Wanting a half decent set-up on a budget :cheers:

[crofty83]

Hello all.

I got my first HomeBrew kit for Christmas (Youngs Larger kit) and so far so good. IT seems to taste rather nice

I do believe from reading a few threads on here that I should have left it longer before I started to drink it. I started by bottling (re-used Budweiser 330ml bottles) the larger after it had finished fermenting, but only managed to do just over half of the FV. Frankly I'm not looking forward to the whole cleaning and sterilisation process every time I want to bottle more beer so I'm wanting to buy a keg.

I presume the process is to let the fermentation process finish -> transfer to keg -> then drink as and when it's ready. Is this correct?

From what other people have said the King Kegs are a bit of a waste of time and I should just go for the cheaper ones with the C30 CO2 valve in the cap. The ones I have seen don't seem to have pressure valves so how would I know when to add more CO2 to the barrel?

I'm also thinking about the Cornelius Keg, and I've read to speak to Norm but before I bother him, can anyone give me a rough price for how much one of these may cost me.

Cheers folks, Crofty

 

[klaus]

King Kegs are great! Why are they a waste of time? Most of the keg problems I see on here are with the cheaper kegs, and having started years ago with a cheap keg not sure why I didn't get a King in the first place .... BTW, mine was 2nd hand cost me £29 (top tap S30 valve), plus the CO2 cylinder £20.

 

[31bb3]

King kegs work fine tbh however cornies are definatly the way to got

 

[Wheels]

Buying a keg is just like everything else in life, you get what you pay for. If you have the extra cash then i would go for the better quality keg. I have a King Keg and have been very happy with it.

 

[Hawks]

Not sure what Norms prices are now, but I would think you'd get 2 'budget kegs' ( read slightly dented but perfectly ok ) for around £80 which would be delivered with some gas / beer line and a set of disconnects ( to connect line to kegs ).

You would then need

- a CO2 regulator ( budget on £25 - £30 )
- a tank of CO2 ( varies across the country, but figure £20 ish )
- a dispense tap ( vary dramatically, I bought a dalex tap of ebay for £5, but have also paid £15 for something almost exactly the same )

So - if you work on something like £150 for your first 2 kegs you should be safe. This is a bit more money, but IMHO well worth it, and then you can add more kegs for whatever price you can find them... The CO2 will last for ages, so negligible running cost..

I think Norm can supply the whole kit, although I would recommend pub gas and not Norms small tanks, I think they cost the same to fill up but you get less gas.

good luck :thumb:

 

[crofty83]

So I did a bit of eBay searching when led in bed last night and found a seller called Normannumpa selling them for £60 - £80 but thanks for the replies. I'll still PM him though and see if he can do me a better deal Always worth a try.

If I was to go down the King Keg route then how do I know when to add more CO2 to the keg. There doesn't seem to be pressure valves with them to let you know internal pressure

 

[Hawks]

Def email Norm, and ask if he has budget ones, he does them in sets of two for not much more than one of his standard ones.

I think it's possible to connect other kegs to a regulator, and I am pretty sure a couple of people on here have done it, so you could well get a reply on that. :thumb:

 

[hairybiker]

You can go the cornie way, but it is an expensive way to start, esp getting bottles of gas. (I looked into getting one here in the Borders, and the cheapest was £75 for first and £25 refils, otherwise it was something like £2/month rental for the cylinder + gas, and as I only use 1 s30/SS bottle every 2 months is wasn't economical). (However you can feed cornies from the Midgit Widgit system (like s30/SS bottles) I do with the 2 I have)
I (mostly) use Hambledon Bard Beerspheres (kegs) here and have no problems with them, S30 refils are available from most HB shops.
Budget barrels are a bit of a waste of time, as a lot of people have found here, with leaking taps etc. Ideally you need 2 barrels/cornies and one FV so you can have one drinking while the other is conditioning then as the first empties you start another brew and the process continues.

 

[shearclass]

If you want a fizzy lager then you will nto eb able to useking kegs, budget kegs, etc, as they are nto designed to hold such pressure. You will need a corny or need to bottle.

 

[pjbiker]

King Kegs can be converted to use bottled gas. Heres mine in the kegerator. They can stand a fair bit of pressure in my experience.

I copied the method used by Evanvine, better pictures here.

viewtopic.php?p=135326#p135326

 

[joe1002]

So I did a bit of eBay searching when led in bed last night and found a seller called Normannumpa selling them for £60 - £80 but thanks for the replies. I'll still PM him though and see if he can do me a better deal Always worth a try.

Normannumpa is Norm. It's his ebay account.

 

[puravida]

Norm won't mind an email at all. Just drop him a note. He's always been ever so helpful with me.

You'd want to top your king keg / pressure barrel when the beer starts to lose the head.

 

[crofty83]

So I emailed Norm and was quoted £180 for a full set-up which isnt really what my budget had in mind lol. I've gone for the normal plastic barrel from a HB shop to get me started but will probably save for a Cornie anyways

When your fermenting the temp should be between 18 and 23 degrees right? after you have transferred it to the keg does this temp need to be constantly maintained or just till its cleared?

 

[pittsy]

around 18 to 20 for about 4 to 5 days to get the fizz then cool for conditioning , in this weather you could leave in a spare room with the heating off and window open should be cold enough

 

[crofty83]

So you only need the heat really to help the yeast reactivate from the sugar. Then you can chill it. I am doing it all in the spare room so that's good to know. Gets a bit cold at night sometimes but the first batch seems to have turned out ok

 

[pittsy]

So you only need the heat really to help the yeast reactivate from the sugar. Then you can chill it. I am doing it all in the spare room so that's good to know. Gets a bit cold at night sometimes but the first batch seems to have turned out ok

yep its all about the yeast even after fermenting and bottling/keg its the yeast that turns the sugar/malt to bubbles when thats done cool to stop the yeast and it settles on the bottom of the bottle etc and gets better with age , if you've ever gotten a wheat beer from the shops and seen all that **** in the bottom of the bottle , thats the yeast and things settled in the bottom of the bottle .

 

[crofty83]

Ah this is good to know. So once it's gone clear, can it be chilled to any temp i.e. could I stick it in a cold utility room or garage?

 

[BigYin]

yep, just put in in a nice cool place and you'll be fine :thumb: