starting brewing

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Jonboypeace

Active Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2021
Messages
21
Reaction score
3
hi all hope everyone is well my name is jon i started brewing 28 years go and brewed for around 6 years then gave up due to work commitments iam now starting back up iam going to get some 2nd hand equipment to start with just a couple of questions if someone can help please when i brewed before i used a widget midget i think thats wot it was called it was a co2 bottle a trigger at the top a thin clear pipe that went into the top of the kingkeg and you squeezed the trigger to put co2 in does this exist anymore? or wot is the best way ? i have read that you can now use a no rinse cleanser is that something that is good to use or stick with the traditional cleanser thank you in advance jon
 
Hello Jon,

Welcome to the forum. I am a Newbie, I have only done 4 beer kit brews so far and a white wine. But so far so good. I bottle so sorry can't help with your query in relation to kegging but someone with far more experience will be along to assist soon. I use Chem San no rinse steriliser. It is great and makes sterilising the kit and bottles easy. I mix 10ml of Chemsan with 5 liters of water and keep it in a 5 liter plastic container. That mix will do me for 2 brews, and I'm sure it would probably do a couple more. I let it drip from the bottles and containers once done. It is fast and easy to use, equipment just needs about 2 minutes contact time. After finishing a brew I clean all my kit and equipment with VWP. Good luck.

Damien
 
Cleaning wise, I have a big bucket, fill it with water and bleach (2.5 miles per litre) and dunk my cleaned (no crud on it) equipment in that for 30 mins or so, then take it out give it a good rinse and use star san (now chem san) as a non rinse steriliser before using/bottling etc.
 
Welcome @Jonboypeace !

I have never heard of the Widget Midget before so had a quick google and it came up with this.....

1614234384462.png


I am not too familiar with king kegs, or other pressure barrels, but as far as small CO2 cylinders are concerned, I think the mlst reliable ones (which you can get filled) are the soda steam bottles. There are tons of adapters for them now as well, so fitting them to most things is fairly easy. You can also get a regulator kit for maintaining a decent serving pressure and even pressure carbonation if you have the right keg.

Adapter at king keg HERE

The bottles can be bought and exchanged for refills at Asda, Argos and loads of other places.

Hope that helps get you somewhere where you can have a Google. If not someother people will surely fly in to help soon enough.
 
My cleaning process is fairly simple. First I give the bath a good clean then I get it about half full with a few tablespoons of unscented bleach and clean everything in that. I'll rinse in the kitchen then prime before moving to the shed to bottle.

No issues so far after about nine months of doing it this way.
 
I have personally never heard of that and to be honest you are better served with getting a CO2 bottle (as said sodastream also fine) regulator and corny keg its a better system for serving. You can keep it simple with a picnic tap until you want to have proper taps and a reconditioned fridge or actual keg fridge. I dont know whether you want to go down the All grain path or start with extract and later transition to grain. You can start relatively cheaply with large pot or cooler with tap and plastic fermenter. I started like this and after a year or so when I decided I wanted to do it properly moved to full stainless and a rems all in one like Grainfather. Its really more about process (ensuring temps, sanitisation and fermentation temp) than kit, better kit makes life easier but its not mandatory. Best of luck with your brewing!
 
Welcome @Jonboypeace !

I have never heard of the Widget Midget before so had a quick google and it came up with this.....

View attachment 42036

I am not too familiar with king kegs, or other pressure barrels, but as far as small CO2 cylinders are concerned, I think the mlst reliable ones (which you can get filled) are the soda steam bottles. There are tons of adapters for them now as well, so fitting them to most things is fairly easy. You can also get a regulator kit for maintaining a decent serving pressure and even pressure carbonation if you have the right keg.

Adapter at king keg HERE

The bottles can be bought and exchanged for refills at Asda, Argos and loads of other places.

Hope that helps get you somewhere where you can have a Google. If not someother people will surely fly in to help soon enough.
yes thats the one thank you for the advice i can start looking to build now
 
My cleaning process is fairly simple. First I give the bath a good clean then I get it about half full with a few tablespoons of unscented bleach and clean everything in that. I'll rinse in the kitchen then prime before moving to the shed to bottle.

No issues so far after about nine months of doing it this way.
thats great thank you will use this method
 
I have personally never heard of that and to be honest you are better served with getting a CO2 bottle (as said sodastream also fine) regulator and corny keg its a better system for serving. You can keep it simple with a picnic tap until you want to have proper taps and a reconditioned fridge or actual keg fridge. I dont know whether you want to go down the All grain path or start with extract and later transition to grain. You can start relatively cheaply with large pot or cooler with tap and plastic fermenter. I started like this and after a year or so when I decided I wanted to do it properly moved to full stainless and a rems all in one like Grainfather. Its really more about process (ensuring temps, sanitisation and fermentation temp) than kit, better kit makes life easier but its not mandatory. Best of luck with your brewing!
So using a Corney keg cuts out the need for a king keg plus you keep it in a fridge but you still use co2 and that's that does it pour a perfect pint ? ahah
 

Latest posts

Back
Top