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Post #26 made 11 years ago
by thughes
They've got a coating on the inside, as long as it isn't damaged I imagine you can continue to use them indefinitly.
WWBBD?
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Post #27 made 11 years ago
by lambert
PistolPatch wrote:I just found this thing called Google - good on me!!!

In Ozland, looks like you can get mini kegs here.

Says there that you can get ten uses out of each keg. I thought they'd be unlimited. How do you know when they're buggered? Do they blow up or something?
Nice one Pat! :clap: Hmmm - only 10 uses? That is a bit little. I haven't used any of my mini kegs 10 times but I'll keep an eye on them.
Last edited by lambert on 18 Jan 2013, 06:27, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #28 made 11 years ago
by PistolPatch
thughes wrote:They've got a coating on the inside, as long as it isn't damaged I imagine you can continue to use them indefinitely.
Ah! Now I get it!

Todd/Bertie, I'm guessing they are just like over-sized beer cans. The plastic coating on the inside of beer cans is what stops the beer reacting with the metal. I'm guessing you can't reach inside these 'cans' with a microfibre cloth to clean them which means more reliance on chemicals and agitation.

Mmmm, it's a different ball-game than what I thought.

I used to have 23 L kegs but now have 19 L ones. The idea of brewing 24 L Volume into Packaging (19 + 5 VIP) batches really appeals to me. Maximises my 30L fermentor capabilities, enables me being able to take beer away from home without bottling from the keg and would enable a reserve when the keg runs out and I am brewing/fermenting it's replacement.

These are all tremendous advantages and I can think of more but I already have so many questions... First one is, "Do I have to use CO2 bulbs or can I capitalise on my keg gas bottle?" (The instructions on the link I provided re maintaining carbonation sounded totally dodge :lol:)

:think:
Last edited by PistolPatch on 18 Jan 2013, 22:21, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #29 made 11 years ago
by mally
Lambert -

Code: Select all

Mally,
I'm using the the jiggler to transfer near boiling wort - no problems at all
I got myself a similar jiggler, tested it in the sink with cold water, and it works a treat!
However, when it came to brew day, i tried it to transfer the hot wort to the cube and i had no end of trouble. :sad:
I could get the jiggler to work fine bringing the hot liquid up the (silicon) tube to the point where it then drops back down, but it just wouldn't siphon properly. I also had a lot of trouble with it disturbing the hot break due to all my jiggling :shoot:

Is there a fine art in using these, or is it just my ham fistedness :lol:
Last edited by mally on 29 Jan 2013, 16:22, edited 2 times in total.
G B
I spent lots of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I squandered
I've stopped drinking, but only when I'm asleep
I ONCE gave up women and alcohol - it was the worst 20 minutes of my life
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Post #31 made 11 years ago
by lambert
mally wrote:Lambert -

Code: Select all

Mally,
I'm using the the jiggler to transfer near boiling wort - no problems at all
I got myself a similar jiggler, tested it in the sink with cold water, and it works a treat!
However, when it came to brew day, i tried it to transfer the hot wort to the cube and i had no end of trouble. :sad:
I could get the jiggler to work fine bringing the hot liquid up the (silicon) tube to the point where it then drops back down, but it just wouldn't siphon properly. I also had a lot of trouble with it disturbing the hot break due to all my jiggling :shoot:

Is there a fine art in using these, or is it just my ham fistedness :lol:
Aaaaargh! I feel bad about the fact that I recommend something and it doesn't work! :sneak: Hope the following will provide some guidance:

1. Silicon pipe length. The pipe should be long enough to go from the bottom of you kettle, over the rim, and to the bottom of your cube/fermentor.* The cube/fermentor should also be lower that you kettle - the lower it is the faster your syphon - (sorry if this seems condescending - just want to cover all the bases!). When I start the syphon I would keep on jiggling until the wort hits the cube/fermentor. The pipe diameter should not be an issue - I've syphoned with a 1/2" ID pipe with no issues. Oh - did I mention that the silicon pipe gets quite hot? :? Wear gloves

