So that is how the auto siphon is supposed to work! No air sucking through the line, no restarting the thing every few minutes. WOW! I had been using that auto siphon for years now, and it makes a lot of sense to have to replace it after some time. That reminded me to also replace my tubing and o-rings on the kegs too. Since it reminded me, I will offer a reminder for everyone reading this.

Change out your tubing! Once it starts getting discolored, it is going to end up contaminating your batches. An annual schedule should work well, or biannual. (That is every two years, right?) I am over due. Last time I changed any of my tubing was…

No, I’m not going to admit that! Clean equipment = better beer and wine.

Speaking of wine, I still have that kit to take care of. Hmmmm.

IPA up next, though. I might even be lucky enough to get to it this weekend. I would love to this evening, but the week day nights are so filled up with other stuff!

Cheers!
Tony

I assisted in troubleshooting a friend’s keg system set up with double regulators. The kegs were not holding pressure, or replenishing it as it got absorbed or had a pint pulled off. Doing this in words across country is challenging to me, I like to be able to have it in my hands and work from there!

He would set his pressures and then come back the next day to have them reading down at 2-3psi. He was running three lines off of two regulators, the furthest from the cylinder having the wye split. Each of the outs had shut offs on them. The cylinder was still showing full and we were able to verify that by pushing in the QD and turning up the pressure on the first reg. HIISSSSS.

It finally came down to trying to leave both regulators at 10psi. The regulators can only restrict what comes through it, the reg closest to the cylinder needs to be higher than the next, otherwise it doesn’t work properly.

By switching around his lines to where he wanted stuff, it seemed to work over night. Then later both regs read upwards of 30psi! There is more going on there we still have to narrow down. Stuck gauges? Who knows. What a fun hobby!

Cheers!
Tony

I have frequently admitted to having a lack of patience when it comes to kegging my beer and getting it into my glass. It does seem silly that I would be willing to wait up to two weeks in primary and sometimes a couple of months in secondary, but as soon as it is kegged I have to have a pint as soon as possible.

I have outlined my usual process of force carbonating quickly before, but to recapitulate* after filling the keg I put the beer out Quick Disconnect on my gas tubing and bubble in CO2 at ~25-30psi through the beer out tube, rocking the keg as it goes. It usually takes me about five minutes or so of racking to get a reasonable amount of carbonation in my glass. Of course after shaking it, I do let it sit for half an hour before tapping it. Think about shaking a two liter of Coke and opening it right away…

After the keg cools down and is in my kegerator for a day or so, that carbonation ends up to be not enough, and it usually takes about a week at serving pressures before it gives me a nice head in the glass and good carbonation on the tongue.

The time versus quality thing really started to bug me, so I figured on a change of procedure. Here is what I did with steam clone. I did my usual cranking it up to 30psi and shaking it for a bit, but then I left it at 25-30psi and put it in the fridge with the gas on. Not only did I leave it in the fridge with the gas on, I did that for two and a half days!

On the drive home from my outing yesterday I was thinking it will likely be overcarbonated and pour horrible. After I vented off the pressure, reattached the proper QD’s and poured a pint sure as the day is long I got half a glass of head. SHOOT! It didn’t work.

Aaaah, as noted above, I’m not very patient. The second pint poured purrrrrfectly. There are some very good lessons in this for me. First, have a little more patience. Second, always have a second pint. Third … well ok, there are two good lessons in this.

Now I have to pull off the quantities that I’ve promised others before I drain this one!

Cheers!
Tony

*recapitulate, the long form of “recap”. Isn’t that a cool word? Recapitulate.

Today is the day, I have the keg soaking with one step and the auto syphon in there too. My predicament is having too small a beer fridge to fit three kegs. I think the Kolsch is thawed out but I haven’t tried it yet. The IPA is still good, probably frozen and thawed too, but I want to bottle some of that and send … erm, I mean I was planning on sending some IPA yeast samples to a couple SAHD’s and homebrewers.

That would mean I have to test the IPA to make sure it is still good, though. Hmmm. I may very well end up with an empty fridge and have plenty of room for the steam.

I part with a reminder for all keggers. Make sure to take apart and replace your O-rings and clean out the posts really well of your kegs on occasion. That keg the Kolsch is in has been having a misbehaving poppet. It will get an overhaul after its cleared.

