mini corny kegs with regulators and CO2 capsules

[JapanBrew]

After ringing around today that seems to be the issue, removing the corny from fridge to room temp will cause foaming issues for well carbonated beers. What I take from this is that for well carbed beers, your only option is a kegetator so mobile corny kegs aren't really an option. For lesser carbed beers, you may as well use the regular primed 5litre party mini kegs.

Shame that as I liked the look of those 9litre cornies.

I have this Coleman all purpose camping bag/ bin bag, water tight and fits a 9 liter corny perfectly. When I go out camping I just load it with ice with the corny in it and it stays fine all day.

 

[Braufather]

I have this Coleman all purpose camping bag/ bin bag, water tight and fits a 9 liter corny perfectly. When I go out camping I just load it with ice with the corny in it and it stays fine all day.

what level of carbonation? can it do lager type levels without foaming do you think?

 

[JapanBrew]

Well, I’m American so we tend to over carb our beers but over foaming mostly comes down to technique of pouring. Mine foamed up a bunch before I really understood how to control pressure. The big thing is to degass before you pour. Get the pressure down then slowly add to get your pour speed. Second is pour speed. Go slow and smooth.

 

[Steved53]

I guess to have sitting out for an evening when people come round ( and also when they don't). Was also thinking 9 litres when full but as it gets used it will regain heat quicker.

So looking at again at the 5litre mini kegs with a chilled dispenser and C02.

I don't know about you and your friends, but I could polish off a 5l keg pretty fast, with a few friends helping. You would, therefore, need to have a couple of other kegs already chilled and sitting in the fridge, ready to go on. The time taken for one of these Peltier dispensers to chill down from ambient can be counted in hours rather than minutes.

 

[Braufather]

I have room to keep them in fridge(same with minincorny) the only drawback with the corny is once it's taken out of the fridge it can't be kept cold where as the klaistein dispenser can.

I like American carbonation levels, so it's working out if I can obtain that level without too much of a fuss!

I'd like go to the corny route if it could work, as JP says, maybe I will just need to play around with it.

 

[APINTA]

Hi I have just looked at this as a complete Idiot to this way of brewing I would like you to answer a few Q for me some of these are going to be pretty STUPID So here goes @ the moment I serve my beer from a King Keg which is OK. With this corrie gear once you have fermented the beer where do you put the 41pints of beer you have just made and what about the second fermentation as can not see it in the description or the photos where it goes And the what is the cost to buy all the equipment to start me off and if I want.Also to convert it to soda stream gas is it just a case of changing the valve or is there more to it than that.Thanks ( sorry about the Silly Q)

 

[Fil]

Hi I have just looked at this as a complete Idiot to this way of brewing I would like you to answer a few Q for me some of these are going to be pretty STUPID So here goes @ the moment I serve my beer from a King Keg which is OK. With this corrie gear once you have fermented the beer where do you put the 41pints of beer you have just made and what about the second fermentation as can not see it in the description or the photos where it goes And the what is the cost to buy all the equipment to start me off and if I want.Also to convert it to soda stream gas is it just a case of changing the valve or is there more to it than that.Thanks ( sorry about the Silly Q)

either you brew less beer or split it between 2 kegs, or bottle the residue

2ndary fermentation due to an added priming charge, can take place its a choice, but mostly folk condition with pressure as this creates less additional sediment which would get sucked up causing more than an initial dirty pint as the beer is drawn from the keg base via a long dip tube.

cost wise ??

keg �£35+ each (you get what you pay for so �£35 kegs are dented filthy and probably slightly blown.. )
disconnects �£10
3/8" beer/gasline 50p a meter
3/16" beerline 50p a meter
�£10-�£20 on a collection of JG fittings to 'push-fit' it all together
tap �£10+
co2 reg �£30
co2 bottle �£15-�£25 per refill + �£0-�£50 bottle deposit

Also necessary..
some sort of temp control from a freecycled fridge with an stc1000 for �£15+
or an ebay shelf chiller �£50?+ or a flash chiller �£300+(dont see many 2nd use at all) or a cellar with a constant temp 12months in the year ?�£700,000?


the kegs are just the storage aspect of a dispense system a PB is an all in one and the phrase jack of all trades is applicable , with kegs and temp control you can assign a specific condition level and style to a beer and pour consistently from the first to the last pint poured..

 

[Braufather]

But can you get that with portabale 9litre corny kegs and direct tap( i.e. No kegerator)?

 

[Fil]

But can you get that with portabale 9litre corny kegs and direct tap( i.e. No kegerator)?

