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LeeMajors posted:Also--pin-lock or ball-lock? What's the consensus? Whatever works for you. Ball-lock are more common as they were the "everyone except Coke" style, so it might possibly be easier to get parts for them at some point down the line. If you take a keg to a fellow homebrewer's house or a club meeting, chances are very good you will be able to hook it up. Pin-lock seem to be a little less expensive right now, since everyone buys ball-lock. You can easily use either by buying some extra disconnects to keep handy in case someone brings a ball-lock keg over. I just this weekend took a ball-lock keg to a friend's house who uses pin-lock, and it took roughly two minutes to swap in the correct disconnect and pour a pint.
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Jan 3, 2012 04:42
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Just ordered the 2-Keg pin lock premium kit from keg connection. It does not include kegs or CO2 cylinders. After I went through and added 2 kegs and a CO2 tank, it ended up costing $212 shipped. The regulator is not a dual body, but it comes with a manifold.
Daedalus Esquire fucked around with this message at 04:59 on Jan 3, 2012 |
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Jan 3, 2012 04:42
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LeeMajors posted:Definitely yes to 'not including kegs,' or to customizability? Sorry, definitely yes to being allowed to substitute parts. You'll pay some amount of difference in the price of the parts, of course. Also, the inclusion of kegs depends on the kit. It looks like they're "keg optional" if you look at their kegerator kits: http://stores.kegconnection.com/Categories.bok?category=*Homebrew+Kegerator+Kits
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Jan 3, 2012 04:43
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Daedalus Esquire posted:Just ordered the 2-Keg pin lock premium kit from keg connection. It does not include kegs or CO2 cylinders. After I went through and added 2 kegs and a CO2 tank, it ended up costing $212 shipped. The regulator is only a single gauge, but it comes with a manifold. code:
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Jan 3, 2012 04:51
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Thanks for the graph, but I had a brain fart, it is a dual gauge. I meant to say dual-body, thus the need for the manifold. I think most of them come with dual gauge.
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Jan 3, 2012 04:57
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Well, it's not like the second gauge hurts, it'll give you a little bit of warning that your gas is running low, just not very much. A bottle of CO2 at 800psi is still a sizable amount of gas relative to pouring a pint. But relative to the number of pints you'll have gotten out of it previously, it's a pretty quick change. Also, manifolds are good no matter what. They let you isolate a keg or kegs from the system (good for disconnecting or just not driving a keg) and have check valves in them to prevent backflow (from one keg to another and from a keg to your precious regulator.)
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Jan 3, 2012 05:06
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being new to kegging, they have a killer deal on kits with 20oz CO2 tanks. Is this even a useful amount of gas or should I just spring for the 5lb tank? Or bigger?
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Jan 3, 2012 05:10
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Though i do want to upgrade to a 5# tank, my 20oz gets me through force-carbing and serving 3 kegs before needing a refill.
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Jan 3, 2012 05:17
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5lb is the "normal" size for most bars, I think. You LHBS will both sell and fill 5lb tanks, almost certainly. If you buy a used one, you can just swap it at your LHBS for a full one. Your case may be different, but I'm pretty sure my LHBS doesn't do anything with non-5-lb. tanks.Darth Goku Jr posted:Though i do want to upgrade to a 5# tank, my 20oz gets me through force-carbing and serving 3 kegs before needing a refill. Yeah, 3 kegs seems like hardly anything at all. Whereas I drive an 8-keg setup from my 5lb tank. In that case, though, it's all about how much usage it sees (not much as of late.)
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Jan 3, 2012 05:18
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Bad Munki posted:5lb is the "normal" size for most bars, I think. You LHBS will both sell and fill 5lb tanks, almost certainly. If you buy a used one, you can just swap it at your LHBS for a full one. Your case may be different, but I'm pretty sure my LHBS doesn't do anything with non-5-lb. tanks. I don't have a local homebrew store here in charleston. I'm not sure exactly where I'd be going to fill--probably a paintball store or something. Ok not sure what kind of tank they can fill though. Hmmm.
