Hi looking for a bit of a heads up on Corny kegs. I regularly make 25 L brews and from the beer I make two 5L mini kegs and bottle the rest. I have found that the mini kegs being steel corrode a little around the bung and am looking at the possibility of using a 9.5L Corny instead. I would carbonate as normal using sugar but there is also the possibility of forced carbonation. The real question is does anybody condition their beer in the keg? Are there drawbacks to doing so? The corny also allow pressure fermenting which could be an advantage for some beer styles . My homebrew supplier sells recon'd kegs at 80 € each anybody have experience of recon'd kegs?
Corny kegs
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I used to do the same as you and had the same issues with minikegs corroding, I moved over to these 10L stainless steel minikegs. Available from other suppliers too, they use CO2 bulbs to move the beer, no need to use sugar to carbonate. I've never thought of fermenting in them.
https://mashed.beer/mini-keg-pack.php?vol=10&pack=fixed
https://mashed.beer/mini-keg-pack.php?vol=10&pack=fixed
Sadfield
Landlord.
No drawbacks to conditioning beer in corny kegs that I have found. My modus operandi is to ferment in an open FV, then I'll rack to the corny before the krausen drops and terminal gravity is reached. It can sit in the keg until I'm ready to bottle it.
I have 5 19L cornys all recon from Brew keg tap never had a problem in 3 years, the price difference between 10L and 19L is very small and would mean you are bottling less beer, the only thing stopping you carbing with sugar is getting the lid to seal, as above
Thanks for the replies. I think I will gowith a couple of recon'd 9L Corny's reason being I like to be able to control my drinking and a keg is just too easy to sup another glass whereas when I drink bottles I know exactly how many I have had and getting another means going out to the brewhouse. I intend using a soda stream bottle to either pressure carbonate the beer or just to move it. A simple ball-lock beer tap and a spunding valve should complete the setup.
edit
Just spotted this wee keg on my suppliers site looks interesting and it is cheap
www.rolling-beers.fr/en/soda-keg/6092-10-l-ball-lock-keg.html
edit
Just spotted this wee keg on my suppliers site looks interesting and it is cheap
www.rolling-beers.fr/en/soda-keg/6092-10-l-ball-lock-keg.html
Appleton Brews
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Add some CO2 to seal the lid then move somewhere warmer to carbonate.
All well and good if you have co2, kind of defeats the objective
Appleton Brews
Well-Known Member
No it doesn’t if you have not got CO2 don’t buy a Corny. If you have then you have two choices
1. Carbonate with CO2.
2. Use CO2 to seal the lid and then later top up when the CO2 generated by the sugar can not dispense the beer.
Even with plastic kegs which I primed with sugar I had an S30 method when the carbonation was low.
Ok point taken, but it just seems a long winded way of doing it in a corny which is made for gas.
Appleton Brews
Well-Known Member
Agreed.
Sadfield
Landlord.
Natural carbonation is better than force carbonation, though. Get the foam and flavour benefits from the former, and the convenience and shelf life of keg. Worth the effort. IMO.
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I sugar primed a few times when I first got a corny. I treated it just like a barrel, sealed lid with co2 ( as described above ) then a few blasts on the PRV to get rid of any oxygen.
It's building it's own pressure within hours.
Not done it since I got a co2 set up, but I still think a classic English bitter is worth naturally carbonating - as it goes I have one fermenting at the moment !
It's building it's own pressure within hours.
Not done it since I got a co2 set up, but I still think a classic English bitter is worth naturally carbonating - as it goes I have one fermenting at the moment !
Appleton Brews
Well-Known Member
I going to try it with my 10 litre keg as the lid is threaded and tightened.
I’ve done 2 cornies of lager, one with sugar and co2 seal and one forced. I use others to ‘taste test’ and each of them have preferred the sugar carbonated lager, same lager MYO but a different drink according to the 3 who have tried it.
I just see it as lager
Wouldn't that then be a cask lager?
I had a cask lager out on a jolly once and it wasn't the best. It wasn't off but it wasn't right.
