Brewing for a wedding

[dean_wales]

Hi guys,

So I am getting hitched this summer and planning a modest to mid-sized bash at a country house nearby we have booked for a week, we have free reign.

I got a few questions for you and would welcome any other tips from others who have done something similar:

1. I have a couple of crusader 20L sankey kegs, a 50L euro keg and a stainless cask. I'm thinking of getting another two 20L crusader kegs to add some volume / increase choice on tap. Would you get those or go for a couple cornies? I am not fussed either way really and would be guided on price / ease of use.

2. I have a big repurposed Becks tap and a nice beer engine but will need to get a few taps. I am thinking either individual ones or a set of three / a tower. Any tips? Might get them off AliExpress otherwise.

3. We will have power to the beer gazebo. Should we try and chill the kegs and use a flash chiller or just one / the other? Any tips for building a cheap and easy but fun looking craft beer bar?

4. Good and reliable recipe suggestions for crowd pleasers very welcome.

Here are a couple of pics I saw on a Google image search that might help to convey the general idea!



Thanks,
Dean.

[orlando]

Love the bar idea. I would go for AE for the taps, cheap enough, and definitely go for the flow control versions. You are bound to have some issue with one or another fobbing in Summer heat, even with a chiller so it will help save losing a lot of beer as peoples patience runs out. Might be an idea to have something to catch the beer that drips too. I would have thought a couple of pallets would sort the bar.


You should have a look at this too.

[joe1002]

This may be of help and here is the how-to.

I would try to keep your kegs cool if I were you. An idea we come up with at the festival the year before last was to use a paddling pool. We also put some lengths of 3/8" beerline connected to a chiller python to keep the water in the pool cool. It worked pretty well but as the kegs empty they start to bob around so you would need something to weigh them down.

Edit, if the taps don't have a flow control you can buy in-line flow controls, as Orlando says it is certainly worthwhile having flow control. Nothing worse than not being able to pour anything apart from froth.

[dean_wales]

Hiya,

OK, it seems the two decisions for this build that will affect the cost significantly are going to be the following:

Nice stainless Intertap flow control taps (£35 each) Vs regular American style beer taps (£15 each).

Five way fixed pressure CO2 gas manifold (£20 TOTAL) Vs five independent secondary CO2 regulators (£20 EACH)

Any thoughts and input welcome! It makes a big different to the overall budget, especially as I am thinking of doing something with five taps.

I am leaning towards flow control taps and some degree of control over gas pressure as there will be a mixture of beer styles and also some cider/perry on tap but I could really do with keeping the cost down and don't know how great having the flow control will be.

The five taps will be connected to a euro keg, two crusader 20L kegs and two cornies if that makes any difference.

Thanks,
Dean.

[Secla]

I'd go with the flow control but not bother with the secondary regs. Possibly just get a primary with dual output if your going to do something highly carbed.

The intertaps are really nice and I'm sure you will find a nice space in your home for them after the wedding !

[dean_wales]

See enclosed!

I went for flow control taps that weren't Intertap ones in the end. Cheap and incredibly the first lot have arrived from AliExpress within a week! Still planning on a aesthetic design as above.

Now I just need to figure out what kegs I am using, get enough couplers and then what I am going to build to keep the beer in / how I am going to chill it. I could do:
- Kegs at ambient (seems risky outdoors in summer) and push the beer through my flash chiller.
- Kegs in some kind of large insulated water bath that is chilled by the flash chiller recirculation line and controlled by an STC.
- Make some kind of cellotex cabinet that I can chill some how. Weedy air con unit?
- Buy a big oldchest freezer and use it as some kind of keezer just for this and scrap it after (I have literally no space).

Tips or input very welcome...

Thanks,
Dean.

[orlando]

If you have enough ice a really cheap way of doing it is to use a builders trug for eah keg and keep topping up the ice. It will chill the beer at the bottom really well, so if you keep topping up with ice as the beer is drunk the warmer stuff will eventually be chilled as it hits the same level as the iced water. Taller the better obviously. If you could get hold of some cheap plastic piping you would only need to cap one end to be leak proof and you may even chill to the full height of the keg.

