Wifey gave me the thumbs up to get a keg system for brewing. It is coming with two free buckets as well, so I can do multi-stage fermentation. Yeah fun! Now I need to look into converting my mini fridge into a kegerator.
Keg system is inbound.
- Thread starter stoney
- Start date
Kegging was one of the best upgrades I made to my system, second only to a propane burner. 
Don't bother with multi-stage fermentation unless you're dumping fruit or something into it. Extended single-stage fermentation is where it's at
I need a kegging system, I'm tired of inconsistent bottle carbonation. Are you going to get a bottle wand so you can still do some bottling to give away?
I need a kegging system, I'm tired of inconsistent bottle carbonation. Are you going to get a bottle wand so you can still do some bottling to give away?
I just bottled off the rest of my Coffee Stout to ship back east. Super easy - a maybe 3' length of hose that fits into the tap, a stopper big enough to fit over the bottles. Give them a quick dunk in sanitizer, put the stopper over the bottle and open the tap. It will start to fill up and then slow down until you release some of the pressure. Once you get to the top, pull the hose almost all the way out, give it a quick shot of beer and then cap on the foam (no oxygen).
I do this at full serving pressure, never had a foaming issue and bottles have stayed good for 3 weeks - probably longer if I didn't want to drink them.
I do this at full serving pressure, never had a foaming issue and bottles have stayed good for 3 weeks - probably longer if I didn't want to drink them.
Chilling the bottles or at the very least rinsing them with cold water helps. If I'm drinking them within a few days I don't bother with santizing, just rinse them out with the bottle washer.
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The buckets and keg showed up last night. They did not have tops though
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I ordered tops and airlocks for them, and a CO2 tank too. Conveniently, Northern Brewer had a deal to get a free 5gallon stainless pot if you spend $100. At $95, I decided to just get a bottle rack and throw in a Hefe for Wifey.
I will need to figure out if my mini-fridge will work with the keg though. I really don't want to have to buy something to get a kegerator.
. I ordered tops and airlocks for them, and a CO2 tank too. Conveniently, Northern Brewer had a deal to get a free 5gallon stainless pot if you spend $100. At $95, I decided to just get a bottle rack and throw in a Hefe for Wifey.
I will need to figure out if my mini-fridge will work with the keg though. I really don't want to have to buy something to get a kegerator.
Way to go Mark... Steppin it up I see.
I just moved to the other side of Lake MV and totally re-did the kitchen. There is a "dead" space in one corner that I'm dying to use as a spot for some taps. The only issue is how to get access to the dead space. Short of cutting a small door on the outside wall I just don't see how it can be done.
I just moved to the other side of Lake MV and totally re-did the kitchen. There is a "dead" space in one corner that I'm dying to use as a spot for some taps. The only issue is how to get access to the dead space. Short of cutting a small door on the outside wall I just don't see how it can be done.
Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
Any single-stage fermentation I've done has been a MASSIVE fail, but that's partly due to the bottling. Most recently did a milk stout (year or two ago?) with a single-stage fermentation, and the addition of the sugar water right before bottling meant that the yeast/sediment was stirred up and proceeded to clog the unholy hell out of my bottling wand. After that experience I went back to always doing a secondary just to clean things up a bit...Don't bother with multi-stage fermentation unless you're dumping fruit or something into it. Extended single-stage fermentation is where it's at
I need a kegging system, I'm tired of inconsistent bottle carbonation. Are you going to get a bottle wand so you can still do some bottling to give away?
A keg setup is probably the only way I'd go back to brewing (aside from moving to an area that isn't awash with good, cheap beer) as the utter WORST part of the entire process was the bottling (cleaning, sanitizing, filling, capping) and usually entailed a beer-covered floor at the end of it. The cleaning, steeping, boiling and fermentation was actually a lot of fun.
