Switching from bottles to kegs - Advice please

[phildo79]

I am starting to reach the end of my tether when it comes to bottling. The time has come to step it up and start kegging. But with so many options, it's difficult to know which is best to go for. Ultimately I am probably going to be restricted with space and I would like to avoid spending hundreds of pounds on the set-up.

The owner of Dark Farm is generously offering 15% off for HBF members and I am very tempted to buy two of his 10 litre mini kegs (one with complete set-up, one growler) but this is still going to cost £200. I also need to source a fridge big enough to house them.

I have seen used 19 litre Corny kegs for £58 and was wondering if I could rig up a similar Co2 and tap connection (see photo) like the ones on the Dark Farm mini kegs. I am unsure what the dimensions of this would be and if there are any drawbacks to using a set-up like this. I'm guessing there might be as any Corny kegs I've seen for sale, always state that you need to buy a large Co2 tank separately.

Can anyone tell me if what I am thinking of doing is a sound idea? Or is it daft?

Thanks in advance for any help / advice.

 

[simon12]

You can get this for normal cornies http://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.uk/co2-charger-for-cornelius-keg-16g-new-model-p-63.html the same site also does cheap kegs. If you want to force carbonate its well worth getting a pub size CO2 cylinder with a proper regulator.

 

[LeeH]

The set up in the picture below will be problematic due to the fact you need to balance your system regarding pipe length, diameter, pressure and temp.

Non of those can be done when slapping a tap on a keg with variable temps.

Manage? Maybe at best.

Don’t **** around with little kegs, go straight for a corni in fridge with a faucet.

6KG bottles of CO2 can be had for not much more than 425g in a SodaStream bottle.

YouTube is your friend, save up and be patient. Later on you can always bottle from your keg with a beer gun and and have 100% sediment free bottles too.

 

[Mavroz]

What is wrong with bottling?
Must have 160+ full bottles now and still collecting from the locals.
Will have to stop sooner or later as I have filled the crates I recently bought more of.

 

[BarnBrian]

The set up in the picture below will be problematic due to the fact you need to balance your system regarding pipe length, diameter, pressure and temp.

Non of those can be done when slapping a tap on a keg with variable temps.

Manage? Maybe at best.

Don’t **** around with little kegs, go straight for a corni in fridge with a faucet.

6KG bottles of CO2 can be had for not much more than 425g in a SodaStream bottle.

YouTube is your friend, save up and be patient. Later on you can always bottle from your keg with a beer gun and and have 100% sediment free bottles too.

I totally agree that Cornies are the best option, easier to clean than the growlers. I bought all 12 of my Cornies from the home brew company in batches of three, I went for unrefurbished and have slowly been replacing "O" rings over the last two years. I'm on brew #36 now from one CO2 cylinder, I'm sure I'll get a few more out of it.
I have two of the 5 litre stainless growlers that I fill with a beer gun. Also disposed of just about all of my bottles.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
@LeeH has hit the nail on the head. The system shown in your photo will work, but I don't think that you'll be happy with it. A better pour would be achieved with a simple party tap attached to the keg with the appropriate length of beer line.
Bite the bullet and go for pub gas - you will eventually do that once you seriously get into kegging, so you may as well get the pain over with!
6 kg gas bottle is going to cost £60+, a half-decent regulator will be £50+, a used keg about £60. Add to that the cost of gas and beer line, connectors etc and you're looking at £200. However, once you've got it, you're in a different league.

 

[phildo79]

What's wrong with bottling? After 5 years and god knows how many batches brewed, I am sick of having to set aside a minimum of 2 hours each time to rack my beer.

I really would like to avoid the hassle with giant bottles of Co2. Firstly, I ain't had much joy sourcing any when I've looked online (a location problem, perhaps?). Secondly, they're massive and would probably not fit inside the fridge that I have in mind to get. Thirdly, as cool as they are, I really wasn't planning on building a kegerator (I don't have the room for a start).

LeeH, you say not to bother with mini kegs. Is this because they are problematic?

 

[BarnBrian]

What's wrong with bottling? After 5 years and god knows how many batches brewed, I am sick of having to set aside a minimum of 2 hours each time to rack my beer.

