Yet Another Kegging question

Buying, building and using brewing equipment and apparatus. Product reviews and questions.

Moderator: slothrob

Post Reply
jcassady
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2004 8:53 pm
Location: Gillespie, IL, US

Yet Another Kegging question

Post by jcassady »

I have read many questions here reguarding kegging, and I think I pretty much have the process of getting it into the keg down. My question for all of you is how do you get it out?

I've been looking @ MoreBeer.com and they have different faucets you can buy but I'm a little fuzzy on how you hook it all up. Any knowledge on this can be helpful.

BTW. I have a back ground in the food service industry where we used the 5 gallon cornies for serving pepsi, and I have a crap load of these things at my parents. The bad this is I cannot get a pepsi machine or I would just run the brew through one of these. I guess my question is how do you hook the out line from the keg to the faucet, or how in general do you get your brew out?
BillyBock
Imperial Stout
Imperial Stout
Posts: 561
Joined: Sun Dec 31, 2000 11:37 am
Location: Ohio

Kegs Rule

Post by BillyBock »

Glad to see you're looking at kegging. Kegs rule, I'm glad I switched.

The basic process is this: CO2 pressure is applied to the gas-input (sometimes labelled In) on the keg which forces the beer down and then up the dip-tube which extends to the bottom. The beer then comes up and out through the liquid out post (sometimes labelled Out).

There are various taps you can buy. I'd suggest starting with the el-cheapo plastic picnic faucet before you spend big bucks on a nice faucet--this way you get the hang of the whole process down. Once you have it figured out, it's a simple matter to switch the line over to a faucet. Anyway, your liquid line will consist of a quick disconnect for the keg, and the other end will be your faucet. If it's a picnic tap, then it'll be directly connected to the hose. If it's a regular faucet, then the hose will connect to the nipple on the back of the shank. A regular faucet has a few main parts: the tap, the shank, and the tailpiece. The tailpiece is where the liquid line connects. The shank is the piece that goes through whatever you have the faucet installed in, and then you know all about the faucet.

At first kegging can be tricky, but once you get the hang of it, it's great. As far as CO2 goes, you need to concern yourself with how much to apply for force carbonation (which is temperature dependent), and then how much liquid line to get so you get the proper resistance level so the beer doesn't come gushing out of your tap. I'll post again later with some links that'll help you out as far as carbonation level vs. temperature charts and how to figure out the length of liquid line (unless someone beats me to it).

Hope this helps, let me know if you have more questions.

v/r
Bill
sphbeer
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2003 9:15 pm

Kegging

Post by sphbeer »

I am very glad I went right to kegging after my first batch of bottles. You will be glad also.

The other trick to dispensing is to keep the beer cold until it gets to that point. If you are tapping right outside of your refridgeration unit, you will not have a problem. If you have tubes running outside of the refridge you will get a foaming problem.

Another option is to get a tapper that connects directly to the cornie kegs. Morebeer.com has these for about $36 or so. I have 4 of them which I tap inside the fridge and a 5 faucet tower with insulated piping and a constant flow of cod water running through the manifold since it is remote.

Good luck

Steve H.
sphbeer
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2003 9:15 pm

Just a bit more

Post by sphbeer »

The tapper you may want to start with is at morebeer.com. The part number is KEG902. It is great when you take a keg to a party, picnic or whatever.

Steve H
Post Reply