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?

[JoKing]

None of my 5 kegs needed reconditioning, this may be what you are missing. $70 and thats it - no more bottling! You just assess the need to recondition as you get them.

I'm thinking of getting more too.

[Reviled]

I want more :o( 20 would be ideal :o) lol

[Barry]

heh, reminds me I need to get mine back before you inadvertently use them again! :)

[Reviled]

They taunt me, chronically :o( Its hard to not fill an empty keg ;oP lol

I didnt replace the seals on one of my kegs and I admit that I do get a sort of pepsi colaish smell when im cleaning them, but ive never had it come through in any of my beers?

[James P]

You will need to clean (elbow grease) and check the reconditioned kegs too... My set from DMH needed replacement posts and a seal after only two months. I will admit DMH did come to the party.

If you get kegs from Hallertau strip them down, clean them out and then get some one with a kegging set to pressurise them for you and check for leaks. If not leaks, no worries, else you will need to replace whatever leaks.

Personally I would replace all the seals, and only the poppets / relief valve if they are faulty.

[Barry]

I'm with James, just replace the rubber. Steve at Hallertau sells new o-ring kits too from memory. They need to be done as the rubber retains some of what was in the keg before - pepsi/7-up/mountain dew. Don't want that shit anywhere near your beer.

Only do the poppets and relief valve if they leak.

[denimglen]

Ahhhhh...If GE are selling the Brewcraft ones, I dunno if I'd called those 'reconditioned'.

The two kegs I got in my kit still had like 200mL of shit in the bottom. The seals may have (?) been replaced but they definitely weren't clean.

[Nolen Smith]

Yea, same. One of mine from GE had about 1/2 liter of what smelled like old Pepsi. Plus, they had added a new O ring without removing the old one. I have no idea how they managed to close it with two O rings, but they did. It was so tight, I struggled to open it.

[denimglen]

Yeah, I don't really like the Brewcraft setups

-Don't come with enough beer line to balance the system
-Kegs are shitty condition as mentioned
-Fridge tap is absolutely shit

On the upside the Micromatic reg that comes with it seems to be a high quality regulator and they are an easy get-started package.

If you're tossing up 2 or 3 kegs with a picnic tap I'd drop the picnic tap and 3rd keg and go for a proper tap instead they're much nicer to use.

When tossing up the number of kegs you have to ask yourself - how much do you drink and how often do you brew?

I've only got two kegs and two taps and for me that's enough at this stage, I'd probably be happy with only one tap to be honest. That's with me drinking a keg over two weeks and brewing every two weeks on average. So all going well at any one time I should be drinking one beer, carbonating one and fermenting another. It would be nice to have a third keg for a 'big beer' that would last me a while but at the moment I'm happy to bottle those sort of beers.

Also look at buying a cheap inline regulator, this allows you to have two different volumes in two different kegs.

At the end of the day I'd go for whatever's cheapest unless you want to support your LHBS.

[MrC]

OK, I have all my bits & pieces ready to go.

What's the trick to getting the hose on to the reg barb without damaging the hose? I tried softening the hose in boiling water and only got about 1/2cm on. Is there some other technique?

I know you're all laughing at this on the inside but that's only 'cos you've already been in these shoes ;-)

[Barry]

yeah it's a right pain in the arse. Boiling BOILING hot water and speed. That's the best I could do.

[Mike Neilson]

Bit of KY on the male end, bit of foreplay on the female end (boiling hot water) and go like a school boy on it and it will be on!! Enough Said!!