Corny Keg or King Keg?

[BigYin]

I don't have a pressure barrel.. I quite fancy one so that I can alternate with the bottles :hmm:

Looking at the options, a reconditioned Corny comes out around the same as a new King Keg, but after that the costs of the Corny mount up - special connectors needed for the gas in and beer out

I like the look of the Corny Keg, and I accept they should last a whole lot longer than a plastic keg - certainly they should be able to withstand far more knocks and bashes - not that I intend to subject my homebrew gear to that kind of abuse normally :lol:

Advice, recommendations appreciated! :drunk:

 

[Cussword]

I sold my King Kegs & bought Cornies. The do need more extra's, but are much better. The Midget Widgets work OK as that is what I'm using, but once you've bought the pressure gauge & gas there is no looking back :thumb:

 

[bolty]

You are correct about the disconnects, and only need 1 set, if you are only carbonating/serving 1 beer at a time.

I would try and hunt out a pub cylinder suppliers, as these are better value for money. My cylinder is £15.86 for a 6.35kg refill, compared to £7.99 for 360g on the widget world refill! Granted you would need to invest in a regulator. Best to drop an email to norm (see the links section, top left) and get him to sort you out with a corny, disconnects, hose/tap and regulator.

All his stuff is tip top, but try and find a good gas supplier as local as you can first.

 

[BigYin]

Sounds good so far guys, thanks :

The Corny is slightly smaller than the King Keg? So practically, do you then tend to reduce the brew volume (to get a higher ABV), or just fire the excess into a few bottles?

Also, I see a lot of mention of second fermentation - is sediment in a corny a real problem?

Do people tend to get carbonation through gas injection with a corny, rather than priming with sugar to let the yeast do the work??

 

[bolty]

Its best to drop the beer crystal clear (I either primary until clear or secondary if dry hopping). There should be enough yeast in clear beer to prime any extra bottles over (this is what I do), but not so much that it leaves any in the corny.

You then just need to force carb the corny.

 

[gazzza123]

Guys I know this is an old thread but maybe you could help me to see what the benefits are over a king keg...

I could perhaps understand with lager as more pressure and carbonation are required but where's the advantage when you're kegging an ale/ipa?

It just seem unnecessarily more complicated... Not to mention expensive...

 

[foxbat]

In the long run it might well be cheaper because at some point your king keg will start leaking and you'll have to bin it as a total loss (done that). I do not regret for one microsecond moving to Corny kegs.

 

[gazzza123]

Forgive my ignorance but why would my king keg ever start leaking..?

Plus the corny only holds 19ltr so I have to bottle at the same time...

I'm sure they're a nice touch but I'm really struggling to see a compelling reason for change...

 

[Ghillie]

Forgive my ignorance but why would my king keg ever start leaking..?

Plus the corny only holds 19ltr so I have to bottle at the same time...

I'm sure they're a nice touch but I'm really struggling to see a compelling reason for change...

Corny kegs are infinitely better than king kegs.

It's not really worth getting into why they're better, because it's a properly designed keg which is industry standard in home brewing (for good reason) vs a plastic "barrel".

Your point about bottling isn't really applicable. I scaled my batches down to 22L so I fill a corny perfectly with hardly any wasted beer after losses to trub, dry hop absorption, etc.

I guarantee that if you tried a corny setup then you'd never go back to the plastic barrels and would wonder why you ever put this question to the forum

 

[gazzza123]

I don't doubt your probably absolutely right... I'd just like to know why before I invest!!

I don't see the fact that "corny kegs are better" is very convincing!

What could be better than a £45 king keg with next to nothing to go wrong... Minimal maintenance... Very low running costs...

I just need a little convincing... That's all..!

 

[Ghillie]

I don't doubt your probably absolutely right... I'd just like to know why before I invest!!

I don't see the fact that "corny kegs are better" is very convincing!

What could be better than a £45 king keg with next to nothing to go wrong... Minimal maintenance... Very low running costs...

I just need a little convincing... That's all..!

How about that you can get an A grade reconditioned corny for the same price, would that tempt you?

The only parts that really need changing on a corny are the beer and gas post o-rings; potentially lid seals too. Pennies though. I've been kegging for about 6 months now and only changed one gas post o-ring in that time.

Cornies have a smaller footprint, can take more pressure, can be connected to a proper beer tap (with ease), are absolutely less likely to leak, can be connected to a proper CO2 supply which is cheaper than bulbs. Don't know enough about plastic pressure barrels to be totally sure on this one, but I'd bet this months wages you can't force carb beer in them? Force carbing is the gold standard IMO as it gives you crystal clear beer.

Plastic PB's probably do an okay job (I hated mine personally), but comparing them to any stainless keg (in particular a corny keg) is a little bit like rolling a turd in glitter; for lack of a better term...

