Keg Time

Brave new world. It was only a matter of time before I decided to put a bit of cash to the next step in this recent-past-time, the experience of draft beer. Thanks to Forrest Whitesides' article in Brew Your Own on building a portable kegerator, it was made easy and very achievable without the extra costs that a ready made setup would set you back! As you can see, the finished project photo has me looking like a proud parent.


The portable kegerator is composed of 4 parts:
-3 gallon cornelius keg
-5lb co2 tank
-Chrome Single Faucet Column (2.5 inch diameter) 11.5" tall.
-70qt/66litre cube cooler (roller?)

I was only able to build this rig because I was in the states which, it must be said, has an appallingly fantastic selection of any kegging equipment/cooler size you could want in comparison to Winnipeg. The entire set was a bit costly, but is much cheaper than if you were to buy a pre-made 5 gallon cooler kegerator with a chill plate (a flat metal device that is made cold and allows the beer line to run through it before going to the faucet which cools the beer on contact as it passes through). In total the price was around $400 dollars. You can choose to make it swanky or basic depending on your ability to find a used 2.5 gallon or 3 gallon Corney keg, economic faucet with tower which is made of black plastic, and not to mention the option of buying a smaller cooler without luxurious wheels and pull-handle as if heading to the airport for a 32,000 ft keg stand.

For a simple tutorial on how to prepare a keg and rack into it, as well as pressurize and force carbonate the beer, Northern Brewer TV has a good video here. As I have never done this before, my curiosity lies in the areas of 'how much pressure should be applied for specific styles?' and 'how do i prevent yeast from being tapped with the beer if the keg cane is sunk into the sludge?' and 'how to I clean my keg lines when the ball locks are fastened onto the hosing?' These answers will be found through trials by fire and will keep posting in relation to them as they arise. In addition to the basic equipment I also got a few extras such as the keg faucet cap which is intended mostly for the picnic sitch to keep bees and flies out of the nozzle. Also I picked up a keg freeze pack jacket because the biggest task with this system will be keeping the beer cold. Because there is a lot of space in the cooler, the more ice or cold items will have to be jammed in there to keep it consistent as temperature change over time is taxing for the yeast.

My next batch, a Lemon Coriander Weiss (which will be a nice light summery brew intended for picnic kegging), will be made this weekend and fermented as usual in the primary and secondary. The major difference is when kegging your beer, you don't bottle and you don't add bottling sugar 'thusly'. However, because my keg is only 3 gallons out of the total 5 being made, I am going to bottle the remaining amount. Because of the C02 that is used in kegging, the yeast only sits to further mature rather than eat additional sugars which would normally be used to add carbonation to the bottle of beer. The keg needs 2-3 days to be thoroughly mixed with the CO2 being pumped into it once it is racked from the secondary. Looking forward to this new challenge.

The Brewery

When I started my brewery, it was simply a beginners kit. All the things you find in your start up pre-boxed kit at the homebrew store. I have managed to amass a small collection of various objects that I feel it necessary to identify for potential future use beyond beginning homebrewing, or just novelty rigs that are fun to historicize in this fairly historical hobby

The Growler -
In the late 1800's and early 1900's, fresh beer was carried from the local pub to one's home by means of a small galvanized pail. Rumor has it that when the beer sloshed around the pail, it created a rumbling sound as the CO2 escaped through the lid, thus the term "Growler" was coined.

Swing Top bottles -
As mentioned and displayed in other parts of this homebrewing blog, there are several different sizes and shapes and closing devices for beer bottles. The swing top bottle is my preferred mode of storing my homebrew because it is an ideal drinking size (450ml-600ml-1litre). These bottles allow for easy open/close when bottling as well as drinking! No need for purchasing caps to fit the bottles or invest in the standard beer bottle capper. However the big dig is the price. Regular beer bottles are everywhere if you look, almost free! But the swing top bottles have an input cost which, in my opinion, is resonable. A company called EZ-Cap out of Alberta sells them bulk for over a dollar a bottle. My method has been to solicit the free listings of Winnipeg and my colleagues. As a fall back though I go to the local liquor store when i can afford it, and buy a 4 pack of Grolsch for just under $15 Canadian - or Fischer (600ml for about $5 per bottle).

Bottle Tree -
This cool, yet easily reproducable, device is a miracle for drying bottles after cleaning/sanitizing. Its a fairly exclusive made in Italy device, yet its just molded plastic with 45 pegs coming out in a radial pattern on 5 different tiers along a center column. Fits both regular beer bottles and swing top sizes...growlers are out of luck. You could make a similar one with as many dowl rods and a 2x2 piece of wood and a drill if you fancied it.

Grain Mill -
This is actually a beef mill, but I figured it could be used for grain too and what a great reclamation of a once butchery device now put to use for the grinding of locally made handcrafted beer to be consumed largely by a vegetarian! Precious symbolism! Now, this device is not that good...if i could be so blunt. It has two different grind plates, one with holes (ground beef?) the other with triangluar fan style openings (fanned beef?). The purpose of milling is not to pulverize the grain, but to just pop the husk as you want the endosperms to stay intact when preparing the mash. I recommend milling at the homebrewstore unless you want to invest in a home mill that utilizes rollering pins rather than grinding plates.

Demijon -
Revel in the size of that honkin thing! Rina's nonu being an avid wine maker, had a few of these. This one somehow ended up at the farm...within my reach! Its about 56Litres! That will hold about 2 1/4 five gallon batches comfortably. I havent gotten the chance to utilize it yet since I dont have a homebrew under my belt that I feel I want 84 Grolsch bottles of yet! When the time comes, I will be enlisting help, as I figure it will require two batches on the stove at once and needing some consistency too! Probably needs about 3 yeast starters...

Hops -
It doesnt have to be all equipment! I started a hops plant back in late may. I got it from a nursery which is never a safe bet because the plant needs to be the female variety to yield, and secondly it takes three seasons before said plant will yield the precious hop flower we as homebrewers are after. Not to mention the fact that these hops could just plain ol' suck! Ive read that wild hops are hit and miss, and these are most likely plantation grown root transplants from a mega nursery that doesnt specialize in strains. Dont get me wrong, if this guy (hoping a girl though) gives me flowers im going to use them!

Mash-tun -
I outlined what the mash-tun is and does in this previous post, but I wanted to dispell any misconceptions of the device from the inside, in case it seemed scary and complicated (as i perceived it before building one). The image here is of the stainless braid that fits snuggly around the 3/4" inside-diameter copper piping, connected with a 3/4" outside-diameter hose clamp. It was quite a pill to squeeze down in the water jug and tighten the clamp, but it had to be done. Now because this device is only held in with a fairly old drilled rubber stopper, its best to hold the stopper in place when pouring the strike water because if you have a leak, its gonna be a sticky near-boiling mess that no-one is going to want to drink if you decide to power through.

These are a few of the devices, aside from the basic rigs like glass carboys and airlocks, that I have accumulated over the last 6 months that I have been brewing!