Gas supply to cornelius kegs

[TRXnMe]

OK, this is going to sound rather stupid, at least I feel rather stupid

I bought a couple of cornies off eBay, ordered the disconnects and a tap etc. It's all arrived and looks pretty :)

Thing is I have no idea of how to hook up a gas cylinder...

I know where to get one, a handly local supplier, fair prices, no deposit all sounds good.

I know I need a regulator

I'm pretty sure I need some pipework between the regulator and the cornie

Now, what I can't work out with the information I have to hand (I've searched here, but I think I may be asking search stupid questions, not smart questions, so I'm getting unhelpful answers), what type of regulator do I need? What type of pipe do I need?

I had thought Norm would make it all simple, I had his eBay shop saved and everything, thing is he's got nothing listed, so I'm stuck.

I intend to brew on Saturday and would love to fill one of my cornies with the result, so, who can I trust to selll me the right regulator and pipework as Norm appears to have either gone on holiday, or quit?

If anyone has a regulator and pipework for sale, I'm open to discussion about prices as long as the stuff comes with a little advice

 

[PD]

thats the type

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MIG-Gas-Regul ... 1c282f08f2

and thats the beer/gas line you need in whatever size you require

http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/public/det ... IN20181419

I'm using 3/8

 

[PD]

I have one gas cylinder and run 2 cornies off it AT THE SAME PRESSURE
The gas pipe is fixed to the regulator and secured by a jubilee clip, this pipe is about 12 inches long, and then I have a John Guest plastic fitter this allows 2 4 foot lengths of pipe to be inserted ( push fit ) and they lead to Gas disconnects which fit on the cornies gas in post
A length of same pipe goes from a beer disconnect ( black ) on the cornie to my dalex taps for pouring ( you can use a simple and cheap party tap.)
This set up means I can use 2 cornies with the cheapest regulator, but both cornies have to be connected at same pressure for force carbonating or serving pressure.
If I;m serving with one cornie and wish to force carbonate the other the gas dissconnect needs to be disconnected from the cornie for a while.
You can get a gas managment board to connect numerous cornies at diff pressure but they are a bit expensive.
I

 

[Fil]

i use a welders regulator... i got one with a dial that show the output in psi and in 2psi increments, some show flow or have a less accurate gauge.


the output connection from the regulator is slightly different to the standard welders reg so i can connect it to gas line.. like most i use 3/8" semi ridgid gas/beer line for my co2,

gas/beer line is 3/8" OD and 1/4" ID so i got a 1/4" barb hosetail on my reg output with gas line jammed up on it and secured with a jubilee clip..

 

[TRXnMe]

thats the type

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MIG-Gas-Regul ... 1c282f08f2

and thats the beer/gas line you need in whatever size you require

http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/public/det ... IN20181419

I'm using 3/8

Ordered the regulator...

Now, what size gas line do I NEED????

I see FIL's suggestion of 3/8", if that's the way to go then I'm a happier bunny than I was this afternoon :)

 

[Fil]

for gas i think 3/8" is pretty standard. you may want some 3/16" micro line for the beer as the thin line can help when balancing the keg pressure for pouring. afaik you want the pressure differential between the beer and air to be as little as possible to avoid a catastrophic release of c02 (Uber foam, think shaken warm tin of pop/beer) So the thin line is used between keg and tap to facilitate this.

i think the restriction is circa 1-2psi per foot length, so if your serving the keg at 10psi perhaps a 5-6 foot length of 3/16th mirco line between the keg and tap will be just right :) tho its a case of trial and error in most cases and depends on the beer and temp too.

enjoy the beer..

 

[TRXnMe]

for gas i think 3/8" is pretty standard. you may want some 3/16" micro line for the beer as the thin line can help when balancing the keg pressure for pouring. afaik you want the pressure differential between the beer and air to be as little as possible to avoid a catastrophic release of c02 (Uber foam, think shaken warm tin of pop/beer) So the thin line is used between keg and tap to facilitate this.

i think the restriction is circa 1-2psi per foot length, so if your serving the keg at 10psi perhaps a 5-6 foot length of 3/16th mirco line between the keg and tap will be just right :) tho its a case of trial and error in most cases and depends on the beer and temp too.

enjoy the beer..

OK, so I'll order some 3/8" pipe for the supply side, will this work with the john guest fittings on the disconnects?

You're scaring me with the outlet side now I've bought a tap with about a foot of pipe and a disconnect as the serving bit of the intended system.

I also thought (obviously not read enough) that I only needed a very slight pressure increase over atmospheric once the ale was force carbed and appropriately chilled?

I'm sure to enjoy the brew, worst case I'll bottle it until I master the intricacies of cornies

I'm starting to think it might be an idea to have a wet run with just water in the keg, by way of protecting my brew from my idiocy :)

On a side note, can the party dispense systems, with the little gas cylinders, be used to force carb, or just for dispense when away from the big bottle?