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Jan 3, 2012 05:23
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If you can find one, the way to really rock (if you have a welding store/gas supplier nearby) is to look around on craigslist and find a cheap tank. 10 lb tanks are awesome.
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Jan 3, 2012 05:24
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I kinda want a 20 ounce bottle setup just for road trips and the like. Ten pounds of gas seems to last me a decent amount of time. Five always seemed to run out on the day the gas supplier was closed and I had people coming over.
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Jan 3, 2012 05:40
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Josh Wow posted:Grab a piece of tubing, dip it down into the beer and cover the open end with your thumb.
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Jan 3, 2012 06:56
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LeeMajors posted:I don't have a local homebrew store here in charleston. I'm not sure exactly where I'd be going to fill--probably a paintball store or something. Ok not sure what kind of tank they can fill though. Hmmm. I don't think most paintball stores will fill a proper 5lb. tank, or really any tank with the sort of fitting you'll have on yours. They might be able to, but it's far more likely that they won't. Welding shops, air supply shops...there's someone near you that will fill. Maybe this place? http://maps.google.com/maps/place?q=co2+near+charleston&hl=en&cid=2205356279624587869 If it's anything like my experience, you'll call the place, they'll say yeah they can fill it, but it's some old guy and his wife and the dude is only there tuesdays and thursdays and you'd better call to make sure he's not out at lunch (no, it doesn't matter when you were thinking of coming by) and when you get there, you find out they only take cash, but the guy is a hoot and doesn't over charge. Bad Munki fucked around with this message at 07:41 on Jan 3, 2012 |
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Jan 3, 2012 07:39
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LeeMajors posted:I don't have a local homebrew store here in charleston. I'm not sure exactly where I'd be going to fill--probably a paintball store or something. Ok not sure what kind of tank they can fill though. Hmmm. Assuming it's Charleston, SC you have an Airgas which will fill CO2 tanks. I suggest getting the biggest tank you can to save you money on refills. At my local Airgas a 5 lb refill is around $18, a 10 lb is $22 and a 20 lb is $24. Apparently it's all about the labor costs. I got a used 20 lb tank from a soda supplier online for somewhere around $70 shipped. Don't bother with a new tank since most places just do exchanges anyway.
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Jan 3, 2012 13:37
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I'm hating myself for getting bitten by the Skyrim bug and it's seriously got me thinking about making a batch of mead. I've had sparkling mead before and really liked it, but there's only one brand that's sold at local liquor stores, so my curiosity is piqued. Is there any handy basic guide to meadmaking from this thread and its many paged glory? I don't mind buying an extra fermentation bucket setup for this and letting the mead do its thing for months at a time if that's how it'll go.
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Jan 3, 2012 16:20
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MJP posted:I'm hating myself for getting bitten by the Skyrim bug and it's seriously got me thinking about making a batch of mead. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2644956 This thread is not in the archives yet so take a look.
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Jan 3, 2012 16:36
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Bad Munki posted:Definitely yes. A friend who lurks this thread got his four-tap setup through them, and swapped out for a different regulator, perlick faucets, and all stainless shanks. Definitely call them to swap out stainless shanks. I didn't realize it didn't come with them and am kicking myself due to the problems I've had with perlick faucets connecting to the chrome shanks.
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Jan 3, 2012 17:09
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Does anyone here have experience with weldless bulkheads for keggles? I just got a second keg to replace 10gal drink cooler as mash tun, and i'm looking to get a set of two bulkheads to put ball-valves on each. I've thought about getting them plumbed at a local welding place, but if it's easier and/or cheaper to go weldless, i'd like to do it. I just don't want it to be of lovely, leaky quality.
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Jan 3, 2012 19:36
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I know you aren't supposed to be using the dishwasher to clean your bottles but the bunch I got here, some of them are practically impossible to clean (I was soaking them for hours with hand dishwashing fluid and cleaning with a bottle brush), I know some of them must have sitting in a shed for a decade at least. One of the labels said "best before November '98. Anyway just ran a bunch of them upside down through the dishwasher on its hottest and most thorough setting and 90% of them got clean enough that I didn't see anything but clean glass inside them. Is it good enough if I put each one of them under the sink and rins them off inside and out to get all the potential residue off? My next step is sterilization in the oven. I got about 50-60 bottles to go through.
