Corny Set-Up Help Please!!

[puravida]

Father Christmas arrived early in the Cotswolds (well - Father Norm anyway) and brought me a couple of 'budget' kegs and the kit I need to put it all together.

Thing is - I'm not entirely sure what I am doing.

Here's what I have

Two kegs
1 gas cylinder
2 lines - one with light grey ends, one with black ends
1 tap
1 regulator
1 twin splitter (I think)

Shoudl be evrything I need to run two kegs at once but not sure how to set up. Any advice or photos of your set ups??
Sorry for the quality of the photo - cold and dark out!!

 

[Runwell-Steve]

The light grey ends (disconnects) are for gas.

The black ends are for beer.

The grey line is for gas, the clear line is for beer.

Connect the splitter to the outlet on the regulator.

Cut the gas line in half and connect the 2 gas lines to the splitter, the other ends will be connected to the disconnects.

Cut the beer line in half.

Connect the beer line to the tap, I'm assuming there are some other bits with the tap including a barbed end which the beer line will fit over. You will need to soak the beer line in boiling water for a while to get it soft enough to get it over the barbs on the tap.

The regulator connects to the gas bottle, using that little washer that is attached to it.

Maxe sure you check every fitting with a spanner to ensure they are tight before you turn anything on.

 

[scott78]

I know im going to regret this as i just told the other half i cant afford an engagment ring, but whats the cost of a kit like that?

 

[puravida]

Here's the breakdown from Norm:

2 BARGAIN KEGS £70 (£35 each)
1 CO2 CYLINDER £45
1 CO2 REG £40
PARTY TAP £15

Then he shipped for free I think.

 

[puravida]

Thanks Steve!
I think that was all that came with the tap though. Maybe I missing some bits?
I'll have to go look back through the packaging as I may have missed something or other.

Norm said I'd have everything I needed "except the beer' :)

 

[Runwell-Steve]

It's possible that tap you have will actually connect directly to one of the Black disconnects rather than to the beer line, I'm not sure though, it doesn't look like one I recognise.

 

[puravida]

Hmmmm doesn't seem to. I've mailed Norm for advice!

 

[kev]

That tap will connect to the beer out valve but you need to connect a black disconnect to it first.

K

 

[puravida]

Ah haaa! Yes it does!
Just found out Norm shipped it with sanitiser inside

 

[PhatFil]

you might find the connect to the keg 'sample tap' is the week link in your set up. i joined the corny owner club this year and started with a very similar set up to yours.

initially my beer came out all foamy n froth. the reasons were i discovered temperature n pressure related. too warm n the co2 wants to escape straight away and the ideal pressure at a beer tap is 1-2 psi while beer is kegged at higher pressures, so the tap on the keg is not fed at optimal pressure.

warm beer wants to loose all the co2 its absorbed under pressure a lot quicker than cold or cool beer.

a length of beer line reduces the pressure by restriction, the thinner the line the more pronounced the effect.

i think the thinnest line 3/16 will restrict something like 1psi per foot, tho look it up dont rely on my memory,,

you may not share the same problems as i had, But if you do replacing the tap you have which is great to clip on to pour a sample would be a good start. A more traditional beerline fed tap will allow you to manage this aspect of dispencing your beer. the other options to using beer line length to restrict the pressure are inline flow restrictors and flow control taps.


then come spring you will face the challange of keeping the kegs a little cooler... and you might look at inline chillers or kegorator fridge solutions.

the last expense you may face is when you want to serve 2 or more beers at different pressures a lager and a bitter for example. then to keep both beers gassed at different pressures you will need a secondary gas valve or more wisely a gas management board.

unless you then venture into different gas mixes ie nitrogen for stout that should be about it for the not so obviouse costs associated with corny kegs..


they are great tho even if there is a bit of a higher cost of ownership, happy kegging

ps be warned corny kegs seem to multiply one day u have 2 then 3 then 5then.....