*You want your pipe to be long enough so that it does not splash into the the cube or in your bottling bucket - I think it's a good idea to limit the chances of HSA and oxidation wherever one can. As a rough guide, the minimum pipe should be: 2 x kettle depth + depth of cube or fermentor

2. Hops - do you use a hop sock? I do so I've only got break material to content with when I syphon. Did you get any hops flowers stuck in the syphon? I do a whirlpool and then I try to syphon from the side of the kettle. It is inevitable that you will disturb some break material but it is the minimum that you get into your cube/fermentor. Once the syphon starts keep the jiggler against the side of your kettle (it sometimes sounds like an errant ball bearing in a rotary engine!). The wort that I transfer is normally around 20 cm (+-7 inches) deep. I think that you will struggle to start a syphon in liquid less than 5cm (+-2 inches) deep.

3. As to the art of jiggling. If you are a man then jiggling should be second nature :blush:.

Please let me know how you get on!
Last edited by lambert on 29 Jan 2013, 18:41, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #32 made 11 years ago
by lambert
BrewBagMan wrote:Great stuff Lambert, I love a good 'how to' thread!

What do you guys think of the 'Garden Sprayer Party Keg'? It's my next project, bought a 5 liter one at the weekend.

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/21201" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... arty-kegs/
BBM,
I saw that thread a while ago - seems like a nice alternative to the 5L party kegs I use. I'm on a mission to build a couple of these Mini Keg Taps - I'm hoping to have a small under-counter fridge with 4 5 liter barrels of beer on tap. With my available space I can't accommodate corny kegs.
Last edited by lambert on 29 Jan 2013, 18:48, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #33 made 11 years ago
by BrewBagMan
lambert wrote: BBM,
I saw that thread a while ago - seems like a nice alternative to the 5L party kegs I use. I'm on a mission to build a couple of these Mini Keg Taps - I'm hoping to have a small under-counter fridge with 4 5 liter barrels of beer on tap. With my available space I can't accommodate corny kegs.
They look tidy. I managed to bride one of the handymen at school today with beer in exchange for him drilling/making some of the parts needed for the Sprayer Keg. A few of the 5 - 10 liter kegs would be perfect fr my needs. Wouldn't mind seeing how you get on with that set up. I like the CO2 option, I'm prob gonna go down the handheld dispenser route.
Last edited by BrewBagMan on 29 Jan 2013, 19:54, edited 2 times in total.

Post #34 made 11 years ago
by mally
Lambert -
Don't worry about the recommendation, I am always willing to try new things. Besides, the jiggler was only a couple of quid from Ebay as i bought it without tubing (have my own silicon). I can always use it on my fish tank anyway!

Thanks for the guidance too, but none of that seems to affect me either, I just thought I was overlooking something.
I actually reversed the tube, filled the pipe (backwards) from my kettle tap, crimped the end, plunged the jiggler back in, and that worked fine, so i got to hear the rotary engine, but i just couldn't do that every time (kind of defeats the idea of the jiggler)!
G B
I spent lots of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I squandered
I've stopped drinking, but only when I'm asleep
I ONCE gave up women and alcohol - it was the worst 20 minutes of my life
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Post #35 made 11 years ago
by Lylo
I used the jiggler about 10 times and found that I needed to
1: get the siphon started
2: stand beside it and lower the jiggler into the kettle as the volune dropped
3: tilt the kettle when close to the bottom to get the clear wort out.
NB: even with dedicated flushing the ball will get a build up of hops and frog shit,so you have to be diligent about cleaning it.I sort of thought it would be selfcleaning! :blush:
I will also add just to get PP's shirt in a knot, :shoot: that I added a spigot at the bottom of my kettle and like it much better. :P
AWOL

Post #36 made 11 years ago
by mally
Thanks Lylo!
I will also add just to get PP's shirt in a knot, :shoot: that I added a spigot at the bottom of my kettle and like it much better. :P
I have a tap, and it is useful too; apart from 2 things.
1. Occasionally the tubing will decide to make a bid for freedom during a hot transfer (yes hot toes) :shock:
2. My wife will shout "why do you always sniff that tap"!, whereby i have to explain about PP :lol:
Last edited by mally on 29 Jan 2013, 22:52, edited 2 times in total.
G B
I spent lots of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I squandered
I've stopped drinking, but only when I'm asleep
I ONCE gave up women and alcohol - it was the worst 20 minutes of my life
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From Great Britain

Post #38 made 10 years ago
by WilliamH
Maybe this should be in a new thread, but since the topic was already being discussed here, I figured I'd bring up my questions here.