No, i disagree, you can emulate a PB with such a set up but you cant maintain a conditioning retaining pressure in the keg and serve without fobbing without any form of pressure reduction before the tap point.

And serving at condition retaining pressures does require attention to temperature as the 3 way relationship between temp pressure and optimum condition level is at the heart of home kegging.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...=xbA22cKg6g1riDhoRe225w&bvm=bv.58187178,d.ZG4


You may well get serviceable use from such a set up but its not giving you the full benefit of a home kegging system.

 

[Braufather]

Just come across these guys who will soon have a distribution point for Europe. Lots of flexibility including 4 litre insulated pressure growlers that you could fill from main corny and can maintain serving temps for hours.

https://www.ikegger.com/products/build-a-package?variant=44354967630

Loads of other options there. You can use a 19 litre corny to store unconditioned and transfer to 4 litre growler as and when to carbonate and serve.

Thoughts?

 

[Braufather]

No, i disagree, you can emulate a PB with such a set up but you cant maintain a conditioning retaining pressure in the keg and serve without fobbing without any form of pressure reduction before the tap point.

And serving at condition retaining pressures does require attention to temperature as the 3 way relationship between temp pressure and optimum condition level is at the heart of home kegging.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...=xbA22cKg6g1riDhoRe225w&bvm=bv.58187178,d.ZG4


You may well get serviceable use from such a set up but its not giving you the full benefit of a home kegging system.

Ok Fil, so its getting all 3 in balance, the pressure, the line length and the temp.

just to clarify, i have no interest in emulating a PB, as they don't deliver decent carbonation. i have one and only ever used it once.

id be interested to hear your thoughts on a suggested solution, given i have space to carbonate and store cornies in the fridge in my brew room- but i want to be able to serve them in the kitchen and there is no space in the kitchen for a kegerator etc.

could transfering to the insulated growler ( linked above) be the solution? This would allow the temp to remain cool and close to constant, and would just be a case of trial and error getting the pour right? What about a flow control tap? would that work with chilled beer better or do you still need a beer line?

 

[Fil]

If you maintain kegs at the correct temp and pressure to retain condition and pull one out for a serving session in the kitchen with a connect direct to keg tap you will need to vent off all but a nominal pressure to serve but it will work, if the keg is in the kitchen for a few days perhaps a week the loss in condition will probably go totally unnoticed as it will be a gradual pint by pint loss. Because its in a corny if the condition loss gets too notcable spoiling the sup, the you need only up the co2 pressure again to recondition the brew..
Its workable but probably dont let on to any pals with green tendencies just how much co2 you end up venting to the atmosphere.. but if buying co2 in big pub sized bottles its not that expensive.

sitting the keg in a bowl of ice will help chill and maintain condition int the beer somewhat as your drawing from the base and cooling the base

with the ability to condtion and recondition if necessary in the cool at an optimum temp/pressure whipping out a keg for a quick serving session would be feasible imho, but kegging without consideration of temp control is a thankless task,, I know thats how i started..(6 months with a brewuk delux corny starter kit pouring nowt but jugs n jugs of foam from its connect to keg tap aarrgghh!!!!! then i found the online brew communities and got put straight!!


My own set up involves stashing kegs in what was a coal shed that shared a wall with the kitchen, most of the year the coalshed temp is cool enough but come summer i do need to employ a shelf chiller, without the shelf chiller running i am at the mercy of the seasons and do end up supping very fizzy bitters mid winter when it creeps below 0c in the keg store regardless of the insulation, and I do need to keep tweaking co2 pressure with seasonal changes in ambient temps to try and maintain the optimum condition levels (often falling short).. Even at the lowest serving pressures a bitter will get quite fizzy sat at sub zero temps..

 

[Braufather]

Ok thanks Fil, that all makes sense. May not even need the growler, some 9 litre jobbies may be best bet then

 

[Steved53]

It seems to me that you need to buy a complete cornie setup.

Any of the other options you are considering will require you to have a complete cornie setup. Growlers are quite expensive. You are surely not considering buying sufficient growlers to take a complete brew. You will be filling a few growlers from ...... A cornie setup.

If you decide to go for mini kegs, you could buy sufficient to take a complete brew, but what about a second or third brew on the go at the same time? Do you buy another 8 or 10? And then, as you've added sugar to the keg for a secondary fermentation, you have to be careful about trying not to disturb the sediment! Otherwise, you could fill the mini kegs directly from ........ A cornie setup. You could use these from the fridge with a Party Star tap, or with the likes of a Klarstein.

