Corny kegs question

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HowardB

HowardB

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Telford Shropshire
Good afternoon all
After many years of using Rotokegs ( yes, the original Rotokegs, although a bit like triggers broom now ) I’m going the swap to Corny kegs mainly for space saving reasons. I do, however have a few questions.

Are there “standard” tube and fitting sizes for the beer and air lines? There looks to be John Guest, threaded and barbed connections and both metric and imperial. Which are the best, simplest or common ones to use?

Does anyone use the stainless steel ball floats so that the beer is drawn from the top rather than the bottom, making them similar to my kegs?

Any thoughts or comments are most welcome.
 
3/8" for gas - though you can use pretty much anything as long as you can fit it to the keg and regulator.
For the beer side You can use 3/8" but will probably want a length of 3/16" choker line in the middle to reduce the pressure by the time it hits the tap - even better if you use it along with a flow control tap or inline flow controller. Inline ones tend to be 3/8" to 5/16" or 3/16" and I'd go with the 3/16" unless you've got a tap that takes 5/16"

Flow controllers here
 
0FF22877-2381-424A-A510-5B81A077EA69.jpeg 8499F4B3-BFCB-4E1E-9654-3536DE572740.jpeg Sorry to jump in here but rather than start a new thread.........
A newbie kegging question, I set up (really roughly) a fridge with Keg today, I set the gas at 30psi, turned the keg upside down and left it a few minutes then turned the gas off, came back later and it was down to 20, turned back to 30 , gas off again and two hours later was down to 20.
Is this normal? I can’t see a leak, is the beer absorbing the CO2 and should I just leave the gas on?
Thanks in advance
 
Hi pms67, I’m not seeing a tap on your setup, so I’m guessing you have one that attaches directly to your keg with little or no tubing. I use this simple setup when I take a keg away from home with me. To prevent every pint being poured from being a glass of foam, yes you need to drop the pressure to very low (1-3 psi) by adjusting the regulator and venting some gas from the keg to serve for that session. Remember to put the pressure back up when storing the remainder of the beer or it will go flat and don’t let all the gas out, you need some pressure to hold the lid tightly locked.

A more elegant setup would be one that includes around 1m or so of 3/16” beer line between your keg and a decent faucet. Set your gas pressure using one of a number of online Keg Carbonaton Calculators (BrewUK, Brewers Friend etc) based on volumes of CO2 (how fizzy you want your beer) and temperature of your fridge. It can take a while to carbonate this way so you can set it higher until you’re nearly where you want it then drop the pressure/vent and set-and-forget. Getting the right length of beer line is a bit of trial and error. Start with longer than you think you need, use push fittings and trim until your pouring a beer with the right amount of head.

Personally I never invert my kegs or disconnect the gas and I’m in no rush to carb as I serve 3 kegs while a fourth conditions.
 
Hi HowardB, when I built my setup I found all the options overwhelming! If I was to build it again I would go JG push fit anywhere I could, none of mine have given me any trouble in the last four years.

Keg disconnects are available in 3/8” OD and there is a 3/8” adaptor available to fit your primary gas regulator. Faucets may only have a barb as an option though, but these push into the 3/8” line. Secure these with an oetiker clamp (like a permanent jubilee clip). You need a tool to fit them, but a nail-removing pincer works just as good.

Unless you need a very long beer line you probably need to step-down to 3/16”, but there are push fit adaptors to do this too.

I’ve never tried the in-keg floats, yes drawing from the bottom of the keg serves the cloudier beer first, but if using finings/crash chilling etc, after the first couple of pints (which still tastes fine) the clear stuff come soon enough.

All my lines are the cloudy stiff plastic type (PU I think) and even if the beer has been sat for a week or so it doesn’t ever pick up off flavours.
 
Valpar 3/16" OD lines for gas and beer. Keeps it neat.

JG push fits for everything, they're good and don't leak in my experience.
 
Ghillie said:
3/16" OD lines for gas and beer. Keeps it neat.
Click to expand...
What's good about 3/16" is that you can even coil the stiff stuff into a nice little bundle and tape it and shove it away inside things.

I've had tiny leaks gas side with John Guest fittings but only when making an elaborate rat run around a room with loads of elbow pieces. We're talking miniscule, though - like turn off the bottle and it takes about 3 days for the gas inside the regulator to leak out.
 
Edison said:
Hi pms67, I’m not seeing a tap on your setup, so I’m guessing you have one that attaches directly to your keg with little or no tubing. I use this simple setup when I take a keg away from home with me. To prevent every pint being poured from being a glass of foam, yes you need to drop the pressure to very low (1-3 psi) by adjusting the regulator and venting some gas from the keg to serve for that session. Remember to put the pressure back up when storing the remainder of the beer or it will go flat and don’t let all the gas out, you need some pressure to hold the lid tightly locked.

A more elegant setup would be one that includes around 1m or so of 3/16” beer line between your keg and a decent faucet. Set your gas pressure using one of a number of online Keg Carbonaton Calculators (BrewUK, Brewers Friend etc) based on volumes of CO2 (how fizzy you want your beer) and temperature of your fridge. It can take a while to carbonate this way so you can set it higher until you’re nearly where you want it then drop the pressure/vent and set-and-forget. Getting the right length of beer line is a bit of trial and error. Start with longer than you think you need, use push fittings and trim until your pouring a beer with the right amount of head.

Personally I never invert my kegs or disconnect the gas and I’m in no rush to carb as I serve 3 kegs while a fourth conditions.
Click to expand...
Thanks mate, just ordered a few metres of 3/16 tubing , 1m of 3/8 and a few JG fittings, oh and a long shank to fit my stainless steel tap on my fridge, all from the Malt Miller, Brew uk were out of the tubing and to be honest I’ve had a couple of issues with delivery ets from Brew uk and customer services were very slow getting back to me.
Thanks for the info, I think it’s a bit of a con even selling a tap to fit straight onto the keg as it’s difficult to prevent the foam
 
Yeah, the only time I ever use it is when I take a keg of beer on holiday. They work ok but are a bit fiddly. Once you have your setup dialled-in you can enjoy pulling a pint of fresh draft homebrew without any messing around, there’s nothing quite like it!

FYI my setup is serving at 9c and between 7-15 psi (depending on style) and 1m of 3/16” works fine for me.
 
Thank you all for the replies. I’ve ordered a few bits and will hopefully fit it all together before the summer starts.
Cheers
 

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