I really would like to avoid the hassle with giant bottles of Co2. Firstly, I ain't had much joy sourcing any when I've looked online (a location problem, perhaps?). Secondly, they're massive and would probably not fit inside the fridge that I have in mind to get. Thirdly, as cool as they are, I really wasn't planning on building a kegerator (I don't have the room for a start).

LeeH, you say not to bother with mini kegs. Is this because they are problematic?

I keep my CO2 outside the keezer.

 

[Leon103]

How long does it take if you had a corny setup?

Bottle is a chore but if you break it up it isn't bad, especially if you use swing tops.

I use mini kegs but I am slowing phasing them out. 1 - they are only really good for low carbed beer and 2 - despite the best cleaning regime I can come up with I have mould in some

 

[phildo79]

This is the sort of project that I was hoping to avoid. A quick and easy solution to bottling has quickly turned into building a kegerator. That isn't going to happen; not at the moment anyway. If I had a garage, shed or man cave, then I'd be all over it.

I was hoping a used Corny keg (£60) would be an ideal substitute for two mini kegs (£200) but I really don't want to be faffing around with all this extra equipment. I can see exactly where Bigcol49 is coming from when he says to bite the bullet. It is probably something I will end up doing but I just don't see it happening for at least a few years.

 

[phildo79]

How long does it take if you had a corny setup?

Bottle is a chore but if you break it up it isn't bad, especially if you use swing tops.

I use mini kegs but I am slowing phasing them out. 1 - they are only really good for low carbed beer and 2 - despite the best cleaning regime I can come up with I have mould in some

Leon, I only use swing tops. I realised very quickly after my first brew (75 x 330ml bottles) that I had to find an easier, quicker way of bottling. Swing tops are the best way to bottle but in between sterilising them and all the other equipment, it is a 2 hour job for a 19 litre batch. Then there's the room they take up. I have annexed most of the cupboards in my kitchen with bottles and equipment. It used to be more before my wife ''convinced'' me to get rid of 80 x 500ml bottles.

 

[JonBrew]

@phildo79 If you're 2 years away from being able to go to a full keg set-up, and are looking to cut down on time spent bottling and the space they take up, the 5L mini-kegs with one of the party taps might present an reasonably priced solution in the short-mid term. This is the one I have - http://www.leylandhomebrew.com/item3160.htm. You can also gravity dispense from them and, although that means exposing the beer to oxygen, if you drink it over a weekend you're fine. As someone above mentioned, they're better suited to low carbonated session ales - pretty much like cask ale tbh.

If it were me, unless I had money to burn (but not space), I wouldn't invest in the expensive growler type mini keg set-up if my ultimate aim was to move to fully corni kegging a year or two down the line.

 

[phildo79]

@JonBrew Mate, I'd love to have a killer set-up but eff knows when that'll happen, if ever. It also seems like a lot of effort considering how much I brew. At best, I brew a 19 litre batch once a month. To have a full keg set-up for just 19 litres at a time seems OTT.

As for being 2 years away from even being able to achieve that, well, how long is a piece of string? I'd need to move house. Can't put a timeframe on that.

As for the party kegs, I did see them for sale and considered them. BrewUK are selling 3 for £68 - https://www.brewuk.co.uk/mini-keg-starter-kit.html. TBH I think I was drawn to the Dark Farm 10 litre kegs because they looked really cool. Those party kegs look a bit naff in comparison. However, the price difference might help me get over this. How do these party kegs deal with stouts and IPA's? That would be what I normally brew.

 

[simon12]

I suggest a king keg top tap

 

[Clint]

Plastic kegs are ok but still need chilling in the summer and need fettling to get them to work properly. I've got two...one from homebrew online which after setting up is great. Other is a Wilko which has intermittent pressure issues...not happy with it.
Bottling is tedious...I've got two brews on the go..a wheat that's taken over three weeks to finish and a bitter...they both look to be finished together...plus I'd like to brew...that's a long day!

 

[braziliain]

I got set up with a reconditioned corny keg, standard regulator (so I can upgrade to pub size CO2 bottle later) with an adaptor for Sodastream bottles, beer line, picnic tap, gas line and disconnects for £129 from Brewkegtap.

