PenhowBrewer
Active Member
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2019
- Messages
- 57
- Reaction score
- 13
SWMBO bought me a king keg top tap for my birthday.
Being a compulsive bodger, I just had to fit a schrader valve and a pressure gauge as seen on this forum and elsewhere on the web.
I also swapped the standard tap for a sparkler.
I got some tips here about the type of fitting to use for the pressure gauge and learned about BSPT, BSPP and NPT threads - something I had never even heard of before! Also finding suitable washers was far from straightforward.
Having the schrader fitted is a great way to test a barrel before you put a brew in it, pumping up to 6psi and liberally spreading washing up liquid solution around all the new joins.
But, overall, what a faff it’s all been - the barrel kept loosing pressure overnight or a day or so, and have stripped out all my fittings and tightened up and Vaselined etc. etc.etc., I finally put some washing up liquid solution INTO the schrader valve opening, and it started doing a West Ham fan impression (Forever Blowing Bubbles, for the non footie afficianados)
So I replaced the schrader (fortunately I had bought a pack of 2) and then on the next test it took almost a week to lose pressure. After further continued application of washing up solution, I have now tracked it down to the S30 valve safety rubber ....the S30 valve being about the ONLY thing which I haven’t added or changed (aaaaagggggghhhhh )
Having looked at a few YouTube vids etc., I have ordered a set of replacement rubbers for the S30, as it looks like they can lose their elasticity “on the shelf”, so to speak.......so that’s ANOTHER wait until I can test the barrel again.
So far, this has been more of a light engineering project than a home brew start up
So, I would heartily recommend anyone setting up a new barrel to fit a schrader and get a cheap bicycle pump from Halfords and test everything before you put a brew in it.
I would also really appreciate any tips/tricks/ experiences of s30 valve setup & maintenance from you guys on the forum
Happy brewing (and light engineering)
Being a compulsive bodger, I just had to fit a schrader valve and a pressure gauge as seen on this forum and elsewhere on the web.
I also swapped the standard tap for a sparkler.
I got some tips here about the type of fitting to use for the pressure gauge and learned about BSPT, BSPP and NPT threads - something I had never even heard of before! Also finding suitable washers was far from straightforward.
Having the schrader fitted is a great way to test a barrel before you put a brew in it, pumping up to 6psi and liberally spreading washing up liquid solution around all the new joins.
But, overall, what a faff it’s all been - the barrel kept loosing pressure overnight or a day or so, and have stripped out all my fittings and tightened up and Vaselined etc. etc.etc., I finally put some washing up liquid solution INTO the schrader valve opening, and it started doing a West Ham fan impression (Forever Blowing Bubbles, for the non footie afficianados)
So I replaced the schrader (fortunately I had bought a pack of 2) and then on the next test it took almost a week to lose pressure. After further continued application of washing up solution, I have now tracked it down to the S30 valve safety rubber ....the S30 valve being about the ONLY thing which I haven’t added or changed (aaaaagggggghhhhh )
Having looked at a few YouTube vids etc., I have ordered a set of replacement rubbers for the S30, as it looks like they can lose their elasticity “on the shelf”, so to speak.......so that’s ANOTHER wait until I can test the barrel again.
So far, this has been more of a light engineering project than a home brew start up
So, I would heartily recommend anyone setting up a new barrel to fit a schrader and get a cheap bicycle pump from Halfords and test everything before you put a brew in it.
I would also really appreciate any tips/tricks/ experiences of s30 valve setup & maintenance from you guys on the forum
Happy brewing (and light engineering)