Help me Keg

[sockmerchant]

I like bottles. I really do. I mostly brew belgian beers, and they seem to benefit from bottle conditioning. 

But damn it, I have been brewing too much lately. Getting hold of more and more bottles has become a major pain in the ass.

So I reckon i need to get into kegging. Not for the belgians mind you, but the session beers would be good.

There are a few kegging discussions that showed up in the search, but they seem to be from a year or more ago. 

My fermentation fridge fits two fermenters easy so I am sure i can fit one or more kegs in there as well (fridge is only for pilsner/lagers etc, so 10C max).

So...whats the best deal at the moment? Probably wont put taps on the fridge at this point so gun is fine. 

Thanks guys!

[mattd2]

Is Pressure Check - Grey Lynn the same as Nova Fire Safety? $200 is what I got quoted aswell for a converted 3.5kg fire extenguisher - what shocked me was the cost to refill it... $10.

$10 for 3.5 kg of CO2, that's less than the cost to exchange a 0.27 kg sodastream cylinder! I need to get my act together and get my old man to pick me up one and bring it down to me.

[Richard Jack]

the first few fills from pressure check are free. I don't think I've paid for one yet in... about a year I suppose

[Hugh Grierson]

Pressure Check is Nova and a few others.

One day I went there and they had inflated Russian Arctic Survival Suits all around. 6 foot orange inflatable men standing in a circle.

If you want a cylinder you need to get the right guy, he paints them,puts new taps, and stamps them. Takes a few days to a few weeks.

[mattd2]

When I spoke to Nova/Pressure Check  they said they usually have at least 1 or 2 converted bottles on hand. He said best bet would be to give them a call in advance just to double check and if they don't have any on hand they would be able to get one fitted pretty quickly.

Just to check I think he said that these had a new hydrotest, can anyone confirm that?

[Druid]

Ring up Brewcraft Mt Eden - I got a converted 3.5 extinguisher from there for 140.  As far as I know, it doesn't get any cheaper than that.

[mattd2]

When brewcraft convert them (or whoever does it for them) do they rehydrotest the cylinder. I would hate to buy a cylinder and findout that it only had a year to go until it needed a recert and it fail on me.

[Pilgrim]

I bought a recycled fire extinguisher bottle and it was tested. When I got an 11Kg bottle I 'loaned' my son my old one. He went to get it filled and was told that it needed testing. Apparently if it has a pressed steel collar around the base like a lot of the ex-fire extinguishers have, it has to be tested every two years as opposed to every ten years. To do with the fact that they can corrode around the collar. So beware.

[Liam Callaghan]

From my experience its cheaper shopping around and buying everything individually but not much cheaper than the start up kit from Brewcraft and if anything is faulty you can take it back.  Shane is selling regs on TM for $70 or something and he also sells, taps etc.  I don't have a link for them sorry but I think he might have set up a website, I'll mail him and ask.  He also has some good deals on c02 bottles.  I got mine from Grey Lynn, $200 with $10 refill (first two fills free). 

You can also sort out your own c02 bottle and change the column but not all bottles can be changed, they charge to change the column though so its not much cheaper.  Again I'll find Shanes website and link it, give him a shout for any deals.

I got my last lot of kegs from Hallertau at $75 each (We bought 22 so got a good deal).  Needed a good clean but in great condition.  He had one pallet left.  Refit set from Morebeer.com they are $3.05 for a full set of seals ($4 delivered to NZ) but email them for shipping cost as their calculator seems to add a lot of zeros.  They also sell all the poppets and release valves if you need to replace them.  Out of the 20 or so I own I have only replaced 4-5 poppets so its not that common.  I replaced all the seals before use and used an acid wash to strip them inside and out.

Kegging is an awesome time saver, can be a little frustrating getting the carbonation right at first but doesn't take long to sort it out.  Not for your belgians as you say although I have run a few through kegs and they have been nice enough.  I don't think you could dispense the highly carbonated varieties though, not that I have tried yet, two weeks away from making that decision as I need more bottles and am loathe to get more...

I'll post with Shanes website shortly

[mattd2]

Thanks Liam, be good to deal with them direct and avoid the TM fees!

[sockmerchant]

Thanks a lot everyone! You guys helped a lot. Went out today and grabbed from brewers coop:

1 corny (will get another when it closer to having something to put in it) $90 

Regulator $82.5

clamps $5

tubing $6

Diconnects $45

Also grabbed some line cleaner

Went to Pressure Test to get a 3.5kg CO2 bottle but apparently they sold the ones i asked about by the time i got there. They gave me a 5.5kg one instead for the same price $200.

All round pretty happy. 

[John H]

Must have been high fives all round all round at Brewers Coop yesterday. I also went shopping there yesterday and got 2 cornies, 1 regulator, line, disconnects and picnic tap and dropped off my fire ext at Pressure Test. 

[John H]

Price check - Picked up my fire ext today from Pressure test. New Valve and fill - price reduced to $80 because I supplied Fire ext and it was still current. Comes with 1 free fill too - AWESOME!!!