Messages

226

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Kegging Newbie

« on: February 21, 2011, 04:34:47 pm »

you can go either way on carbonating....either prime with sugar or force carbonate....both work ok.

227

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Going extinct?

« on: February 21, 2011, 04:29:58 pm »

their real value is in that they help make good beer cheaply. 

228

Kegging and Bottling / Re: keg cleaning

« on: February 21, 2011, 02:08:43 pm »

All useful advice! Thanks!

229

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Going extinct?

« on: February 21, 2011, 02:07:37 pm »

I don't know how long you've been in brewing, but compared to 10 years ago cornies are much harder to find and more expensive.

I have been brewing for just shy of 20 years....kegging for 1 month.  I am just paying attention now.  Understanding that scoring a bunch of used corny's from some coke distributer or restaurant for dirt cheap is rare, the scrap steel is probably worth more than $10 per alone....but is there a shortage?  No HBS seems to ever be out of kegs to sell for between $45 and $49.  Pricey (or not depending on perspective), but not at all hard to find.  I think that this is a manufactured shortage....and if you look at any other 5 gallon stainless vessel (a basic brewpot for instance) of any quality is $30-$60 new (or over $200 with fancy pieces-parts), which used might be $15-20.  Technically, a new keg at $110 should make a used one about $55....so maybe the $50 price isn't so bad.

Tell me that the price of steel is the factor of the keg price, not shortage.

230

Kegging and Bottling / Going extinct?

« on: February 21, 2011, 09:03:34 am »

After reading many posts and other stuff on line about corny's going extinct, I wonder if it is true.  Recently a shop near my house that deals in volumes of kegs raised their prices to match all of the LHBS after getting a shipment, stating that they were going to get harder to find, but I see mountains of them at all of the LHBS, on line, and on craigslist.  And, if I lived in Seattle, I could get them from Tom for $25.....

I understand the beverage makers are not using them anymore, or retiring them, but shouldn't that just make them more available to the homebrew trade at nearly the scrap metal value?  Lastly, is it disingenuous to say that they are scarce when you can also buy them new (at 3 times the price, however)?  I posit that they someday might become scarce, but they are nowhere near at this point, and treating them as rare precious metal and the price inflations are just plain wrong.  I also understand that once upon a time, you could get them for practically nothing, requiring nothing more than a little elbow grease.

On another note, I was at a local craft brewer and noticed that they have elected to use plastic kegs (I don't know what types of plastic)....does this mean that stainless kegs will also go away altogether eventually?  I am not worried, as how many years would it take to replace the quadzillion kegs in circulation?

Also, as canning becomes more prevalent in craft beer, will the opinion of cans improve, and will that eventually mean the end of glass bottles?  I am surprised this hasn't happened already in BMC world (it would be so much cheaper to only deal with one packaging line).  They even have cans shaped like bottles.  Again, hard to worry about these things....it would take years to make them rare.

Kind of like the gasoline powered automobile....if they stopped making them tomorrow (which they won't), how many years would it be before you couldn't find a gas station?  In fact, the reason alternative fuel vehicles are a hard sell is that there are a million gas stations that would need to convert, and they wouldn't convert until there is a majority of vehicles to serve, and there won't be a majority of vehicles to serve until there are reliable numbers (at reliable intervals) of places to fuel them.  Electric vehicles have the only real chance because you can charge them at home overnight breaking the status quo cycle somewhat.

231

Kegging and Bottling / Re: keg cleaning

« on: February 21, 2011, 08:33:30 am »

Bluesman Wrote:

1. Hot rinse
2. Hot PBW soak
3. Hot rinse
4. Sanitize
5. Purge and pressurize with CO2

This looks like my regimen, except for the purge and pressurize.....Bluesman, do you then just fill it when you are bottling, or do you repeat the sanitation when kegging?  I like the idea of not having to re-sanitize, but my paranoia doesn't allow me to feel comfortable about it.  Perhaps I could just use my spray bottle of star san to coat everything when cracking it open to fill?  Or do you push beer into it using co2? 

232

Pimp My System / Re: Kegerator Showcase

« on: February 20, 2011, 08:00:57 am »

I am vertically challenged (I like to say I am averaged height....for women), but elected to have the collar attached to the freezer and remount the hinges to it.  I felt that the weight of the collar would be too great to support, and attaching the collar to the lid must be stout as it moves....if it falls on you while loading, it could hurt. (not to mention that you are in a world of hurt if the hinges break.  If I was making the collar out of a lighter material (plastic of some sort would work) I might have felt differently.