I just got one of these 5L mini kegs from Amazon (father's day gift) http://www.amazon.com/Mini-Keg/dp/B0064" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... s=mini+keg.

I'm really excited about it, but I'm having a REALLY hard time trying to figure out how to best use it. This is one of the few places on the internet I have found anyone talking about doing this in an affordable/doable way, so I thought I'd look for some advice here!

Here are my thoughts:

- CO2: I've looked into co2 options and they all seem really expensive. I'm looking to keep my costs nice and low, and ideally, I'd love to keep pressure in that keg so I don't have to drink everything in a weekend (although I'm not opposed to the idea :yum: ). What I've wondered is if I can find some way to fit a small co2 injector on to the top of my keg. This one (http://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Innovatio" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... +regulator) seems small and cheap, and like it might be a great option if I can find/make an adapter to put it in the top of my keg where the bung would normally go. Anyone have any ideas on this? What I have in mind is using the gravity dispenser on the bottom of the keg, then injecting a bit of co2 from the top after every couple pours.

- No CO2: I could use the gravity tap at the bottom, and just open up the top and let the whole thing fill up with air. If I did this, should I buy a little vent bung to pop on the top? I could also go for the pine spike route that thughes uses. That sounded kind of cool, except I'm not sure where to get a pine spike, and what kind of bung to get with that.

In case you can't tell, I'm really cheap and almost always look for the simplest/least expensive ways of doing things. Any kind of thoughts would be appreciated!
Last edited by WilliamH on 18 Jun 2013, 04:45, edited 2 times in total.

Post #39 made 10 years ago
by lambert
Not my idea but I have seen people mounting this into this (the white bit comes out and is hollow) and then you can add CO2 to your mini keg via this.

Hope it helps!
B
Last edited by lambert on 18 Jun 2013, 05:09, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #42 made 10 years ago
by Mad_Scientist
Having never seen the bung, if it's got enough solid rubber, you should be able to fit it in, if the threads grab into the rubber. It's worth a try, IMO.

I also don't know the psi rating of the bung, but assuming the primer sugar doesn't blow it off and this co2 charger is in-place, at the time, it should work. There is no valve on the charger, is there? If you run out of co2, you would drink it up in 48 hours. Then you would have a party!
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Post #44 made 10 years ago
by WilliamH
Hey hey! So the [awesome] wife bought me a Party Star Deluxe Tap for my birthday! I used it to tap my black IPA that was sitting in my mini-keg (check the black ipa thread to see the amazing recipe).... I can not even describe how incredible my beer tasted on tap. I don't know if it's the cask conditioning that the 5l keg does, or if it's the beer being dispensed with co2, or both, but it was amazing. I was drinking it right next to Stone, Bruery, Bootleggers, and Sam Adams beers and preferred it over ANY of them. :)

So, then I used my Party Star to tap a german beer I bought at Bevmo in a 5L keg a couple days ago, and again, it was super delicious (my wife and I may or may not have had hangovers the next day :drink: ). However, I was trying to keep the little bit of beer that was left in the keg fresh over the weekend, but it must have leaked co2 or something because by today (Sunday, two days later) all the co2 was gone and the beer is almost flat. I had the co2 turned off until this morning, then left it on a low setting for about six hours before it was totally gone. Anyone have any tips on this? If not, no worries, I'm on a mission to figure out how to keep beer fresh for at least a month using my Party Star system.

My first attempt at achieving a good seal will be, not only using keg lube (which I haven't done yet), but using some teflon tape around the threads that the co2 cartridge attaches to.

I'll post the results here! I love this system, so far, because it allows me to have beer on tap in my fridge, and I love being able to tap delicious german beers I buy I Bevmo. I don't have space to set up a kegerator in my small house, so I am determined to figure out a way to make this work perfectly!
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