King Keg Latstock Float System

[mancer62]

Just filled my king keg top tap (last night) with 40 pints coopers irish stout and primed with 3 1/2 oz granulated sugar. I have never used a king keg before and was wondering how the latstock float system works. (a) Do I have to place it in my keg a certain way or just drop it in and it will do the rest itself? (b) Excuse my ignorance but I tried to pour some into a glass but hardly any came out. Is this normal is this because it only pours when there's enough pressure built up by the secondary fermentation of the priming sugar?
(c) How long on average will it take to have sufficient pressure to pour pints?
(d) Obviously the gas building within is co2 but I have bought a box of 8 gram nitro oxide bulbs which claim to give the stout a creamy finish at what point should I start adding this to the keg?
(e) Also when I screw the bulb onto the pin and hear the gas going into the keg do I leave the Bulb and holder sitting there attached to the valve until next time I use another bulb or do I remove both straight after I hear the hiss?
( :

 

[ontor]

I just bought a pair of king kegs, one top tap one bottom tap. I dearly wish I bought 2 bottom tap ones.

The engineering on the top tap float is a joke, If you have the round one like me, you have to be very careful that the float is positioned ball up and the float must be perpendicular otherwise the end of the pipe will suck from above the surface (not good)

Why is it a joke? because the pipe is too stiff to allow the float to self level, particularly at lower temperatures which is what you need to be keeping the beer at. you need to do a trial run with a keg full of water to ensure you understand the issues. This means that a given level, the float will be perpendicular but as the level drops, it will be on an angle.

to test and tell if its right by using water, leave lid off, open tap and suck on the tap making a good seal with your lips. Sucking air??? the float is not sitting right............

As far as putting your C02 in, don't do this in a full keg, where can it go? it will blow past the lid seal or come out the vent. Only use extra gas when the beer wont flow and the float is correctly positioned.

You can remove the bulb right away, the valve is self sealing and keeping the bulb on there is doing nothing at all.

Good luck

Ontor

 

[Windy]

(a) Do I have to place it in my keg a certain way or just drop it in and it will do the rest itself?
You should be able to just drop it in and make sure the connection to the tap is good. However the newer ones have rather stiff pipe and you should check that it is the right way up - with the float (air bubble) on top, if it isn't then rotating the pipe where it connects to the tap may be necessary.

(b) Excuse my ignorance but I tried to pour some into a glass but hardly any came out. Is this normal is this because it only pours when there's enough pressure built up by the secondary fermentation of the priming sugar?

It should only pour when there is enough pressure, otherwise you will soon get a vacuum holding it in.

(c) How long on average will it take to have sufficient pressure to pour pints?

If you have the temperature high enough (>18C) then a couple of hours should be enough to do a test pour of a half pint. If there isn't decent pressure after 12 hours then you have a leak.

(d) Obviously the gas building within is co2 but I have bought a box of 8 gram nitro oxide bulbs which claim to give the stout a creamy finish at what point should I start adding this to the keg?

Never used one but I would think that you should use it as soon as you are sure you have a good pressure seal, if you wait until priming is finished and you have full pressure then your nitro will just sit on top of the beer instead of being absorbed into it because the beer is already full of CO2.

 

[Windy]

If you have the round one like me...

to test and tell if its right by using water, leave lid off, open tap and suck on the tap making a good seal with your lips. Sucking air??? the float is not sitting right............

Don't think that is known as a "Latstock Float System"? I wasn't impressed either, the original Latstocks are much better!

As for testing it in water, I think you will find that it floats a lot higher in water than in beer and this is the main cause of your problem! Although I can't understand why when the hydrometer floats higher in the beer :? I added a short M8 stainless steel bolt to the hole at the bottom of mine to make sure it floated low enough and definitely the right way up.