What's your view on Plastic Pressure Barrels (PBs)?

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What's your view on Plastic Pressure Barrels (PBs)?

  • I have one or more and like them and will continue to use them

    Votes: 35 41.2%
  • I had one or more but gave up on them due to leaks etc

    Votes: 32 37.6%
  • I dont want one since I keep my beer in something else

    Votes: 13 15.3%
  • I am thinking of buying one or more

    Votes: 3 3.5%
  • I have only just bought mine so too early to say

    Votes: 2 2.4%

  • Total voters
    85
  • Poll closed .
Well the poll has closed and 85 of you responded. and for that thanks. Over 75% had experience of using PBs, and within this group, for just over half, their experience was favourable whilst for remainder in this user group the experience was unfavourable and they had decided to stop using them. The near 50:50 split was not a surprise to me, as from previous comments on this Forum I deduced that PBs are the Marmite of the homebrewing community.
PBs are in principle a good idea for homebrewers, they cut out a lot of the effort needed at bottling time, beer can be stored within them for months if need be, in some cases beer can be dispensed to give a pub style head, and importantly they are not majorly expensive to set up although small cartridges can be pricey if lots are used. But the downsides are that they can leak gas from just about every joint sometimes at the most inconvenient time, the PB bodies can split or develop holes which cannot be repaired, and many buying them don’t realise or aren’t told that they are only really suitable for low carb beers like ales due to pressure limits.
Anyway, from my perspective, a product that about 50% give up on due to problems, that requires fettling at the outset to ensure it’s pressure tight when it should be good to go, and requires significant mods to the cap to make sure it works as it should as one member has done, suggests to me that they are not really fit for purpose. The basic design hasn’t really changed much for 40 years since they became available, although a few variations have come and gone, yet the fundamental flaw of being pressure tight at all times, from the outset, with minimal ongoing maintenance has not been addressed.
So my advice to anyone thinking of buying a PB is don’t. There is, at best, only an evens chance you will have a trouble free relationship with your PB, unless you like testing for leaks with soapy water, have plastic welding skills, or in extreme can engineer alternative leak proof cap arrangements. In other words they may be more trouble than they are worth.
 
Well the poll has closed and 85 of you responded. and for that thanks. Over 75% had experience of using PBs, and within this group, for just over half, their experience was favourable whilst for remainder in this user group the experience was unfavourable and they had decided to stop using them. The near 50:50 split was not a surprise to me, as from previous comments on this Forum I deduced that PBs are the Marmite of the homebrewing community.
PBs are in principle a good idea for homebrewers, they cut out a lot of the effort needed at bottling time, beer can be stored within them for months if need be, in some cases beer can be dispensed to give a pub style head, and importantly they are not majorly expensive to set up although small cartridges can be pricey if lots are used. But the downsides are that they can leak gas from just about every joint sometimes at the most inconvenient time, the PB bodies can split or develop holes which cannot be repaired, and many buying them don’t realise or aren’t told that they are only really suitable for low carb beers like ales due to pressure limits.
Anyway, from my perspective, a product that about 50% give up on due to problems, that requires fettling at the outset to ensure it’s pressure tight when it should be good to go, and requires significant mods to the cap to make sure it works as it should as one member has done, suggests to me that they are not really fit for purpose. The basic design hasn’t really changed much for 40 years since they became available, although a few variations have come and gone, yet the fundamental flaw of being pressure tight at all times, from the outset, with minimal ongoing maintenance has not been addressed.
So my advice to anyone thinking of buying a PB is don’t. There is, at best, only an evens chance you will have a trouble free relationship with your PB, unless you like testing for leaks with soapy water, have plastic welding skills, or in extreme can engineer alternative leak proof cap arrangements. In other words they may be more trouble than they are worth.

I disagree (as you might expect ;) )

If the reason for giving up is that it takes a little practice then we should all stop brewing - I’m still learning.

The rewards from kegged beer are great and because I use good kegs and have put in a bit of practice I have no issues whatever and I have 11 kegs in continuous use.

So I would say buy kegs, learn their foibles, and celebrate the beautiful ales they will give you in return.

Amen.
 
I have three kegs and never fettled the top surface, but I did change to square section seals and I regularly renew the o-ring on the top tap float assembly.
 
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H...perhaps you could share your keg fettling techniques...

Honesty, there isn’t much to it - a cap spanner, a cable-tie, some PTFE tape, the right keg and the right tap. Occasionally you might need to replace a pressure release rubber (it’s almost always this when you have an unexplained gas leak). Beyond that it’s knowing how much grunt to use - the cap needs a lot, the tap quite a bit, the valve just a little. Don’t sand anything, you’ll MAKE it a problem.

I never use Vaseline on any joint or seal - ever. I never engineer anything special because it absolutely isn’t necessary.

