Did I waste my money on a plastic Keg ?

[David Marks]

Just finished my first brew (Wherry) and very pleased with it . Tried to follow it with an American Pale Ale kit with less happy results. I proceeded as follows. Fermented it in a temperature controlled insulated box I have built with digital temperature controller for specified time . Being short of bottles I then siphoned it off into a King Keg which I bought and added the priming sugar. Greased the seal on the keg and left it in heated box for a further 5 days . So far so good . Pressure clearly building up and results in significant frothing upon opening the tap to test it. Taste inevitably still harsh. Then removed it to a specially aquired fridge and left it for what has now been several week. Taste is now improving but beer is now also pretty well flat so I reckong this wretched plastic keg has leaked ( Pretty well impossible to check for it when I set it up) I am not best pleased if it has written off 40 pints. I had been planning to bottle some of this brew so have already purchase a beer gun device to create equal pressures together with a CO2 controller and gauge. My old welding CO2 cylinder which I was hoping to use is Kaput so I will have to splash out 40 quid on a new cylinder. Question in my mind is.. Am I wasting both time and money with this King Keg thing and should I splash out on a recon Corny Keg for another 50 quid. If so will it take sufficient pressure to recarbonate my dud APA. as well as serving as a vessel to use for the priming Sorry to ramble on but I really would appreciate any thoughts and comments
Cheers David

 

[crowcrow]

Hi there

Issue may have been drawing off the pressure early? You really need to leave well alone and not open the tap for a couple of weeks to give time and pressure for the gas to be absorbed into your beer.

I did the same not too long ago, I bottle most of my beer but always stick a few litres into a 2 or 5 litre water bottles to have through my handpull. One particular 5l water bottle looked fit to burst so I let 'just a little' of the gas off. Coming back a couple of weeks later it never regained pressure and was a lost cause. I tried re-priming with sugar and yeast but it wasn't to be.

So I'd guess that by opening the tap you let the pressure off to a level where the gas couldn't be absorbed into the liquid. My own rule of thumb is at least 2 weeks at room temp - often 4 and then a week in the cool before drinking.

 

[Clint]

The plastic kegs do work as long as you take a bit of time fettling....correct ,greasing the seal is a good start but you must ensure where the seal fits against the keg rim is completely flat and smooth. On both of mine I could see and feel a burred edge where plastic remains from the molding process. You just need to remove it. I used a disposable nail file and went around it carefully,using something flat to guage your work is useful. Also check the relief valve is intact.

 

[Drunkula]

Op, you sound like you're spending enough to really be into it, so yeah, I think the plastic keg is a hiccup in the middle of the fine song you're starting to sing.

 

[Bigjas]

The King Kegs are ok, but as Clint says, they need to be fettled to ensure gas tight seals. The usual culprit is the lid, its worth gassing it up and (if it has a s30 valve) spraying soapy water around the lid to see if its leaking. I have had to replace the Pressure Release Valve (small rubber band) before as it would not hold pressure.

I have now moved over to Corny kegs and they are so much easier to use and I prefer to force carb. More expense of course, but once set up they are so good to use and do not leak.

Jas

 

[GerritT]

Ah, here you are.
Writing off beer is something sometimes must be done. But not today, not on this shift. Never give up, never surrender etc.
SO I hope you give the poor beer a chance to get carbonated, after all: you already tasted it and it's agreeable.

Already considered cleaning a dozen of fliptop bottles, add 7 grams of sugar and top up with beer? Just to have something on the side while the keg issues are solved.

 

[Cwrw666]

By the way - your 40 pints will be fine even though the pressure has gone. I had a not very noticeable crack in the top of a pressure barrel and re-primed the barrel three times before I realised it wasn't just the cap leaking. In the end I bottled the beer, priming as usual. The beer was fine. A gas leak in a barrel means CO2 is escaping under pressure but air isn't getting in as there's no pressure to drive it.

 

[Clint]

I just checked my fettled Wilko keg full of Belgian ale...lots of serving pressure... only for research purposes though as this is a Christmas beer...

 

[Dutto]

Plastic PB's are okay as long as they are properly sealed before carbonating. I've got a 25 litre King Keg Top Tap and a 25 litre Wilco Bottom Tap plus two 10 litre bottom tap PB's without CO2 injection.

They have all done sterling service (in some cases for over three years), but they have ALL let me down by leaking at one time or another! My answer is to vaseline all joints before I fill them and then test them a couple of days after carbonation.

I've discovered that, with proper sealing and carbonation (I follow the recommendations of the Priming Calculator above), it's possible to take off a pint a day for the full 25 litre kegs without resorting to a CO2 capsule.

To do that it helps if you don't keep the PB in a fridge though! :thumb:

BTW I've just invested in 2 x 10 litre SS growlers (on offer from Dark Farm) to replace four of my 5 litre MK's. They are excellent bits of kit which I hope they will be ideal for my use.

 

[Fil]

Pressure barrels are a very cheap all in one alternative to a 'real/expensive' dispensing system with a keg, pressure system, and tap etc..

And once you have acquired the knack of cracking the tap taking into account the varying amount of pressure they can be very useful systems to dispense ales you can serve at a cool room temp.

generally they dont get sat in a fridge due to their size n shape, and as such generally get used for beers that can get served at cool room temps such as your british bitters..

Beers that you would prefer to serve at cooler temps and higher levels of condition can perhaps require a bit more input.

the dynamics inside a pressure barrel vary pressure increases with the fermentation of the priming charge and as the pressure of the co2 contained inside the pb increases the beer reaches an equilibrium with respect to how much co2 it can contain as condition based on the level of pressure and the ambient temp.

the relationship between temperature and co2 levels dissolved in a liquid under pressure can be seen visually in a kegging chart but essentially as the temp drops it requires ;less pressure to 'push' co2 into suspension within the beer SO.. when you put your brew into the fridge to chill it down the pressure contained probably dropped significantly as a significant proportion of the co2 contained was absorbed as condition by the beer, topping up the pressure with co2 bulbs is probably all that was needed