While I was pouring a pint this evening I couldn’t remember if I’ve written about pouring before. Actually, I was remembering watching others struggle pouring out of my faucets. Oh, the internal cringe as my guest pours a pint half of foam and not listening to my quiet pointers. That is a negative reflection on my beer! Come on! If you don’t know how to pour, let me… pleeeeeeease?

First the glass. I’m not finicky about what shape or kind of glass, pint or no-nick, pilsner or flute, whatever, so long as it is CLEAN and sound. Some folks like putting their beer glasses in the freezer but I’m not a fan of that because that initial hit of beer freezes to the glass and then I’m drinking some slush with my beer. It totally kills the taste buds and needlessly chills the beer beyond serving temp. Of course, there are glasses in my freezer, I just don’t use them often. Instead, I’d rather keep the glasses in the kegerator fridge door. I would like to, but I don’t. My beer glasses stay in the cupboard with the rest of the drinking glasses. Grab a glass and come on down to the kegerator.

The straight pour from a regular faucet is the most common. Put your glass under the faucet at a slight angle so that first bit of beer runs down the side. Pull the faucet completely open in one smooth motion. as the glass starts to fill, let the beer drop straight down into the glass. Close the tap, again in one smooth quick motion when the glass is 3/4 full or so. The head should build right to the lip of the glass. Yup, I like to see at least an inch of head in my glass. Not half the glass, but at least an inch. It makes that great beer aroma hit the nose first when I raise my glass.

It is that simple to pour a decent pint! I shudder watching a bartender pour a pint, dump out foam, try to fill it again, pour out half the beer… there is something wrong with the balance of the system if you can’t get a clean pour without dumping out half a glass of beer. In fact, the first time you dump out half my beer will the the last time you’ll be invited to drink it.

Pouring a pint of stout from a stout faucet is stupid easy. Put the glass under the faucet and open it up. The beer should drop straight down into the glass. Stop pouring right near the top, then hold the glass up to your eyes so you can see the cool cascading affect. Give it a little twist and watch how the cascade changes. The faucet should pour considerably slower than a standard tap, but it is worth it.

I hope this helps, it sure helped me. It was kind of Cathartic…

Cheers,
Tony

I finally kegged that lemon coriander wiess that has been sitting in secondary for an extra two weeks. The addition of the second lemon’s zest really makes the wheat sing. Here’s hoping my mother in law doesn’t ask for more lemon to put in it. My wife likes the flavor, too, so that’s a double bonus.

The carbonation was still a little off this morning, so I cranked it up to 20psi until this evening. Hopefully it will fizz up nicely.

Cheers!
Tony

Now that the beer is cold, it needs to absorb more CO2 before I get the cascade back. Hopefully it won’t take too long.

Cheers!
Tony

I just finished another mod to my kegerator, or beer fridge. Since I have two cylinders to push my beers with, and a small fridge that only fit one, I had a problem running my stout faucet along with the regular CO2.

My problem is solved by drilling two holes in the side of the fridge to pass the gas lines through. Before committing myself to the whole hole (ha) I used my hole saw to cut just through the plastic inside, then a screwdriver to crunch up the insulation between the inside and steel outside. The last thing I want to do is somehow hit a line that would result in one big paperweight.

Yes, I can plainly see the cooling plate in the fridge, in fact I’ve frozen beer lines on that cooling plate before, put the risk is still there.

After I made sure there was nothing to hit with the saw I punched it through. Looking at the ragged holes that I was going to be putting the hose through I got out my Dremmel. No plug in near.

Crap.

So while I was looking around trying to think of a way to dull the edges around the holes I spot my furnace, and the putty we put around some of the holes in the venting. *ding*

I still had some of that putty! Around the hoses it went, now I still have a sealed fridge, a barrier between the hose and the jagged lip of the holes and we’re good to go!

Next up is kegging the two beers that are patiently waiting to be drank.

After MONTHS of no beer on tap, I am close. Very close!

Cheers!
Tony

Last weekend I walked up the driveway to another rummage sale and was startled to find something brewing/beer related. Usually the rummage sales my kids and I visit have a lot of baby clothes, old tools and toys that no one wants. Oh, all that and a bunch of stuff that looks like granny turned down as knickknacks.