 

[gazzza123]

Ah interesting... Yes force carbonation is of interest to me...

You make a good point because this is not an option with the plastic PV.

 

[Ghillie]

Ah interesting... Yes force carbonation is of interest to me...

Total game changer; was one of the biggest things for me. Keg your beer, force carb it and then bottle off kegs for your mates if they're not pouring a pint from your Kegerator/keezer. No need to waste time explaining what the mess in the bottom of the bottle is, why it's there, how you can't avoid it with bottle conditioning, etc.

I really do love kegging and I wish I'd started sooner. I got some lovely, crystal clear keg bottled beers from a home-brewer locally and just knew I had to start kegging as soon as possible.

 

[simon12]

I have used both and for pure ease of use a king keg is better I have used cheaper versions which had issues with taps dripping or not holding pressure but the king keg has always been fine. Its easier to use as you don't have lines to clean and you don't have to get the beer as clear as a corny as any sediment can collect below the tap, its great for serving beer that comes out like cask beer. A corny is much more flexible as you can carbonate the beer at any level you like but you may have to mess about with the line to get it to pour well at high carbonation. Its also worth considering how you will get either to the temp you want to serve it.

 

[SkyBlue]

I’ve just switched from King Kegs- I had both bottom and top taps- to reconditioned Cornies and I will never go back to plastic. I find the cornies easy to use, clean, move around (even when full) and store. I use a party line to draw off the beer and as I’ve just started i am only using the S30 canisters (or whatever they are called now Hambleton Bard don’t sell them!).

I’m working toward a kegerator (likely a bought one as I’m pretty useless with DIY!) and once I get them I’m hopeful my beer will improve even more.

I also like the fact I have to fill around 5 bottles each batch so am beginning to build up a stock of different ales

 

[Graz]

Going to transition to Cornies this year (bonus gets paid this month ), I have 3 King Kegs and currently not a single one of them wants to hold pressure which is a right pain. They used to be fine. I really want something I can rely on to give me carbonated beer.

I'm not writing off the King Kegs completely, probably get some new seals and other bits to try to get them airtight again and also plan to convert them to use the pub gas cylinder I'm going to get rather than S30s but they'll be secondary to the Cornies. Might even use them for draught wine, just keep a little CO2 pressure on top to stop it going off but not make it fizzy

 

[Ghillie]

I'm not writing off the King Kegs completely

You probably will...

When you start using cornies with a large canister of CO2, you'll appreciate just how important it is that your kegs don't leak. Cornies seldom leak when looked after.

It would be a pity for you to loose a large (and expensive) cylinder of CO2 because of a cheap plastic keg. You want something you can rely on; king kegs don't really tick that box I'm afraid.

 

[Graz]

Just to clarify, wouldn't ever leave a big cylinder of CO2 permanently connected to a King Keg. Would just be giving it a squirt of gas from time to time much like I currently do with an S30.

 

[BridgeBrew]

I have had enough of my King Keg's, i have 2 KKs, and 2 Wilko keg's. Never had a problem with the cheaper Wilko Keg's. The final straw happened today, did a partial mash a few week's ago put it into secondary fermentation and monitored the pressure build up via a schrader valve i have fitted to the keg, the pressure didnt get above 3psi in secondary which is strange had them go to 15psi then vent off. put the beer in my cold room in the garage a few day's ago checked the pressure last night nothing, so i banged in a c02 cartridge and it pissed out from what i thought was the cap, i have a spare cap, so changed that, and injected another cartridge pissed out GRRRR ! Getting very annoyed by this stage. Then on closer inspection found a tiny split below the threaded area on the moulding of the keg, so it's bin fodder. Had to re prime, and stick the beer in one of my empty Wilko keg's (hope its not knackered, or i will be really pissed off) I have owned a beer sphere, and a roto keg back in the day, and had no problem's with them, the quality control on KKs must be non exsistent the moulding around the split is as rough as a Bear's arse, and paper thin total Dog S**t. Finally gonna go down the Corny route, i have totally had it with KK's

 

[kelper]

Going to transition to Cornies this year (bonus gets paid this month ), I have 3 King Kegs and currently not a single one of them wants to hold pressure which is a right pain. They used to be fine. I really want something I can rely on to give me carbonated beer.

I'm not writing off the King Kegs completely, probably get some new seals and other bits to try to get them airtight again and also plan to convert them to use the pub gas cylinder I'm going to get rather than S30s but they'll be secondary to the Cornies. Might even use them for draught wine, just keep a little CO2 pressure on top to stop it going off but not make it fizzy

Do your KK lids have round or square 'O'-rings? Did you ever find where they were leaking?