Beer Engine - Solution Between Uses

straightlambic · Post by **straightlambic** » Fri Oct 23, 2015 10:46 pm

I recently got an Angram beer engine, which connects to a demand valve, and then a Y piece. Both ends of the Y have an open/close valve, one that leads to a corny keg, and the other is just some tubing that leads to nothing. I saw this idea on the forums, and it seemed to make sense. When using the engine, the end that leads to nothing is closed, so that the pump just pulls from the keg. But then when done (as it will only be used every couple of days), instead of letting beer just sit in the chamber/lines, you would close the valve leading to the keg, open up the other valve, and run some sort of cleaner through the now open line of tubing and through the engine, so it is clean for the next use.

The problem that arises is that water then sits in the lines until next use, and this could potentially get gross if left to sit for a while.

The question is, does anybody have any ideas as to what kind of solution would be best to use for this situation? Distilled water? Water with the pH lowered? Something else?

It would be nice to be just run beer through the engine following the solution without having to rinse anything. Maybe this too complicated, but it seems like a solid idea to not waste beer during infrequent use.

Thanks so much for any ideas.

Dads_Ale · Post by **Dads_Ale** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 12:42 am

I think the real answer is that if you want to use a beer engine you have to use it all the time. That is at least once a day so you don't have to faff about cleaning it before each use.

If you don't get the throughput then why bother, just use a normal keg tap.

But saying the above I am experimenting with cask breather and beer engine and 12litre PB, but only expecting 3 to 4 days usage.

Coffeeuk · Post by **Coffeeuk** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 6:28 am

Another solution is to use one of the stainless carbonation caps. It's what I use and it works brilliantly. Pour a few pints for the night, then fit the carbonation cap to the corny disconnect, this allows you to pull out the remaining beer in the line into your glass. Then just add a bit of tubing to the hose on the carbonation cap and dip it into a glass of semi warm water and flush the lines ready for next use. Minimal wastage of beer and makes cleaning super easy.

It's also great for pulling line cleaner through the lines, which I do once a month.

You just have to make sure you get a carbonation cap with a barb attachment like below.

Gandolf · Post by **Gandolf** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 7:52 am

Hi Dads_ale, What is a 12litre PB.

I am interested in this thread as I have just acquired a couple of Anagram beer engines.

I have a similar set up to Straightamblic with a shut of valve but set up to Polypins (with minimal sugar to avoid too much secondary fermentation and to keep it as near to real ale as possible). At the moment I use a weak solution of Starsan as a wash through once a week but would also like to hear what other people use as a cleaner/preserver to sit in the beer lines and the pump.

G

Post by **orlando** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 9:16 am

Gandolf wrote:Hi Dads_ale, What is a 12litre PB.

I am interested in this thread as I have just acquired a couple of Anagram beer engines.

I have a similar set up to Straightamblic with a shut of valve but set up to Polypins (with minimal sugar to avoid too much secondary fermentation and to keep it as near to real ale as possible). At the moment I use a weak solution of Starsan as a wash through once a week but would also like to hear what other people use as a cleaner/preserver to sit in the beer lines and the pump.

G

12 litre pressure barrell.

Post by **orlando** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 9:19 am

straightlambic wrote:I recently got an Angram beer engine, which connects to a demand valve, and then a Y piece. Both ends of the Y have an open/close valve, one that leads to a corny keg, and the other is just some tubing that leads to nothing.

I would like to use corny's as the storage vessel for cask conditioned beer, what fittings are you using to hook the BE up to one? I'm not interested in your Y fitting arrangement just the connections to the keg and the hand pump.

Coffeeuk · Post by **Coffeeuk** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 9:37 am

My beer engine is connected to a demand valve via 1/2 tubing. The demand valve has a 3/8 JG output, I run 3/8 beer line to the 3/8 JG to 1/4 MFL adapter that's screwed into the corny disconnect.

Post by **orlando** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 9:52 am

Coffeeuk wrote:My beer engine is connected to a demand valve via 1/2 tubing. The demand valve has a 3/8 JG output, I run 3/8 beer line to the 3/8 JG to 1/4 MFL adapter that's screwed into the corny disconnect.

Oh dear, to quote Ultravox, "this means nothing to me", what do they look like and where did you get them?

Coffeeuk · Post by **Coffeeuk** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 10:35 am

I'll post pics when I get home from work this aft.

Post by **orlando** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 11:18 am

Coffeeuk wrote:I'll post pics when I get home from work this aft.

Ta.

Coffeeuk · Post by **Coffeeuk** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 6:31 pm

As promised

Post by **orlando** » Sun Oct 25, 2015 8:11 am

Thanks coffee, will try that.

steambrew · Post by **steambrew** » Sun Oct 25, 2015 1:31 pm

I have been following this with great interest I have a beer engine in use via pins but there is a lot of waste after use the idea of using a corny seems great but who sells the carbonation fitting as all the usual suppliers do not any help would be appreciated on this matter

Dads_Ale · Post by **Dads_Ale** » Sun Oct 25, 2015 1:40 pm

A photo of my setup including demand valve and cask breather. I have now removed the pressure gauge cap from the PB and replaced with a simple JG fitting one:

I have been using this set up for over a week now and the results are very good. The beer is still carbonated and has not gone off. As this was a trial I have been pulling a pint a night and discarded about 1/8th pint each time.
The original beer was carbonated in a corny keg before being transferred to the barrel. I do need to be a bit more careful on the transfer though as got too much froth and lost some of the carbonation.

Overall it worked well.

Post by **orlando** » Sun Oct 25, 2015 3:52 pm

steambrew wrote:I have been following this with great interest I have a beer engine in use via pins but there is a lot of waste after use the idea of using a corny seems great but who sells the carbonation fitting as all the usual suppliers do not any help would be appreciated on this matter

Do you mean the cask aspirator/demand valve (white circular plastic jobbie)? If so quite a few cask beer ancillary suppliers have them as does ebay. There is a really cheap alternative too using a gas bottle regulator. You do still need some cask fittings such as a spile that allows the gas to go into the cask to replace the volume of liquid drawn off.

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