Keg Set Up

[Reviled]

Okay, im seriously looking into kegging my beer cos im getting really sick of bottles quick fast...

Im just wondering, what do I need, what am I looking at cost wise? Will I be able to do it for $400 or less? Or am I dreaming?

Also, are pressure barrels a good option? Or are they crap?

Cheers

[Reviled]

lol, I definately do not :oP

[Barry]

if thats what you meant by handpump, there is no equivalent for a corny keg to my knowledge.
by "handpump" I thought you meant beer engine. my mistake.

[Reviled]

Can you tell I have no idea what im talking about :oP

So you cant use that pump on a corny keg? I need a gun?

[Barry]

a gun, a fridge/font mounted tap, or a simple picnic tap. I use a picnic tap, it's perfectly fine, bloody good even. I Add a bit of tube to it to bottle with, again it's awesome for such a cheap unit.
this one


A beer engine is used to pump cask conditioned ale without the use of pressure (co2), example.

[Reviled]

That picnic tap looks cheap as chips! Pretty sweet deal!

Right, now to work on the family :oP

[Stu McKinlay]

Yeh, I'm a picnic tap man too. They are great.

I pull out the beer engine for parties. One of mine is in Bar Edward right now, and I really hope they are putting it to good use! I know they are definitely using one to dispense Tuatara IPA at the moment. It tastes so much better than it does on tap.

[James P]

No you can not, the connection for a corny keg (like the ones hallertau sell) use a disconnect system, where as that pump uses a "cub" fitting.

I managed to get my "brewcraft" keg set up for $400 on special. (2 x kegs, reg, beer gun, hoses etc) I already had the 6kg CO2 bottle.

I would recommend you do it, as beer is matured within a week or two as opposed to 12 weeks for some of my lagers!

[studio1]

Yip, I was in Brewers Coop this avo and he has the 2 keg Brewcraft kit for $450 odd. So that has everything bar the CO2 and works well?

[denimglen]

I bought the Brewcraft kit from BrewersCoop then lots of little bits and pieces from craftbrewer, more beer line picnic tap etc.

When you buy your gear get SHITLOADS of beer line, and set up a 'balanced' system. It means you can carbonate and serve at the same pressure. Makes life heaps easier. There're lots of guides around that will explain it better than me. It'll only cost an extra few bucks.

Also think about spending the extra 50 bucks or so (easy enough to upgrade down the line anyway) to get a secondary regulator, you can then run two kegs at two different pressures, handy when you have something like a wheat that would want about 3 volumes of carbonation and a english beer that only wants 1 volume.

The picnic tap is a good start, you can stick a length of racking cane in it and a stopper round the cane to fill bottles from the keg easily, there's a thread on homebrewtalk.com about it, very handy tool.

I reckon that fridge tap that comes with the brewcraft kit is shit-house as. The ones that craftbrewer sell (like the ones most bars have) are heaps better IMO.

I rent the CO2 tank on my old mans BOC account, free as, know a welder or anything that may have an account that could hook you up?

Fridge from T&E - 50 bucks. The older ones are good cause they don't have fancy coolant lines through the walls and all that usually. Budget for a mashmaster temp controller down the line sometime if you don't like all your beers at 4C.

The conversion rate to aussie is good for us at the moment, I'd price up buying as much as possible from craftbrewer.

Hope that helps.

[studio1]

very helpful mate, thank you...will do some investigating.