OT gone keggin

bigalsworth · February 2017

Decided to ditch bottling and start kegging. Picked up a 2.5g torpedo ball lock keg and required rubbing/fittings, as well as a 5lb CO2 bottle. I do need another 2.5g keg but they only had the one in stock. I went with 2.5g because a buddy and I brew 5g batches and split it between us. These torpedo keg's seem extremely well built, I'm looking forward to giving it a shot.

FATC1TY · February 2017

I went straight to keggin!! You'll never look back. You'll also find yourself building a keezer and 10 kegs in short notice!!!!! Hahahs

cheers

buzd504 · February 2017

I need to do that, but SWMBO isn't going to be too happy about more gear.

bigalsworth · February 2017

FATC1TY said:

I went straight to keggin!! You'll never look back. You'll also find yourself building a keezer and 10 kegs in short notice!!!!! Hahahs

cheers

I have the mini fridge already but to reduce the shock to the wife I won't be drilling holes into it yet. I might get another one off of Kijiji so I can go to town on it. The torpedo keg's stack super well allowing hoses and fittings to fit between stacked keg's.

bigalsworth · February 2017

buzd504 said:

I need to do that, but SWMBO isn't going to be too happy about more gear.

I made many losing weight, I figured there is no better way to celebrate than to buy beer equipment. Wife couldn't argue it.

Jeremiah · February 2017

Nice. I'm doing the same. Bottles are aggravating.

bigalsworth · February 2017

FATC1TY said:

I went straight to keggin!! You'll never look back. You'll also find yourself building a keezer and 10 kegs in short notice!!!!! Hahahs

cheers

How long can you keep your untapped beer before it starts losing freshness?

gmac · February 2017

Months. Seriously. Even tapped kegs if they are on CO2 will last a long, long time. Only thing that makes it go bad are light, oxygen and contamination. Assuming your hygiene is good, no light or air should get to it. Purge the keg with CO2 before filling. I've had beer in a keg for at least 4 months. Good lager ing can take 2.

gmac · February 2017

Should add will depend on style. Hops fall out of solution so with IPAs etc, soon is better.

bigalsworth · February 2017

gmac said:

Months. Seriously. Even tapped kegs if they are on CO2 will last a long, long time. Only thing that makes it go bad are light, oxygen and contamination. Assuming your hygiene is good, no light or air should get to it. Purge the keg with CO2 before filling. I've had beer in a keg for at least 4 months. Good lager ing can take 2.

Yeah that is inline with what I have read. I'm only ever going to have two 2.5g keg's on the go at a time and I should be able to finish them in that time

vb4677 · February 2017

FWIW, I've found I can take my old bottling wand and jam it into the party tap and use that to bottle out of the keg, if I want to take a sample somewhere.

Enjoy the kegging - it's awesome!

nolaegghead · February 2017

I have about 13 kegs. That's the way to go. Bottling turned me off to brewing years ago.

fishlessman · February 2017

how many beers in that little keg, your going to need more kegs

seriously, a regular half keg is about 100 20 ounce pints served, sounds like alot but it goes quick once you tap it, a week at most, quicker if someone finds out about it

The_Stache · February 2017

Like you I started bottling and very quickly went to almost exclusively kegging. Usually have a 5 gal keg of Imperial IPA on tap on one side of the fridge and another 5 gal keg of Russian Imperial Stout on the other tap. I don't know how long it will last because everything seems to get rotated every 6-8 weeks because somehow kegs just magically become empty!

I do still bottle but just for things like Barleywines that require extensive aging.

Keg On Dude!!

nolabrew · February 2017

In my opinion kegging should be the second upgrade you make to your brewing process. It's faster, easier, safer, cleaner, and much more controllable than bottling. The only upgrade that I think is more important, and this may only be because I'm in the south, is a way to control your fermentation temperature.

bigalsworth · February 2017

fishlessman said:

how many beers in that little keg, your going to need more kegs seriously, a regular half keg is about 100 20 ounce pints served, sounds like alot but it goes quick once you tap it, a week at most, quicker if someone finds out about it

Roughly 30 glasses. I will have two of that size soon and that is enough for me. My social life at the moment is fairly non-existent and that is enough for basically just myself. I have been bottling that much for the last couple years and it has been sufficient. I know my life is sad right now lol.

bigalsworth · February 2017

nolabrew said:

In my opinion kegging should be the second upgrade you make to your brewing process. It's faster, easier, safer, cleaner, and much more controllable than bottling. The only upgrade that I think is more important, and this may only be because I'm in the south, is a way to control your fermentation temperature.

