23 litre cornie kegs, now sensibly priced??

[JonA]

I like the idea of a standard keg, but they look a PITA to clean!

I've been using standard 50l sankey kegs for years now - and I can assure you that they are very straightforward to clean

[darkonnis]

Has anyone tried alternating the kegs? IE drinking half a keg then disconnecting it and hooking up another one for a month or two, then coming back to the original keg and finishing it off?

I've had a go with cornies and it seems to work well enough? Wondered if anyone had tried with normal kegs, cause 50L would be ideal for my brew length I just don't fancy having to do in 50L back of the same thing back to back.

[JonA]

Sure - I do that quite a bit. Just swap the coupler over like they do in pubs from an empty keg to a full one. Pressure will be maintained in the disconnected keg.

Bottle of cellar gas, regulator and a coupler, and away you go.

[chris2012]

How about filling them too JonA, do you have to pull out the spire etc. each time you want to fill it?

Or do you use a filling coupler?

[JonA]

I always whip the spear out, it only takes a minute - then you can give the spear a better clean and after cleaning the keg I have a quick sniff to make sure it doesn't smell of beer (or Antiformin) anymore. The wife says I've got other strange habits too

Fill the keg, spear back in and some folks purge the air from the top of the keg with CO2. I used to do this, but don't bother anymore. After a few days when there's a bit of pressure in there, I vent it to let the air out, the CO2 should be underneath according to the theory - being more dense etc.

If you're force carbonating, you can either inject through the coupler gas pipe or back through the spear to bubble CO2 through the beer.

[orlando]

I have lived with 4 of these for 6 months now so thought it was time I updated you on the experience so far. There was a lot of understandable scepticism about these as of course they were seen as cheap knock offs and so probably primed to fail. Well my experience has been sublime, they have been exceptional in their performance. They seal with the minimum of pressure, I run them at no more than about 5 or 6 psi and they therefore give me a cask conditioned style of beer. I cleaned one today that has had a beer in it for the best part of three months and it cleaned up superbly. No blemishes and no issues with seams. The only problem I have had is that one of the "feet" that the lid uses to pivot on when sealing has split, otherwise if you still want cornies, don't want problems of second hand, prefer a sensible brew length capacity and are wary of the Sankey option these are great value. I will probably be getting a couple more as Santa is not far off a visit

[WallyBrew]

The only problem I have had is that one of the "feet" that the lid uses to pivot on when sealing has split:D

This is a problem with secondhand cornie kegs as well.

I bought some 10mm PTFE rod and made new feet for mine. They now no longer bind but glide smoothly across the stainless.

[soupdragon]

I bought some 10mm PTFE rod and made new feet for mine. They now no longer bind but glide smoothly across the stainless.

Forgive my ignorance but did you need to hollow it out to slip over the metal legs or did you manage to glue them on to the end?

Cheers Tom

[orlando]

The only problem I have had is that one of the "feet" that the lid uses to pivot on when sealing has split:D

This is a problem with secondhand cornie kegs as well.

I bought some 10mm PTFE rod and made new feet for mine. They now no longer bind but glide smoothly across the stainless.

Well I emailed the Home Brew shop and they are sending some out FOC so good after sales too.

[barneey]

http://www.candirect.co.uk/ also sell corny feet, perhaps one of you corny owners should organise a group buy of them

[WallyBrew]

I bought some 10mm PTFE rod and made new feet for mine. They now no longer bind but glide smoothly across the stainless.

Forgive my ignorance but did you need to hollow it out to slip over the metal legs or did you manage to glue them on to the end?

Cheers Tom

Yes they were hollowed out to slightly undersize of the leg. It helps if you have access to a lathe.
They are also adjusted to a height that gives a decent closure force

[soupdragon]

Right o

Cheers Tom

[Big Al]

I'm glad I started reading this thread I might have to get me one of those kegs. As it was always a pain having to bottle a few, due to my existing corni not being 23 litres!

[orlando]

I'm glad I started reading this thread I might have to get me one of those kegs. As it was always a pain having to bottle a few, due to my existing corni not being 23 litres!

I got caught out yesterday though as I usually brew to 25 litres and find that with racking off avoiding trub etc, I end up with a full cornie and not much left over, but I obviously got a bit more and it started to spill over. Noticed it quickly, there are holes in the brew shoes , and stopped. I put the lid in place quickly and only later wondered whether the beer was above the gas in dip tube. Will it make a difference or cause a problem?

[FUBAR]

I got caught out yesterday though as I usually brew to 25 litres and find that with racking off avoiding trub etc, I end up with a full cornie and not much left over, but I obviously got a bit more and it started to spill over. Noticed it quickly, there are holes in the brew shoes , and stopped. I put the lid in place quickly and only later wondered whether the beer was above the gas in dip tube. Will it make a difference or cause a problem?[/quote]

Can't see it being much of a problem have done it myself with a standard Cornie once, just removed the gas in post when it was empty and stripped it down for a good clean ( normally do this with both posts after 2 fills anyway)