engine

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I think you mean sparklers - the hole size? 0.6mm is common, you can get 1.0mm and another (?) size. I won't use them, they trash the types of beer I make (they need testing first with any new beer you use them on)..
 
I think the sparklers are colour coded. I have a green one and a red one (I don’t use them though). The red has much smaller holes and is marked Tetley, can’t see any hole sizes though.

This is the effect the have on the look of the poured beer
37E6384A-B3F1-48C9-AF70-214D79461DFD.jpeg
 
For information, the OD of my Pint365 spout is approx 15mm. It was supplied with sparklers, but I don't use them. Here is a picture of my Yorkshire Bitter (from Greg Hughes recipe) as dispensed using low pressure CO2 replacement via 'propane' regulator, as described by @peebee
IMG_0584.JPG
 
Quick question for those of you using a cask breather: what PSI do you set your primary CO2 regulator to? I lost almost an entire tank of CO2 on one pin cask a few months back! Do those of you who use them turn the CO2 off each night? Thanks!
 
Quick question for those of you using a cask breather: what PSI do you set your primary CO2 regulator to? I lost almost an entire tank of CO2 on one pin cask a few months back! Do those of you who use them turn the CO2 off each night? Thanks!
I used a cask breather at one time, and if I remember correctly set the regulator as low as it would go – about 5 psi. I also had a gas bottle empty itself unexpectedly, and tracked it down to a leak in the cask breather. I seem to remember immersing the whole thing in our pond and looking for bubbles.

I now obtain the same effect with a lot less hassle by using a foil balloon as a CO2 reservoir. You can read how this works in a thread I started called ‘Draught Beer’.
 
Quick question for those of you using a cask breather: what PSI do you set your primary CO2 regulator to? I lost almost an entire tank of CO2 on one pin cask a few months back! Do those of you who use them turn the CO2 off each night? Thanks!
As per @Coffin Dodger I set my regulator at the lowest it goes without being off! I tend to turn the gas bottle off when I am not using it in case of leaks, although as far as I can see there is little or no seepage. (I don't think my set up counts as a cask breather - I have the low pressure 'propane' type regulator in the circuit - but I guess the principle is the same).
 
A "breather" is a regulator (a secondary regulator). It should have a min/max input rating for it. And as @Coffin Dodger said, check you haven't got an input leak, or are exceeding the breather's input rating, or you will lose your gas.

Don't like breathers anyway!
 
Thanks for the responses I appreciated it! This kinda info is hard to find this side of the pond.

I think I’ll go with Dixey’s shut off the gas in between usages. CD, I’ll check mine for a leakage point as well. I noticed one other weird thing: I set my regulator to about 5PSI, shut the bottle off, hooked up the breather then turned the bottle on. The PSI jumped from 5 to about 30 immediately which seems strange. Any thoughts on this? I’m wondering if it’s safe and if that could be part of my leak problem.
 
I think I’ll go with Dixey’s shut off the gas in between usages.
A good move! Mine is on a timer and will switch off automatically (solenoid) least I forget.
The PSI jumped from 5 to about 30 immediately which seems strange
Those common bottle regulators (single stage, blah, blah) haven't much hope of holding to 5PSI, ... 10PSI even. The breather should cope with 30PSI (2BAR) input though?
 
Back
Top