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Jan 3, 2012 19:42
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His Divine Shadow posted:I know you aren't supposed to be using the dishwasher to clean your bottles sez who? the steam sanitizes the bottles better than dry heat.
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Jan 3, 2012 19:45
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Prefect Six posted:Definitely call them to swap out stainless shanks. I didn't realize it didn't come with them and am kicking myself due to the problems I've had with perlick faucets connecting to the chrome shanks. What problems? When I built my bar, I parted it from a bunch of different places and at the time, I ended up with chrome shanks (when I move, I intend to rebuild and replace with stainless just because I don't want to eat any more chrome) but I haven't had any problems with the connections, so I'm curious what you're seeing.
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Jan 3, 2012 19:49
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LeeMajors posted:Does anyone here have experience with weldless bulkheads for keggles? I used them for a few years, but I eventually found a welder that would weld in the couplers for me at a price I could stomach, plus a growler of homebrew. Weldless bulkheads never seem to assemble both leak-free and with the valve at a good angle.
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Jan 3, 2012 19:58
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Bad Munki posted:What problems? When I built my bar, I parted it from a bunch of different places and at the time, I ended up with chrome shanks (when I move, I intend to rebuild and replace with stainless just because I don't want to eat any more chrome) but I haven't had any problems with the connections, so I'm curious what you're seeing. The teeth on the chrome shank and perlick faucets don't match up well. It seems a copious amount of keg lube and tightening the ever-loving poo poo out of the faucet sealed it up well enough.
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Jan 3, 2012 19:59
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Josh Wow posted:Yes, pour your sample between two pint glasses about 10 times if you're taking a reading after fermentation has begun. Also make sure to adjust for temperature. By "after fermentation" you mean "after kegging because I'm lazy", right?
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Jan 3, 2012 20:02
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Prefect Six posted:The teeth on the chrome shank and perlick faucets don't match up well. It seems a copious amount of keg lube and tightening the ever-loving poo poo out of the faucet sealed it up well enough. Huh, I wonder if maybe you got a bad shank or two? I have eight and they all match up perfectly well, never had any trouble at all. Either that, or I'm just lucky. 
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Jan 3, 2012 20:04
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mewse posted:sez who? the steam sanitizes the bottles better than dry heat. I was googling about it some months ago and read it in some other forums, I thought it was one of those things everyone but me knew. Maybe I just got misled then?
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Jan 3, 2012 20:11
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Using dishwasher soap might have been recommended against, I could see that being the case. But you can still send them through the washer with no soap and just steam/heat clean them.
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Jan 3, 2012 20:13
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Yeah I was using dishwasher soap, is a rinse afterwards good enough to get any potential residue away?
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Jan 3, 2012 20:28
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Got a copper immersion chiller from a friend for Christmas, awesome. Now I just need to do a batch big enough to need a chiller.... Passed out bottles on New Year's from my first brew in over a year, and got rave reviews for my coffee stout. And of course, that's the recipe I didn't write down loving anywhere, so now I can't remember what hops I used. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
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Jan 3, 2012 21:42
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mewse posted:sez who? the steam sanitizes the bottles better than dry heat. Yup. What he wasn't supposed to do was use dish/dishwasher soap. Use oxyclean next time.
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Jan 3, 2012 21:51
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I rinsed all the bottles and I am running it a second time now without any dishwasher soap, should do the trick?
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Jan 3, 2012 21:59
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His Divine Shadow posted:I rinsed all the bottles and I am running it a second time now without any dishwasher soap, should do the trick? Only you will know how well you rinsed sir. If you got ALL the soap out you will be fine.