Cheers!
Tony

Don’t forget the contest. Its been a week, only one more week before I announce the winner of the prize! If you haven’t commented yet, do so. It takes so little time and the reward is … well, little too, but C’mon!

Thats right, that keg of Kolsch that made that horrible sound of emptiness at me the other day wasn’t fried, it was FROZEN! Almost solid, so when I took it out of the fridge to prep it for the common, it felt a little heavier than normal but there was just that little bit of slosh in the bottom so I assumed.

Once again that old adage about assuming came back to bite me in the …

Yeah.

So, back into the fridge it goes to let it thaw out. I’ll make sure to update how it tastes again once it thaws out. It should be interesting, right?

Cheers,
Tony

Don’t forget the CONTEST!

I just kegged that Kolsch a couple of weeks ago and now its gone! Back to a dry spell? Nope, I need to keg up the steam that has been sitting patiently in the crawl space!

Cheers!
Tony

I finally aquired/borrowed a beer fridge for my home brew. I can’t put holes through the wall, since its not technically mine, though. It is one of those 3/4 sized fridges with the freezer compartment on top. I cut a piece of plywood as a shelf to make the bottom flat and solid.

It just barely fits two kegs and a cylinder, with just enough squeak room to work the little tap handles. I’m using rigs like below to pour my beer. I just can’t go back to picnic taps.

(Thanks to Midwest for the pic.)

It works ok. I have to turn the pressure down to about 6psi otherwise it gushes out and makes a heady mess. Still all in all a decent set up. Frankly, who am I to complain? I can drink my homebrew cold again!

Cheers!
Tony

Oh man, never ever put off cleaning out a fried keg. I went to the garage to grab an empty keg so I can get that Kolsch in my belly for the weekend. I opened the thing up and was hit with a most unpleasant odor and sight.

That little bit of beer left on the bottom after the keg gurgles empty was covered in mold. It moved as a whole, not as a liquid but as a mat of solid nastiness! Because of my laziness, now I have to take the whole thing apart, scrub the goo out of it and all its parts.

I could have sworn I rinsed that one out before putting it up, and I thought I put a CO2 charge on it too, but it must have leaked the charge, or I just opened it and then put it back or something, but wow it is nasty.

I wonder if I have a spare set of O-rings sitting around…

Cheers,
Tony

I was over at my brother in law’s new house. In  the basement they have a built in wet bar. Yes folks, they have a bar with a sink at the end. It is SWEET. On the other side of the wall where the sink is are the stairs. I was thinking how easy it would be to put a fridge or chest freezer under the stairs and route an insulated line through the wall over the sink.

I’d have to wire an outlet where I want it, but that wouldn’t be so hard since there is already a light in that space, and it abuts the utility room. That means I wouldn’t have to worry about the lines being visible or ruining in place sheet rock. It is all expendable. Hey, its the laundry/furnace/water heater room, c’mon whats one more hole in the wall.

The tricky part would be to feed the line through. I would start with a 7/8ths hole saw through the bar side and just through the first layer of wall. Then around the back side in the same stud cavity put another hole where I could reach it, hopefully close enough in a verticle line of the upper bar side hole.

Then I’d have to fish through a line to tie my tubing to and feed it back through. I don’t think I’d want to mount the tap directly to the wall, I would want to build a little box to attach to the wall and have the tap come out of that. It might sound tedious, but I think with the position of the sink, it might look classier that way. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about a drip tray either, it would just drip into the sink.

I wonder if that spray foam would work once the lines were in place. Shove a tube of Great Stuff Windows and doors or something in there and let ‘er rip. It would be better to insulate the lines so the first beer wasn’t so foamy.

That would be fun! Actually, if it were my house, I might consider making the holes big enough to run a couple lines through there. Its those pesky stairs that make it tricky. Maybe his wife would go for taking out the shower in the bathroom behind the bar for a kegerator…

No, I didn’t think so either.

Cheers!
Tony

I finished the garden beds and was mulching around them looking down at how we built the frames. They look very much like the last collar I built with one sturdy exception.

At the corners, we nailed into a 4×4 to make the corner very sturdy and the box more durable. A little light went on in my head and I thought making a collar for a chest freezer can use the same technique. Obviously not with a 4×4 though.

I will take pictures of the collar as soon as I find a small chest freezer to make another kegerator out of.

Cheers!