 

[Fil]

Dont Panic! if your brewing a bitter which isnt highly conditioned and you intend to serve with a nominal pressure at the right temp you will be fine.

with cornys however you have the capacity with both temp and pressure control to emulate any beer style you want and the balancing of keg pressure with thin line or a flow control device/tap may be of more interest.

you do need to keep an eye on the keg temps tho if it creeps higher than 12-13C your going to struggle to retain condition in the beer under nominal pressures, tho if so its no biggy, just up the gas pressure and recondition the beer a bit, tho it will probably all get supped b4 you notice any condition loss..

 

[TRXnMe]

Dont Panic! if your brewing a bitter which isnt highly conditioned and you intend to serve with a nominal pressure at the right temp you will be fine.

with cornys however you have the capacity with both temp and pressure control to emulate any beer style you want and the balancing of keg pressure with thin line or a flow control device/tap may be of more interest.

you do need to keep an eye on the keg temps tho if it creeps higher than 12-13C your going to struggle to retain condition in the beer under nominal pressures, tho if so its no biggy, just up the gas pressure and recondition the beer a bit, tho it will probably all get supped b4 you notice any condition loss..

Ahh, I usually drink pale ale or northern brown ale, occasionally stout, so keeping the cornie in the fridge with a light gas pressure sounds like it will work.

I got my regulator today, all I need now is the right gas line, the regulator came with one, but it wont fit the john guest fitting, so I'm off back to eBay and will keep my finger crossed that the hosetail that came with the regulator is the right size (it looks to be right).

Pressure kegs are sooo much simpler :) Pity they don't work as well

 

[jonnyconga]

I've just gone through similar steps to you. I don't know what pressure gauge you've got but I found the one supplied with my regulator wasn't great as it read up to 200PSI when all I wanted was about 30PSI. It made force carbing my beer a nightmare (froth everywhere..) as I couldn't read the dial accurately. I got a 30PSI dial from flowfit (I can't post the URL for some reason) for £4 delivered. (on the home page go to pressure gauges down the page..)

Came in a couple of days. Makes reading the precise pressure easy.

 

[TRXnMe]

The guage is the one in the line PD put up, it has two guages, one for the cylinder pressure, one for the line out pressure. The line out guage is 0 to 30 psi with a nice line on the 10 psi mark :)

I'm waiting for the pipework, ordered it yesterday so don't expect it until Wednesday, at that point I hope it fitst the hose tail, if not I'll have to buy another one of those that does work :)

Just got to get rid of the old tuble dryer now so I can have the utility room for a larder fridge, oh, and buy a larder fridge

Home brewing doesn't half save you lots of money........ :rofl: :nono: :lol:

 

[TRXnMe]

Got my CO2 bottle today, Global Foods in Penarth Cardiff, £40, £20 of that is deposit, so the refill will be cheap as chips.

Even better, they are an Asian food wholesaler, I'll be back with the shopping bags for spices and some asian veg, it looked much fresher than the stuff on our local market

 

[jahutchi]

Excellent. I thought they were really good also and there was no fuss and a fast service.

You'll have to let me know how your setup goes. I've got a brew on now which will be the first one to go in my cornie so it's going to be trial and error.

 

[TRXnMe]

Excellent. I thought they were really good also and there was no fuss and a fast service.

You'll have to let me know how your setup goes. I've got a brew on now which will be the first one to go in my cornie so it's going to be trial and error.

I found them very friendly.

I've filled one of the cornies with the brown ale I made last weekend, one cornie and ten bottles from the brew :)

It's currently under around 25psi pressure and in my outhouse to carbonate, I'll be giving the ale a whirl next week :)

All I have to do now is get a couple of beer line valves and a splitter so I can feed both cornies at the same time, now I know the system works I will be able to extend it, I'm thinking 4 cornies all up :)

 

[Fil]

I'm thinking 4 cornies all up :)

to start with

 

[Will12283]

Got my CO2 bottle today, Global Foods in Penarth Cardiff, £40, £20 of that is deposit, so the refill will be cheap as chips.

Even better, they are an Asian food wholesaler, I'll be back with the shopping bags for spices and some asian veg, it looked much fresher than the stuff on our local market

Cheapest place about from what I have seen, will be going there when I finally sort out my corny. Might wait till its a little cooler though lol no kegorator for me yet.

 

[TRXnMe]

Got my CO2 bottle today, Global Foods in Penarth Cardiff, £40, £20 of that is deposit, so the refill will be cheap as chips.

Even better, they are an Asian food wholesaler, I'll be back with the shopping bags for spices and some asian veg, it looked much fresher than the stuff on our local market

Cheapest place about from what I have seen, will be going there when I finally sort out my corny. Might wait till its a little cooler though lol no kegorator for me yet.

That's my next job, I'm being delayed for now as the space designated for it is occupied with a tumble drier that a friend of the wife is supposed to be taking off our hands for a couple of quid, once it goes I will buy a secondhand fridge and wire up the STC1000 that's been sat in my shed for the last 4 months

 

[Will12283]

Sounds like your plans are way ahead of mine lol