There, sitting on the side of the driveway was a smallish cooler with a faucet coming out. Yeah, folks, there was a jockey box for sale. It had everything included: one line cold plate, tubing, faucet and shank, sanke tap, even a cleaning pump thing.

I wanted to ask the woman manning the table “Does he know you’re selling that?” but resisted that urge.

The thing that shocked me more than finding that there was what they were asking for it. The price on the sticker was $10.

What is worse, though? I had my wallet out, looked at the money in there, looked at the box, put my wallet back… took it out again… put it back…

Yup, I walked away from the jockey box. I knew that it was a great deal, a steal in fact, but in my head I also knew that it would sit in my shed or garage for a long time before I did anything with it. Even resell it. It would just sit there.

I passed.

Happy Thursday everyone!
Cheers,
Tony

My in laws were over last night after my daughter’s dance recital. At one point my father in law asked why I only had one beer on tap. I said “What?!? Both should be up.” Sure enough the ESB wasn’t pouring. Not even a gasp or gurgle came out of the faucet.

It was pretty obvious what was wrong once I opened the kegerator door. When I put the Furious clone in, the beer line for the ESB got tucked behind the keg, right up against the cooling plate at the back of the fridge. A foot or so of frozen beer. Nothing is getting by that until it thawed. Thankfully with a little persistence, we were able to get the beer flowing again.

The lesson learned this time around is watch where the beer lines are!

Cheers,
Tony

I was recently asked what is involved in getting  a stout faucet running with beer gas. Unlike standard faucets that simply pour beer out and rely on the tubing for restriction of pressure, a stout faucet has a restriction plate and flow director inside. Length of tubing just doesn’t matter when using a stout faucet with beer gas. This is a great feature considering I certainly wouldn’t want to switch out tubing whenever I want to put a keg on with the stout faucet.

There is less overall gas inside a cylinder of beer gas than in a regular CO2 cylinder, and it is more expensive. I like to pre-charge my keg with 10-15psi of CO2 for a couple of days before switching to the beer gas. This will result in finer cascading more quickly. Yes, simply connecting the beer gas to the keg will give the same end result, but it will just take longer. I’m all about getting it done quickly.

With my system, I like to put the beer gas pressure at 25-30psi. This pushes enough CO2 into the beer and makes for an amazing creamy head coming through the faucet.

There really is less to worry about using the stout faucet: no balancing pressure to flow!

Cheers!
Tony

After my series on building the kegerator last week (or was it two weeks ago?) I have been pouring the Maibock and the IPA perfectly. It is really nice to have beers on tap again. It is also crazy to think that I will have two more to go once these are gone!

I just got another payment in my PayPal, so that means another beer kit! Whoohoo! Now I just have to figure out if Midwest will accept pick up instead of paying for delivery.

Cheers,
Tony

The previous kegerator post on fridge doors, here.

Drilling the holes for the shanks was pretty straight forward, and I didn’t think everyone needed a progress picture. Placement of the holes in the door is dependant on the shelving on the inside. I have heard of folks removing the weatherstripping and inner pannel of shelves and replacing that with plywood. If the fridge you are working on is small, that is a good way to pinch out a little more wiggle room on the interior.

This fridge is big enough for two or three kegs and the cylinder without me taking out the door innards. As an added bonus, that leave me room to stack bottles or cans in the door. Maybe a pint glass or three to keep them cool.

Make a mark on the door where you want the tap to come out. I used a tape measure to place them equally apart and centered on the door, but it really doesn’t make that much difference. I used a level to make sure the two taps were on the same line with each other. It wouldn’t do to have crooked taps.

Drill using a hole saw. I’ve tried using spade bits for wood with limited to no success.

I use a 7/8th inch bi-metal hole saw, the exact size of the shank. Measure before you buy, but I guarantee having the right tool makes the job so much easier.
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Here’s a quick one for everybody. What is the worst thing to happen to a kegerator? Spilled beer of course. What is the easiest way to spill beer? Open the freezer door into the taps. As you might imagine, I have a few tap handles, so I didn’t want to compromise my collection by using stubby tap handles and I didn’t want to set the taps so low that the freezer door wouldn’t knock into them.

My solution?

That is a “heavy duty mirror clip”. There is another one facing the other way on the freezer door. When I open my fridge door only the fridge door opens. When I open the freezer door the clips catch each other and both doors open!

Yup, it works like a charm. I’m so smart sometimes I hurt myself.

Cheers!
Tony