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Jan 3, 2012 22:53
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he could just brew a soapeweizen 
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Jan 3, 2012 23:19
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Prefect Six posted:By "after fermentation" you mean "after kegging because I'm lazy", right? No, fermentation puts some amount of CO2 into your beer. If you're taking a reading after it's already kegged and carbed I'd be more strenuous about getting the carbonation out. Pour between two pint glasses 10 times, wait 10 minutes, pour another 10 times, wait a few minutes then take your reading.
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Jan 3, 2012 23:41
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I think I might have screwed washing yeast yesterday when I took it from my porter and put it into the barley wine I just brewed. I followed this: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/; after about 20 minutes in my carboy, I siphoned the creamy looking middle part of the liquid into the sanitized growler I had on hand, filling it about 7/8 of the way. I then covered it with a piece of sanitized foil, and it sat there. For about two hours while I was finishing the barley mash, boiling/chilling it and siphoning it into my fermenter. The slurry I poured seemed pretty thin, so I plugged the lowest concentration into MrMalty and got about 200ml of slurry (for 2.5 gallons of 1.091 OG barley wine), which I pitched into the wort. 24 hours later, there's really no activity that I can tell, and a bunch of sediment on the bottom of my fermenter. Did I screw up by letting the yeast sit for 2 hours in the growler? Is there any problem with using a 6 gallon carboy to ferment 2.5 gallons of beer? Should I buy some more yeast and pitch it as well? I looked at the two 16 oz mason jars I filled with the slurry to save, and there is a lot less sediment on the bottom than I would have expected. Or, am I just being impatient with this beer? I've never brewed something with this high of a gravity before.
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Jan 4, 2012 00:07
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Zakath posted:I think I might have screwed washing yeast yesterday when I took it from my porter and put it into the barley wine I just brewed. I followed this: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/; after about 20 minutes in my carboy, I siphoned the creamy looking middle part of the liquid into the sanitized growler I had on hand, filling it about 7/8 of the way. I then covered it with a piece of sanitized foil, and it sat there. For about two hours while I was finishing the barley mash, boiling/chilling it and siphoning it into my fermenter. The slurry I poured seemed pretty thin, so I plugged the lowest concentration into MrMalty and got about 200ml of slurry (for 2.5 gallons of 1.091 OG barley wine), which I pitched into the wort. If there's no activity after 3 or so days, then panic. Until then it's probably just fine. Josh Wow posted:No, fermentation puts some amount of CO2 into your beer. If you're taking a reading after it's already kegged and carbed I'd be more strenuous about getting the carbonation out. Pour between two pint glasses 10 times, wait 10 minutes, pour another 10 times, wait a few minutes then take your reading. Yeah, I realize. I was just insinuating that I am terribly lazy. But I'll try out your method for sure! My pale ale tastes a little sweet on the end but still tastes good and is very drinkable.
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Jan 4, 2012 00:13
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Well, my summer trip to Oregon went great and I got to meet a couple goons. Surprisingly enough, beer was involved. Any goons live in Las Vegas and want to get together for a glass? Or will I run into J. Random Brewgoon somewhere? I'll be in town the weekend of the 28th - 30th of this month. I'll be staying on the Strip, but should be able to get mobile. Let me know here or send me a PM if you're down.
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Jan 4, 2012 03:06
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Zakath posted:24 hours later, there's really no activity that I can tell, and a bunch of sediment on the bottom of my fermenter. Did I screw up by letting the yeast sit for 2 hours in the growler? Is there any problem with using a 6 gallon carboy to ferment 2.5 gallons of beer? Should I buy some more yeast and pitch it as well? No, it's fine. Two hours in some deoxygenated water is nothing compared to over a week at the bottom of an alcoholic, hop-loaded, nutrient-depleted beer. The yeast was just dormant and needed to wake up and start reproducing in a high gravity wort so it's not too surprising if it's sluggish. Panic if it's 72 hours and you see no signs of fermentation. With that extra headspace and a small volume of beer it can be a while before the yeast is kicking off enough CO2 to be noticeable.
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Jan 4, 2012 06:08
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