I have those taps, they work really well but you do have to keep on top of the cleaning because they retain a lot of crap in the tap barrell.

[dean_wales]

Thanks Orlando. I love the idea of simplicity and can think of various low tech ways to keep them vaguely cool but I was thinking I had to find a way to keep them at a known temperature because:

A) We will actually be at the venue for the best part of a week, drinking for a few days of which. So ice refreshing is going to get silly!
B) Don't I need to keep the beer at a known temperature and pressure to keep the carbonation on track and avoid foam?
C) There is going to be a cider and a saison amongst the beers - they need to be pretty cool and are going to be pretty fizzy!

More and more I am thinking that using the Maxi 310 I have (only one product coil and a recirc) in some way is the easiest bet best.

How much would a copper coil in a big cellotex box attatched to both the recirculation line and product line on a Maxi chiller (it is a super chill one) cool below ambient do you think? With an STC, could that setup reliably keep the chamber below about 10c do you think, when the outside temperature could be 25c.

Thanks,
Dean.

[dean_wales]

PS - Seems like a radiator and fan might be needed inside for that idea to work, but others have done it.

[Mattpc]

I haven't read the thread but I did do what you are planning to do two years ago..

My solution was buy 20 or so corny kegs. Convert two fridges to kegerators, each kegarator held 4 corny kegs. Each kegerator had two taps mounted on the front of the fridge with a drip tray underneath. The kegs that didn't fit in the kegerators stayed in a trailer chiller that we also needed for storing the food. Our volunteer barmen lugged the corny kegs out of the trailer fridge as needed and plugged them in to the kegarators. Guest helped themselves direct from the kegarators with a little guidance from our barmen.

Can I politely suggest the following for your build.

Stainless steel keg taps with flow control which will help avoid excess foam.
Use very small beer line with adaptors to connect the kegs to your taps, again this will massively help control the foam.
Beer engines can be a little tricky with corny kegs. They tend to produce massive head. May be easier to just use taps.

Look up "kegerator build". This will tell you how to build a kegerator (it's easy). You will need a temperature controller to set the fridge to proper beer drinking temperature. I used an STC200 but inkbird do easier solutions that may not involve any wiring.

Have a plan regarding when the kegs are going to arrive in situ on site and how you are going to let them clear. You don't want muddy beer. I dropped my beers from corny to corny pushing them with gas in advance to try and pull the beer off the sediment. Even so I got the beer in to position a couple of days before the event but I'm very fussy.

[dean_wales]

Hi everyone, thanks for all the input. Things are slowly moving forwards at this end.

See enclosed photos. I have had all five taps delivered, which is great. I have just ordered a basic gas manifold for all beers at a 'regular serving pressure. The cider and anything else that needs very high pressure will need their own regulator. I have also decided that getting a fridge or freezer into position isn't going to be practical. So I am going to try and build an insulated compartment within the bar base that is chilled by a radiator connected to the flash chiller.

Oncve I have all the bits delivered I will take pics and draw up some plans.

Pictures enclosed!

Thanks,
Dean.

[dean_wales]

Time for an update on the steady progress... Thanks to the kind involvement of JBK members I am steadily collecting the gear I need.

First off, the DIY cooled chamber idea was daft and proving to be a distraction. I have now managed to beg/borrow a suitable sized chest freezer from a friends garage and so now have the ability to keep all the kegs in there at 5c with the help of an STC. The cask will sit beside the freezer and we will try to keep it around 14c either with a trug of ice water or a flash chiller etc.

I have had a crack at the gas side first off. There are six cornies to serve of different styles. Is it a waste of time trying to set each one at the right carbonation or would life be easier and almost as good to just set them all at 2.5 vols? I have a primary regulator which kicks out at 45psi, four variable secondaries and a five-way fixed gas manifold. Two of the lines will need a JG splitter by the looks of it. I do have time to plan line lengths and all taps are flow control versions, so I should - he says - be able to balance things.

Below is a crack at a diagram which may only make sense to me! Input welcome...

Dean.

[dean_wales]

Also, feedback welcome on my draft recipes enclosed below. For brewing from next week onwards!

Thanks,
Dean.