If you went for an un reconditioned keg from Home Brew Company you could get it a little cheaper than this I reckon. My last un reconditioned keg from them was £44 posted.

After two fills of the corny, I have decided to go for a 6kg CO2 bottle next week as Sodastream is so much more expensive in the long run.

 

[BarnBrian]

@JonBrew Mate, I'd love to have a killer set-up but eff knows when that'll happen, if ever. It also seems like a lot of effort considering how much I brew. At best, I brew a 19 litre batch once a month. To have a full keg set-up for just 19 litres at a time seems OTT.

As for being 2 years away from even being able to achieve that, well, how long is a piece of string? I'd need to move house. Can't put a timeframe on that.

As for the party kegs, I did see them for sale and considered them. BrewUK are selling 3 for £68 - https://www.brewuk.co.uk/mini-keg-starter-kit.html. TBH I think I was drawn to the Dark Farm 10 litre kegs because they looked really cool. Those party kegs look a bit naff in comparison. However, the price difference might help me get over this. How do these party kegs deal with stouts and IPA's? That would be what I normally brew.

Don't get sucked into the "Shiny is Cool" thing, I'm sure the party kegs will work just as well

I got set up with a reconditioned corny keg, standard regulator (so I can upgrade to pub size CO2 bottle later) with an adaptor for Sodastream bottles, beer line, picnic tap, gas line and disconnects for £129 from Brewkegtap.

If you went for an un reconditioned keg from Home Brew Company you could get it a little cheaper than this I reckon. My last un reconditioned keg from them was £44 posted.

After two fills of the corny, I have decided to go for a 6kg CO2 bottle next week as Sodastream is so much more expensive in the long run.

I bought the necessary adaptors to fill my own Sodastream cylinders from my 6kg CO2 cylinder. Much cheaper in the long run. I got the adaptor from CO2Supermarket.com

 

[Mavroz]

500ml bottles.
Many crates.
Garage to store them.
Easy to transport to bbq's or get togethers.
15 mins to sanitize 40 ish bottles.
45 mins to transfer brew to bottling bucket and bottle.
10 mins to cap.
Averaging 3 brews a month over the last 3 month's.
Most of all, Enjoy doing it, when I don't and I find it a chore, then it's time to quit...

 

[Henders]

I've got the party keg setup and it worked a treat for two main reasons:
1. I took it on holiday and it didn't embarrass me like the time I took one with the side-tap thing to the MotoGP campsite about 5 years ago. FOAAAAM. The party tap thing works a treat. I had a wilko mexican ceverza in there.
2. It fits in my fridge with the tap on with only removing (I guess I could have lifted it instead) one shelf.

I've just received one of the cannonball kegs, which are 6.6L and.. hang on let me check... yes it fits too! I've got a mini regulator charger thingy coming with the little cartridges and am hoping it'll at least work for low carb'd stuff. We'll see. But i'm relatively comfortable with the fact that I'll eventually build a flipping kegerator/keezer :p

Stout is going in it in a couple of weeks

 

[JonBrew]

@JonBrew Mate, I'd love to have a killer set-up but eff knows when that'll happen, if ever. It also seems like a lot of effort considering how much I brew. At best, I brew a 19 litre batch once a month. To have a full keg set-up for just 19 litres at a time seems OTT.

As for being 2 years away from even being able to achieve that, well, how long is a piece of string? I'd need to move house. Can't put a timeframe on that.

As for the party kegs, I did see them for sale and considered them. BrewUK are selling 3 for £68 - https://www.brewuk.co.uk/mini-keg-starter-kit.html. TBH I think I was drawn to the Dark Farm 10 litre kegs because they looked really cool. Those party kegs look a bit naff in comparison. However, the price difference might help me get over this. How do these party kegs deal with stouts and IPA's? That would be what I normally brew.

The mini kegs (also known as easy kegs) are ideal for stouts in my opinion. I really like cask ale and these kegs suit virtually any styles you'd see served on cask. Probably not the best option for a double ipa or belgian tripel though lol.