I entered into a conversation on such matters with the bar man who seemed to be doing a lot of talking about beer to the other customers who promptly replied he didn't know of such things but would change the barrel if I wanted...
I had a cask lager out on a jolly once and it wasn't the best. It wasn't off but it wasn't right.
I entered into a conversation on such matters with the bar man who seemed to be doing a lot of talking about beer to the other customers who promptly replied he didn't know of such things but would change the barrel if I wanted...
Not cask as I see it…. None of us have a beard, wasn’t hand pulled and didn’t taste like water out of a flower vase.
I use 38L cornies as fermenters and transfer into 19L cornies and 5L stainless steel mini-kegs for dispense. I usually pressure ferment but start with an o;en spunding valve for 24-48 hours (during the yeasts growth phase) before setting the spunding pressure according to the desired carbonation level and fermentation temperature. I use picnic taps for serving. If using a bar style tap directly on a corney I suggest you get one with adjustable flow control to avoid excessive foam. When I need bottles I pressure transfer from the keg into a PET bottle. The Oxbar kegs look an interesting alternative to tin plated steel mini-kegs but I have no experience of them. Good luck!Thanks for the replies. I think I will gowith a couple of recon'd 9L Corny's reason being I like to be able to control my drinking and a keg is just too easy to sup another glass whereas when I drink bottles I know exactly how many I have had and getting another means going out to the brewhouse. I intend using a soda stream bottle to either pressure carbonate the beer or just to move it. A simple ball-lock beer tap and a spunding valve should complete the setup.
edit
Just spotted this wee keg on my suppliers site looks interesting and it is cheap
www.rolling-beers.fr/en/soda-keg/6092-10-l-ball-lock-keg.html
I got a couple of the stainless 5l mini-kegs when they were on sale for about £50 including the dispense lids. I use them for 'bottle' conditioning bitter to go through my hand-pull, 5l is a decent amount for 2 or 3 of us to get through in a single session. Prior to that I used the 'normal' mini-kegs you buy full of beer and re-use, I had a five points best clone in one of those in my fridge for over a year, was absolutely delicious when we finally got around to drinking it! I find them too difficult to clean with the tiny hole at the top, the stainless ones have a 2-3" opening, big enough to get a bucket blaster tube into.
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I carb my kegs with sugar then dispense using a soda stream cylinder (you will need a source of gas) and can normally dispense 2-2.5 kegs with one cylinder. In the winter months I just dispense straight from the keg (my utility room is cool enough for English style beers). In the summer or for beers that are better chilled I transfer to a 2L corny keg I have (basically I use a length of plastic tubing with ball lock connectors on each end, and can then pop it in the fridge to chill. I also have a couple of 6.5L kegs which will fit in the fridge if I need more than a couple of litres at one time, these also work well for small batches of beer.
As for reconditioned kegs my two 19L kegs are reconditioned, I bought new for my 9.5 ones, as price wise there was very little in it (don’t think you can get reconditioned 2 and 6.5L kegs).
Biggest upside for me with corny kegs over 5L mini kegs and similar is for cleaning the opening is much bigger and you can actually see inside to check the keg is throughly cleaned after use.
As for reconditioned kegs my two 19L kegs are reconditioned, I bought new for my 9.5 ones, as price wise there was very little in it (don’t think you can get reconditioned 2 and 6.5L kegs).
Biggest upside for me with corny kegs over 5L mini kegs and similar is for cleaning the opening is much bigger and you can actually see inside to check the keg is throughly cleaned after use.
Right then many thanks for the replies it has helped me a lot. I have ordered a couple of new 9.5L corny kegs and the required bit and bobs plus a compensator ball-lock tap for serving. Should be here on Thursday I have plenty of beer made for Christmas and new year but because of new toys I may have a wee brew before the end of next week.
Obscure has described the way had invisaged using the kegs with standard sugar conditioning and a spunding valve.
Obscure has described the way had invisaged using the kegs with standard sugar conditioning and a spunding valve.
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