Kegging

[Mike Neilson]

Looking at doing a keg set up, Is it cheaper and easyer to go with the brew craft setup or designing your own set up, and getting the bits from the likes of Craft brewer, etc?
Whats your thoughts?

[denimglen]

I didnt have to pay to fill it tho, just sent Nicole down and she came back with free Co2 ;o)

That was a fucking lol moment hahaha.

[Reviled]

Dale mine is an old 3.5kg Co2 Fire extinguisher with the dip tube taken out and a valve tap put onto it, its steel, and looks pretty retro ;o) I like it, and 3.5kg of Co2 is heaps!

[Dale]

Thanks Reviled, I'm using a converted fire extinguisher on my mig welder but was concerned about using it for beer thought I could start consuming some leftovers/rust etc......

[Reviled]

I think you should be fine with it Dale, the stuff I get is apparantly 'food grade' but I dont see how its much different?? Cant say ive tasted any rust flavours ;o) The outside of mine is definately a bit rusty, but it adds to the character...

Who knows tho, if I die from tetanus randomly one day I guess we will? ;oP

[denimglen]

Tank should be sweet as inside, it's been filled with CO2 since it was manufactured and as long as there's no moisture there shouldn't be any corrosion.

Although what's in the tank for yor MIG, argon? That could be a little dodgey maybe?

[Dale]

Thanks guys sounds like that's a good way to go then. Na Glen only weld with CO2 but thought I had read that the boc bottle were alloy and then glass lined so thought steel was a bad choice. So I hired one from then. Tyler yeah my welding bottle is also filled with food grade CO2.

[Reviled]

Sounds like youve got two birds with one stone then, i wouldnt worry about using it to carb and dispense beer :o) You may need to refill it a bit more often tho haha

[Nick T]

To have multi beer styles on tap you need to buy many taps, right? But is it possible to have a number of beer lines run into a 'beer manifold', each with its own ball valve, with the manifold connected to a single (high quality) tap? To dispense and IPA open ball valve A and pour away at the tap. Then close valve A, open valve C (which happens to be hooked up to the CO2 tank) to purge the tap and manifold, close that valve and open valve B to dispense a Pilsner, etc.

Just thinking about this as I am hoping to set up beer taps in a kitchen for multipe beer styles and adding up the costs of many taps is a bit depressing - it would be nice to have one high quality tap. A manifold system is a bit fiddly to operate I guess, but not too bad, avoids the tap costs, saves wall space and also purges out your tap so probably reduced cleaning problems. You could even hook the manifold up to a water line to rinse the tap. Also relatively easy to expand. I suppose you would have to have a line balancing valve on each beer line too. Any thoughts? or am I re-inventing the wheel (/ flat tyre) here....

[denimglen]

I've never seen anyone do this but it sounds like a great idea.

I reckon you wouldn't really need to purge with CO2, just run off 100mL or so into a seperate glass first to rinse the lines, a bit of a waste if you're switching back and forth all night though.

You wouldn't need to have a line balancing valve on each line, just run like 3m of line from the manifold to the tap, just means lower carbonated beers take a bit longer to pour.

[Reviled]

Nick - how about you just have one flash tap, and then a heap of cheap picnic taps?? Im only running two picnic taps atm, but manage to have 4-5 beers on tap most times, which is good cos drinking one kind of beer all night can be boring..

[James P]

I'm for the more taps, more hoses, and a multiple slave regulator. I'm looking to install one of these puppies after we have moved into another place that will accommodate a bar! (I have the bowsers already!).

[Nick T]

Hey James, you have plenty of space in the back yard to almost build a whole pub!