I actually don't do full grain brewing right now. I have a craft brewer in my city that brews fresh wort and sells it in 5 gallon batches so I only have to ferment it and then bottle or keg it. It is very easy to do and has excellent results. Someday I will move to full grain but I have a 3 year old and another on the way and I just do the have the time, or really the energy to do more than what I do lol.

fishlessman · February 2017

bigalsworth said:

fishlessman said:

how many beers in that little keg, your going to need more kegs seriously, a regular half keg is about 100 20 ounce pints served, sounds like alot but it goes quick once you tap it, a week at most, quicker if someone finds out about it

Roughly 30 glasses. I will have two of that size soon and that is enough for me. My social life at the moment is fairly non-existent and that is enough for basically just myself. I have been bottling that much for the last couple years and it has been sufficient. I know my life is sad right now lol.

this is why i never advanced to kegging, a half barrel lasts me 5 days with a keg of guinness

a guinness sitting is 20 20's

bigalsworth · February 2017

fishlessman said:

bigalsworth said:

fishlessman said:

how many beers in that little keg, your going to need more kegs seriously, a regular half keg is about 100 20 ounce pints served, sounds like alot but it goes quick once you tap it, a week at most, quicker if someone finds out about it

Roughly 30 glasses. I will have two of that size soon and that is enough for me. My social life at the moment is fairly non-existent and that is enough for basically just myself. I have been bottling that much for the last couple years and it has been sufficient. I know my life is sad right now lol.

this is why i never advanced to kegging, a half barrel lasts me 5 days with a keg of guinness a guinness sitting is 20 20's

All my drinking happens somewhere other than home. The real problem is we rarely entertain anymore and I rarely drink by myself. I like to drink to get more then a buzz so when I sit down to social drink I tend to down more then a few. But at home I can go weeks without a drop. When I have homebrew I will drink more at home, maybe one or two with supper or in the hot tub a few times a week, but that's it. If I have no homebrew I pretty much don't drink at home.

northGAcock · February 2017

That right there is making me thirsty.

The_Stache · February 2017

bigalsworth said:

I actually don't do full grain brewing right now. I have a craft brewer in my city that brews fresh wort and sells it in 5 gallon batches so I only have to ferment it and then bottle or keg it. It is very easy to do and has excellent results. Someday I will move to full grain but I have a 3 year old and another on the way and I just do the have the time, or really the energy to do more than what I do lol.

Wow... you're missing a lot of the fun!! (and drinking!!) Step one of any new brew... Relax, have a beer!

SaintJohnsEgger · February 2017

Confession time. I don't like beer.

I like staying alive and I can't mix alcohol with my meds. So, that's two reasons not to drink. The pork butts will probably kill me though...

bigalsworth · February 2017

The_Stache said:

bigalsworth said:

I actually don't do full grain brewing right now. I have a craft brewer in my city that brews fresh wort and sells it in 5 gallon batches so I only have to ferment it and then bottle or keg it. It is very easy to do and has excellent results. Someday I will move to full grain but I have a 3 year old and another on the way and I just do the have the time, or really the energy to do more than what I do lol.

Wow... you're missing a lot of the fun!! (and drinking!!) Step one of any new brew... Relax, have a beer!

Just don't have the time or the will right now and why not take advantage of a place that provides access to part of the process and still produces great beer

Herky · February 2017

I brewed way more when my kids were little. I could get the mash going then have an hour or so to play/ watch them. Then another hour and a half for the boil, then clean up after they went to bed. I'd be home all day and get a batch in.

Would have worked even better if I had my current set up with the temp controlled mash back then.

now they need to be driven around and pick up multiple times a day so it's a lot harder to find time to brew.

The_Stache · February 2017

bigalsworth said:

The_Stache said:

bigalsworth said:

I actually don't do full grain brewing right now. I have a craft brewer in my city that brews fresh wort and sells it in 5 gallon batches so I only have to ferment it and then bottle or keg it. It is very easy to do and has excellent results. Someday I will move to full grain but I have a 3 year old and another on the way and I just do the have the time, or really the energy to do more than what I do lol.

Wow... you're missing a lot of the fun!! (and drinking!!) Step one of any new brew... Relax, have a beer!

Just don't have the time or the will right now and why not take advantage of a place that provides access to part of the process and still produces great beer

I meant no disrespect! As a matter of fact I am sort of jealous that you have the resources available to you... nothing like this around here! Would have been great when I first started!!