Whichever way you approach it, a full cornie setup seems somewhat inevitable. Either that or save your money and stick to bottles!

'9 litres jobbies' are almost impossible to find used, and new are as expensive, or more expensive than the full size cornies. It makes sense to put a brew into one full size cornie and a few bottles, or one full size cornie and a 5l minikeg, and then transferring to a 9l keg if and when needed. This means you could probably get by with one or two 9l kegs, and the rest being full size.

My point is that if you are going to move away from bottles, you will almost certainly require a full size cornie setup, whether or not you branch off into the other options. The level of investment is quite considerable, but it is not really possible to succeed with a half-hearted attempt.

 

[Braufather]

It seems to me that you need to buy a complete cornie setup.

Any of the other options you are considering will require you to have a complete cornie setup. Growlers are quite expensive. You are surely not considering buying sufficient growlers to take a complete brew. You will be filling a few growlers from ...... A cornie setup.

If you decide to go for mini kegs, you could buy sufficient to take a complete brew, but what about a second or third brew on the go at the same time? Do you buy another 8 or 10? And then, as you've added sugar to the keg for a secondary fermentation, you have to be careful about trying not to disturb the sediment! Otherwise, you could fill the mini kegs directly from ........ A cornie setup. You could use these from the fridge with a Party Star tap, or with the likes of a Klarstein.

Whichever way you approach it, a full cornie setup seems somewhat inevitable. Either that or save your money and stick to bottles!

'9 litres jobbies' are almost impossible to find used, and new are as expensive, or more expensive than the full size cornies. It makes sense to put a brew into one full size cornie and a few bottles, or one full size cornie and a 5l minikeg, and then transferring to a 9l keg if and when needed. This means you could probably get by with one or two 9l kegs, and the rest being full size.

My point is that if you are going to move away from bottles, you will almost certainly require a full size cornie setup, whether or not you branch off into the other options. The level of investment is quite considerable, but it is not really possible to succeed with a half-hearted attempt.

its looking that way. probably want one 19 litre corny that so that i can rack a full brew to that, and two 9 litre ones so i can split brews. my main issues is whilst i have temperature control storage via a fridge in an upstairs spare room, i want to be able to serve from the kitchen, so my thinking is either portability or being able to transfer from an uncarbonated 19 litre into an insulated growler and force carb in growler.

 

[Braufather]

so i kicked off with a 9 litres Jobbie- but i am guessing this shoudn't be happening. failed to upload video pick but looks like i have a leak from around the base of where the pressure valve is, but through a welded area?

 

[Steved53]

so i kicked off with a 9 litres Jobbie- but i am guessing this shoudn't be happening. failed to upload video pick but looks like i have a leak from around the base of where the pressure valve is, but through a welded area?

Probably just rubber seals, or not tightened down enough, or both!

 

[Steved53]

its looking that way. probably want one 19 litre corny that so that i can rack a full brew to that, and two 9 litre ones so i can split brews. my main issues is whilst i have temperature control storage via a fridge in an upstairs spare room, i want to be able to serve from the kitchen, so my thinking is either portability or being able to transfer from an uncarbonated 19 litre into an insulated growler and force carb in growler.

Carbonate the 19 litre cornie, and then pressurise the empty 9l cornie or growler to the same pressure. Return the co2 line to the cornie. Rig up a transfer line, from the out of the large cornie to the out of the 9l cornie or growler. Intermittently pull up the pressure release on the receiving vessel and gradually fill it so as to not create too much foam. The beer in the cornie should be very cold when you do this. As soon as a bit of foam spits out of the pressure release, stop the transfer.

 

[JapanBrew]

Carbonate the 19 litre cornie, and then pressurise the empty 9l cornie or growler to the same pressure. Return the co2 line to the cornie. Rig up a transfer line, from the out of the large cornie to the out of the 9l cornie or growler. Intermittently pull up the pressure release on the receiving vessel and gradually fill it so as to not create too much foam. The beer in the cornie should be very cold when you do this. As soon as a bit of foam spits out of the pressure release, stop the transfer.

That’s kind of like a brite tank method. That’s how I use it. My 19 liter is for condition. After 2 weeks, I do that method to transfer to my 10 liter kegs. It works great because you get a lot of yeast and hop debris settled down in that first keg. It’s like filtering. Works well. I just wish I could get one of those full size kegs, 100 liters??, then I could really use it as a brite tank.

 

[Braufather]

If the 19 litre corny wasn't carbonated could i just use gas to push it through. Having a few 19 litres cornies all carbed and ready to drink could be dangerously tempting for someone who already probably drinks more than they should!