233

Equipment and Software / Re: making lemonade out of lemons

« on: February 18, 2011, 10:19:14 pm »

[
Yep, it'll be sterile up until the point that it clogs.

Ya sure she doesn't need oxygen? Just in case, ya know, for emergencies maybe/quote]

Let's hope not ever...as I said, her asthma is mild, but many friends were telling me that some of their kid's asthma had subsided....so I was thinking that you might find this medical device not very expensive on the resale market (ie craigslist).....in checking craigslist....looks like anywhere from $15-$100 (and as low as $22 new on Amazon) and more than a few available in my area....so, all I am saying, besides "give peace a chance" is that if you were looking at wanting to try aerating your wort, a used nebulizer might be the cheap way to go because of the sterile filter action.  Admit it, you would spend more on a single stainless steel fitting, which doesn't do a thing to improve your beer.

234

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Suggestion for home bar build

« on: February 18, 2011, 08:47:48 pm »

I like the flip top bar top suggested, but if you had the freezer on wheels, and the tower mounted to the bar, depending on the clearance between the bottom of the bar top and the top of the freezer, your lines can live in your freezer and go through a hole on the lid straight into the tower.  The lines will need to be in the 12-15 foot length to balance the system and overcome the height....so as long as you can guide them back into the freezer when you slide the freezer back into place, it all sounds workable.

Or, do the standard collar and have them under the bar....not fancy, but practical.

235

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Price for Rogue Ales

« on: February 18, 2011, 08:37:10 pm »

I actually had a taste for a belgian dark today....went to a local liquor store that has a lot of them....couldn't bring myself to buy a bomber (locals/nationals) for $10+ and Imported 750ml well into the teens.  I walked out.  I may just go down to the brewery and get me a five gallon keg of Great Divide's Grand Cru for $41 ($52 minus 20% AHA discount)....buy local it is the only way.  I figure the keg will last me a year or so.  The deposit is $50, however.

236

Equipment and Software / making lemonade out of lemons

« on: February 17, 2011, 08:10:30 pm »

My daughter was diagnosed with asthma today.    Luckily, it seems to be mild and there are good drugs and equipment to deal with it. 

After she got home from the doctors we unpacked a piece of equipment called a nebulizer, basically an air compressor that vaporizes medicine to inhale.  All of the medicine and vaporizing happens at a mouth piece.....remove that and all you have is a fish tank type air compressor with a sterile filter.....a FISH TANK TYPE AIR COMPRESSOR WITH A STERILE FILTER!!!!!

great googily moogily!  If the air is pure enough to medicate someone with, surely it is pure enough to aerate wort!

I guess just got a new piece of brewing equipment.  Now that is some lemonade!!! 

Which got me thinking....what would a used medical device like that go for on craigslist.....maybe a cheap piece of equipment to pick up?  Since I now have one (until she moves away in 15 years), I just thought I would share the idea.

237

Equipment and Software / Re: Help Building Keggle Mash Tun

« on: February 17, 2011, 07:34:20 pm »

I use a keggle for a mash tun, and direct fired it until recently.  I had a simple (yet pretty strong) false bottom with a drilled hole for the dip tube....worked like a charm.  The false bottom you indicate looks kinda flimsy until you see the supports....the supports look like they give you a few extra inches of height and would stand up to about 50 pounds of grist, which is good, but for $75 you could probably go with a thicker material one and not need the supports.

All things considered, it looks good, go for it.

238

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Sanitize CO2 line & connecter?

« on: February 17, 2011, 01:54:28 pm »

A spare keg with starsan works nice to disinfect the liquid line. Just don't leave it in there too long or the inside of the line will get gummy.

sorry to hijack this thread....but what does starsan do to the vinyl beer line?

239

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Beer line length.....

« on: February 16, 2011, 08:37:40 pm »

While the draft quality manual states the resistance is 3lbs/foot for 3/16" beer line, other sources state it is between 2 and 3 lbs/foot, and whatever line I have is more like 1.75lbs/ft.

240

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Too much foam

« on: February 15, 2011, 07:40:39 am »

The 3/16" line I use that I got from morebeer is rated at 2.2 psi restriction per foot, however in my experience, on my system,  it is more like 1.6 - 1.8 psi.  I don't know why, maybe it's batch variation, maybe it's that the tops of my kegs are roughly level with the faucets, like I said, I don't know.  But at 15 psi I need about 9 feet of line to get a decent pour.  I mention this because this is totally true:

I find that my 3/16" lines calculation at about the same 1.5-1.8 per foot....my keg tops are about 1/2 foot lower than tap, and live above 5,000 feet.  I currently have 8 foot of hose, but need slightly longer (set at about 12-14psi now) so my experience is similar.