I have no issues whatever with people enjoying doing this and I’ve seen some really beautiful alternatives to the standard cap but they really are alternatives and not a necessity

:hat:
 
I wonder if the king kegs are a better made,consistent shape etc than most other similar kegs?
My cheaper kegs needed fettling as the lid rims were all over the place. It drives me mad...my work is all seals,filters and pumps...all very expensive machined steel which work nicely ..
 
I wonder if the king kegs are a better made,consistent shape etc than most other similar kegs?
My cheaper kegs needed fettling as the lid rims were all over the place. It drives me mad...my work is all seals,filters and pumps...all very expensive machined steel which work nicely ..

I wouldn’t say it couldn’t happen but I don’t think I ever heard of a King Keg suffering a split seam or pin holes. I can certainly see this happening though with thinner walled kegs. The King Keg is pretty thick plastic.

More recent models of King Keg come with a softer black seal for the cap rather than the hard clear seal. Much better.
 
I disagree (as you might expect ;) )

If the reason for giving up is that it takes a little practice then we should all stop brewing - I’m still learning.

The rewards from kegged beer are great and because I use good kegs and have put in a bit of practice I have no issues whatever and I have 11 kegs in continuous use.

So I would say buy kegs, learn their foibles, and celebrate the beautiful ales they will give you in return.

Amen.
You and others are quite happy to learn the foibles, and overcome some of the inherent design problems. Others like me have had several terminal failures, on top of leaks, so are not even given that opportunity. And I can only guess that most people want to buy something and it works as it should from the outset, and then just enjoy what they put into their PBs, not have an ongoing concern as to whether its pressure tight or not, or worse going to split.
I thought my summary was fair. It appears there is an evens chance that you will buy a PB and it will be trouble free, although you may have to tinker with it. However there is an evens chance you will buy one and may have to give up on it. And I think those odds are poor as far as a potential buyer is concerned hence my rcommendation.
 
Interesting result. I think @terrym should do another poll aimed at those who gave up to determine which make of pressure barrel they were unhappy with as this might be more helpful to those who are thinking of going down that route. And perhaps include those who are happy with their barrel to identify if there is a reliable make. Just a thought. What do you think @terrym ?
 
You and others are quite happy to learn the foibles, and overcome some of the inherent design problems. Others like me have had several terminal failures, on top of leaks, so are not even given that opportunity. And I can only guess that most people want to buy something and it works as it should from the outset, and then just enjoy what they put into their PBs, not have an ongoing concern as to whether its pressure tight or not, or worse going to split.
I thought my summary was fair. It appears there is an evens chance that you will buy a PB and it will be trouble free, although you may have to tinker with it. However there is an evens chance you will buy one and may have to give up on it. And I think those odds are poor as far as a potential buyer is concerned hence my rcommendation.

I suppose I should recognise that there are always people that want to make money by making something cheaper than others, and these products are consequently not going to be as robust.

Having said that, even if you buy good quality, you need to learn to use your tools - a great saw in inexperienced hands doesn’t make a good carpentry joint.

You may be right about the first keg because at that point you haven’t a clue and make all the wrong decisions about fixing any issues, which are often self-inflicted.

I now buy kegs and know that from the start I will have zero problems with them.
 
Yeah....I think this is a good idea as you could read this thread and dismiss plastic barrels altogether.
I've just been out to the garage to have a look at my Wilko keg again which after a couple of months is still holding pressure with some water inside.
Another problem I recall having was when using a bulb some of the gas wasn't going into the keg but escaping up round the bulb. Which obviously is a great waste. Any thought on this?
Out of curiosity I've just tried gassing the Wilko keg...and it's done it no problems....dare I chance a brew in it?
 
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Yeah....I think this is a good idea as you could read this thread and dismiss plastic barrels altogether.
I've just been out to the garage to have a look at my Wilko keg again which after a couple of months is still holding pressure with some water inside.
Another problem I recall having was when using a bulb some of the gas wasn't going into the keg but escaping up round the bulb. Which obviously is a great waste. Any thought on this?

That’s the rubber seal inside the valve. If you look in the top of the valve you will see a rubber seal. It’s seated in a groove just inside the neck. These can get damaged or stretched or just loose their elasticity like any other rubber seal.

398417CD-94FC-4118-8BAE-6137E7497308.jpeg

You can buy replacement seals but this is a bit more tricky because they are marginally different sizes for the brass and stainless valves!

91EA1DE7-DE8E-4A08-AAB3-5E6B5895C674.jpeg
 
Interesting result. I think @terrym should do another poll aimed at those who gave up to determine which make of pressure barrel they were unhappy with as this might be more helpful to those who are thinking of going down that route. And perhaps include those who are happy with their barrel to identify if there is a reliable make. Just a thought. What do you think @terrym ?
We had another poll initiated by @kelper which was more specific.
 
There seem to be few die hard KK supporters on here. Can't one of you write up a step by step Forum idiots guide as to how to make your KK PB work? There seem to be so many things you need to cover. I did one for the basic PB, before I found out what they were like. So if I can do it someone cleverer than me can cover KK PBs.
 
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