Cheers!

nolabrew · February 2017

Herky said:

I brewed way more when my kids were little. I could get the mash going then have an hour or so to play/ watch them. Then another hour and a half for the boil, then clean up after they went to bed. I'd be home all day and get a batch in.

Would have worked even better if I had my current set up with the temp controlled mash back then.

now they need to be driven around and pick up multiple times a day so it's a lot harder to find time to brew.

Brew on my schedule.

Start your mash the night before. Set everything up so you're ready to sparge in the morning. I set a timer on my sous vide so it heats the sparge water up at 5 am. Then I get up around 6 and get the sparge going and go back to bed. Then I wake up around 9 and start the boil.

It takes some prep work, but I'm usually done and cleaned up by noon and I barely spent any hand on time.

bigalsworth · February 2017

The_Stache said:

bigalsworth said:

The_Stache said:

bigalsworth said:

I actually don't do full grain brewing right now. I have a craft brewer in my city that brews fresh wort and sells it in 5 gallon batches so I only have to ferment it and then bottle or keg it. It is very easy to do and has excellent results. Someday I will move to full grain but I have a 3 year old and another on the way and I just do the have the time, or really the energy to do more than what I do lol.

Wow... you're missing a lot of the fun!! (and drinking!!) Step one of any new brew... Relax, have a beer!

Just don't have the time or the will right now and why not take advantage of a place that provides access to part of the process and still produces great beer

I meant no disrespect! As a matter of fact I am sort of jealous that you have the resources available to you... nothing like this around here! Would have been great when I first started!!

Cheers!

No disrespect taken brother. I'm jealous you could find the time with the kids, but admittedly it is more a lack of will than lack of time.

FATC1TY · February 2017

bigalsworth said:

FATC1TY said:

I went straight to keggin!! You'll never look back. You'll also find yourself building a keezer and 10 kegs in short notice!!!!! Hahahs

cheers

How long can you keep your untapped beer before it starts losing freshness?

My hoppy stuff I try to get gone in a month or 6 weeks. I also transfer with co2 and keep it all closed up from fermentation chamber to keezer.

My stouts- I've got some that I aged in bourbon barrels that are nearing 3 years old. I have some sours on tap that are just as old- and probably 18 months in a keg that are even better.

FATC1TY · February 2017

Herky said:

I brewed way more when my kids were little. I could get the mash going then have an hour or so to play/ watch them. Then another hour and a half for the boil, then clean up after they went to bed. I'd be home all day and get a batch in.

Would have worked even better if I had my current set up with the temp controlled mash back then.

now they need to be driven around and pick up multiple times a day so it's a lot harder to find time to brew.

Agreed. I would wake up to wash and set up. Get kids up. Decant my starters, weight my grain. Make breakfast. Measure my water additions, filter my water into the kettles and LT, get the twins ready to play, fire up the mash water, mill the grain. Mash in and then I had an easy hour generally to play with them and have a beer.

The crap part was timing hop additions and about the time flame out hit for pumping the whirlpool and hop rocket stuff during chilling I was slammed busy.

Once chilled and pumped I'd let it sit to clean up or get them for a nap. Always a sun up to sun down work till I had it all packed away in garage and cleaned up before I pitched, added the o2 , and tucked away to sleep in the chamber.

Part of the reason I brew less or never now. 3 kids under 3.5.

FATC1TY · February 2017

nolabrew said:

Herky said:

I brewed way more when my kids were little. I could get the mash going then have an hour or so to play/ watch them. Then another hour and a half for the boil, then clean up after they went to bed. I'd be home all day and get a batch in.

Would have worked even better if I had my current set up with the temp controlled mash back then.

now they need to be driven around and pick up multiple times a day so it's a lot harder to find time to brew.

Brew on my schedule.

Start your mash the night before. Set everything up so you're ready to sparge in the morning. I set a timer on my sous vide so it heats the sparge water up at 5 am. Then I get up around 6 and get the sparge going and go back to bed. Then I wake up around 9 and start the boil.

It takes some prep work, but I'm usually done and cleaned up by noon and I barely spent any hand on time.

Sounds good but I like more control over my process. 3 hour sparge and overnight mash is good for beers you want to attenuate fully and don't want to step mash or control the enzymes any better.

Tons of people do thr over night and indeed saves a boat load for the time crunched

bigalsworth · March 2017

Okay, kegging is the tits. The second shot is an English Pale Ale, the pic didn't come out great because of the flash and I am not super ambitious. Keg is 2.5 gallon and I have another 5 gallon on its way here.

OT gone keggin

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