lee smeaton
Active Member
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2019
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This may not be as daft as it seems - hear me out.
Many domestic hot water systems have a pressurisation tank / expansion vessel in the system to maintain the hot water output pressure at high flow. In a home setup these may be 10-20 litres, however I deal with ones in hotels and office blocks that are much larger.
for those that don't know, these look a bit like an immersion heater - the key difference is that they contain a flexible bladder, sometimes neoprene, sometimes rubber, sometimes something a bit more exotic.
The way they work is that the bladder is connected to the liquid line that you want to maintain the pressure of, The actual vessel remains dry with the bladder of liquid inside. The vessel has a small bicycle style valve into which gas (usually nitrogen) is charged - generally up to 3 or 4 bar.
In service the water pressure tries to fill the bladder but the gas pressure acts against the bladder- hey presto it helps to regulate the liquid line pressure.
I am thinking of using one for beer
I currently have a Cornelius type keg hooked up to a S30 c02 cylinder to supply beer to my tap. The downside to any C02 system is getting (and paying for) the gas.
My plan is to use a hot water system pressurisation / expansion vessel (bladder material would be key with regards to not effecting taste)
I would empty the gas charge out of the dry side of the vessel. I would then fill the bladder with beer with a conditioning dose of sugar. (as you filled the bladder with beer you would need to keep venting air pressure off the dry side and you might have to pump the beer in.
In theory the beer should create some c02 of its own and build pressure.
now, using a bicycle pump or stirrup pump you just pump up the dry side of the vessel - increasing the pressure in the wet side without introducing air into the beer
This should then give you a pressure keg that you can keep pressurised just using air - without spoiling the beer. In theory if you are running a multiple beer system you could rig a small air compressor via a reducing station to manage them all. In the picture below imagine the water is lovely beer.
main downside I can see at the moment is cleaning.
Happy to be shot down in flames but I think this might have legs.
Many domestic hot water systems have a pressurisation tank / expansion vessel in the system to maintain the hot water output pressure at high flow. In a home setup these may be 10-20 litres, however I deal with ones in hotels and office blocks that are much larger.
for those that don't know, these look a bit like an immersion heater - the key difference is that they contain a flexible bladder, sometimes neoprene, sometimes rubber, sometimes something a bit more exotic.
The way they work is that the bladder is connected to the liquid line that you want to maintain the pressure of, The actual vessel remains dry with the bladder of liquid inside. The vessel has a small bicycle style valve into which gas (usually nitrogen) is charged - generally up to 3 or 4 bar.
In service the water pressure tries to fill the bladder but the gas pressure acts against the bladder- hey presto it helps to regulate the liquid line pressure.
I am thinking of using one for beer
I currently have a Cornelius type keg hooked up to a S30 c02 cylinder to supply beer to my tap. The downside to any C02 system is getting (and paying for) the gas.
My plan is to use a hot water system pressurisation / expansion vessel (bladder material would be key with regards to not effecting taste)
I would empty the gas charge out of the dry side of the vessel. I would then fill the bladder with beer with a conditioning dose of sugar. (as you filled the bladder with beer you would need to keep venting air pressure off the dry side and you might have to pump the beer in.
In theory the beer should create some c02 of its own and build pressure.
now, using a bicycle pump or stirrup pump you just pump up the dry side of the vessel - increasing the pressure in the wet side without introducing air into the beer
This should then give you a pressure keg that you can keep pressurised just using air - without spoiling the beer. In theory if you are running a multiple beer system you could rig a small air compressor via a reducing station to manage them all. In the picture below imagine the water is lovely beer.
main downside I can see at the moment is cleaning.
Happy to be shot down in flames but I think this might have legs.