Keg suggestions please

Discuss making up beer kits - the simplest way to brew.
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Hudson1984
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Keg suggestions please

Post by Hudson1984 » Sat May 30, 2020 8:41 pm

Hi all,
so. I have 40 bottles of cider in the fridge.
6 bottles of wine on the go
and would like to get another cider kit cracking.

Once it's done, where do I put it!! So, plan is, I need a keg.

anyone recommend what to get? Ideally something that'll give the brew a decent lifespan.
ideally with ability to give a nice fizzy brew

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Jocky
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Re: Keg suggestions please

Post by Jocky » Sun May 31, 2020 8:57 am

One thing you’ll need to deal with is keeping the keg at your preferred serving temperature. Garages, sheds, outbuildings are all fine for two thirds of the year, but at the moment you’d need a cellar or fridge.

Secondly, the fizzier you want the brew the colder you generally need to keep it. A well carbonated beer that is too warm will just pour as foam.

Options wise, the plastic pressure barrels are a great cheap option, although they work better on beers that are a bit lower carbonated - 2 volumes of CO2 max or you are just pouring foam.

If you want your pub keg lager levels of carbonation then you need a proper keg, with CO2 tank, CO2 regulator etc. It gets expensive quickly. Cornys are the home brew favourite keg, professionals use Sankey kegs (but they are a pig to clean) or more recently the ‘mini keg’/giant growlers have appeared (e.g. https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/product ... litre-keg/), but like the others you need CO2 to use them properly.
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Hudson1984
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Re: Keg suggestions please

Post by Hudson1984 » Sun May 31, 2020 12:32 pm

I think I’m swaying toward a corny keg. I don’t want to waste £50 on a plastic one to then want a corny anyway.

I have a brew fridge. Which I’d ideally put the corny in once brewing duties are done. I do have a larger fridge too but that’s full of bottles and being brand new I’d rather now cut it up to make a kegerator or anything. Hopefully the brewfridge will fit a corny in it and when that’s empty I can work on the bottles whilst I brew something else for the corny.

So. Really the next question is:
Can someone provide a complete parts list for a corny setup?
That being said, how tall are they - as if it won’t fit in my brew fridge I’m probably on a losing battle from the start

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Jocky
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Re: Keg suggestions please

Post by Jocky » Sun May 31, 2020 1:35 pm

After I’d kegged a batch I realised there was no way back to bottling for me, and I’m far from the only one that has made that jump.

As it is I use my fermentation fridge as a kegerator, so I can’t ferment and serve at the same time (kegerator/keezer incoming soon!), and so end up bottling the remainder of a keg so I can ferment something else... for now!

Most basic parts list:

Kegerator/keezer
Corny keg
CO2 bottle (6.4kg is fairly common, but you can get 3.2kg ones too)
CO2 regulator (don’t buy a cheap Chinese one, they are unreliable)
Black and grey disconnects
(If MFL threaded disconnects then you also need John Guest 1/4“ MFL x 3/8” fittings)
3/8” beer line (For gas)
3/16” line (for beer)
JG reducers for 3/8” x 3/16” (for your beer line)
Party/picnic tap.
Silicone grease to lube seals.

Additionally you’ll need a spanner for removing keg posts (either 7/8” or 11/16” depending upon the post style, although an adjustable spanner is a reasonable catch all)

I would also recommend getting a keg spares kit. Because there’s a lot of seals in a corny and you only find they’ve failed when you have a keg full of beer around.

New corny kegs are usually 63cm tall and 21cm diameter (two of these can fit in some under counter fridges if you remove the thermostat), many reconditioned ones you can find cheap are 56cm tall and 23cm diameter.
Ingredients: Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast, Seaweed, Blood, Sweat, The swim bladder of a sturgeon, My enemies tears, Scenes of mild peril, An otter's handbag and Riboflavin.

Hudson1984
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Posts: 123
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2020 4:15 pm

Re: Keg suggestions please

Post by Hudson1984 » Sun May 31, 2020 1:39 pm

ooooooh the cheaper option would fit in my fridge alot easier than a 63.

I'd be happy with one for now. I think by the time I switch to 2 i'd upgrade the fridge. Maybe find a cheap american one off fleabay and have a keezer one side and brewfridge the other (or vice versa)

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