Homebrew

[graham]

Baz, my fine upstanding pillar of the community YOU WIN   cheers Graham

[maurerless]

I did a Russian Imperial Stout a while back - it never fully attenuated so I was not game to put it into bottles. Kegs are certainly the go as they have the safety release valves for excess pressure.

As for getting rid of the "homebrew taste", I've found that fermentiong at cooler temperatures (18 deg for ales and 10 - 14 deg for lagers) will reduce the phenolics and esters. Force carbonating kegs will also help, as will cold conditioning.

Now all I have to do is figure out the way to take kegs camping...

Tony

[sdollery]

Here's a pic of my camping set-up. Ice goes between the keg and the cooler wall. Then the lid on top.



Ice lasts for about two days... Now to get my mates to stop drinking it all... I also take some Strahl beer mugs, unbreakable plastic... Not as good as glass but they are better than a cup!



Cheers,

SD

[maurerless]

Here's a pic of my camping set-up.


Cheers,

SD

SD - If I had the ready's I'd have a similar setup. 

Like on the other thread I have to focus on the production side of things first.

[sdollery]

Maurerless,

I hear you, I now have 4 fermenters to keep up!

SD

[Slug]

Im a pretty basic homebrewer, has been mostly kits until last few, have been adding a few bits and pieces and have just got the makings of the most complex ive done yet, and its certainly not that spectacular.  Its a Golden ale copy with some grains and liquid malts etc. 

Have been using a big bucket half full with water to put my fermenter in over winter with a fishtank heater.  My wife recently bought me an immersion heater though that goes INSIDE the fermenter, i originally saw it as an infection risk but will give it a go. 

I dont usually take homebrew camping because i like to immiediatly washout the bottles and i couldnt see that happening at camp, however ive found this mob recently and thought they could be a goer.  http://minikeg.net.au/

I still like bottles cos i like to cellar them and come back to them down the track. 

Cheers

[pacs]

Can some one enlighten me as to what solar boosted in the brewing process means?

[sdollery]

My local homebrew shop has 9L kegs, they are pricey (over $200), but all of the corny fittings suit them, so I may grab one or two in the future so I can take them to party's, camping etc without having to invest in another set of taps, gas lines, etc.

I usually keep my kegs for at least 8 weeks before I tap them so the beer is as aged as I can get it. I need more kegs LOL. Bottles on the other hand I leave for 12 to 16 weeks before I open them, Have a batch of Golden Ale at the moment that's been in the bottle for over a year. It's pretty good!

I love the convenience of kegs but will always bottle too. There's no way I could ever have a fridge with 8 beers on tap, and I like to mix it up. Sometimes I feel like an English Bitter, or a Pilsner, or a Golden Ale, or a Mid Strength.

I brewed a Chocolate Ale this time last year for Christmas, was an easy brew, Dark Ale can, 1KG Amber Malt, 200g Chocolate Grain, 24g of Fuggles Hops (inf) and 100g cocoa powder. I bottled this then left it until November to try. Was dessert in a glass!

SD

[sdollery]

Solar boosted as far as I know means the water used in the brewing process is heated via solar, rather than using other less environmentally friendly methods. I'm willing to be corrected however.

[graham]

i have a problem . you lot of drunken god fearin recalitrants ,i luvs yer all your gunna cost me a fortune ,but i luvs neverless cheers Graham

[outback jack]

i have a problem . you lot of drunken god fearin recalitrants ,i luvs yer all your gunna cost me a fortune ,but i luvs neverless cheers Graham

yep me too big fella 

[TrevJel]

Haven't done any brewing for a couple of years now but used to make some nice 5% distilled water and done a bit of black current and blackberry wines, the wines were nice but too much work. I've got a half full demijohn soaking in wood chips thats about 3years old might have crack it open one day and sample a bit.

[Hairs]

The beauty of kegging is that homebrew taste doesn't happen
Baz.

Yeah, a mate is trying to get me into buying the gear to do it in kegs.
After reading this thread I may just do that 

 

[Redback]

Here's a pic of my camping set-up. Ice goes between the keg and the cooler wall. Then the lid on top.



Ice lasts for about two days... Now to get my mates to stop drinking it all... I also take some Strahl beer mugs, unbreakable plastic... Not as good as glass but they are better than a cup!



Cheers,

SD

WOW, what a great idea, never thought of doing it that way, I was fixated on a container to cover the whole keg, the tap straight off the keg is a much better idea than a gun with a hose from the keg, no taking the lid off everytime you want to pour a beer

Baz.

[sdollery]

Thanks! I was stumped for ages until I saw the coolers at BCF one day. For a party it also works with just a garbage bin or large bucket full of ice.

[Redback]

Thanks! I was stumped for ages until I saw the coolers at BCF one day. For a party it also works with just a garbage bin or large bucket full of ice.

I know what I'll be doing after we come back from our Easter trip, buying one of those coolers and a tap for my party keg

Is your gas bottle a soda stream one or is it from something else, it looks different.

Baz.

[sdollery]

Baz,

It's a soda stream bottle, just the larger of the two sizes. I recently took three kegs to a family reunion so thought the larger size bottle would be the go. $18 from BigW when you exchange the empty.

[Redback]

Baz,

It's a soda stream bottle, just the larger of the two sizes. I recently took three kegs to a family reunion so thought the larger size bottle would be the go. $18 from BigW when you exchange the empty.

Didn't know there were two sizes, I'll see about getting one, thanks for this.

Baz.

[Tim - Stratford]

I just had a look at the minikegs (link above) and was wondering if you can refill and reuse the Heineken kegs with home brew?

[sdollery]

Tim,

I'd suspect no, but really haven't looked into it.

SD

[sdollery]

OK, after hitting Google I found this: http://thebrewingnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=21461&sid=815cb8fcd5145e8cafbc3c0a7cade453&start=8 so I guess it can be done. The two part bungs would be available on ebay I guess.

As for the Presta valve, I'm thinking that depending on the fridge/cooler arrangement you could possibly use either Presta or Schrader valves or better yet put a standard Cornelius post on and use:
1. Bike tyre inflator CO2 cartridges with Cornelius adapter (ebay)
2. Mini Regulator & Soda Stream Bottles
3. Normal CO2 bottle

I imagine getting the Cornelius post in/on one would be a PITA but all of the standard fittings would be able to be used.

Now having said that, the mini-kegs link above is cheaper and easier in the long run additionally as the Heinekin kegs have the CO2 cartridge built in and a funny hard to clean tap increasing the possibility of infection. The tap is expensive but you'd have a 5L porta-keg for under $300.

On a slightly different subject I have a mate who brews his camp/party beers in used 1.25L coke bottles. Only does a couple of batches in each bottle before he turfs them and starts again. He has teenage kids so used bottles are easy to come by. I've also heard of people bottling into these after filtering the beer, then force gassing via a Presta valve in the lid. At $10 per valve assembly 16 for a full batch (20L/1.25 per bottle) wouldn't be cheap to set up, but they are re-usable.

I personally have carbonateed beer in the soda stream, was going to be my camping system. Works great but the bottles are expensive and the gas bottles add up quickly.

SD

[Tommo66]

g'day all,

i have bought kegging gear from the below link, no affiliation but he's a homebrewer 

Craftbrewer

cheers

Tommo

[BadSeed]

Rather than start a new topic I thought this one could be resurrected.

I am a homebrewer and beer lover in general. I have often wondered about getting some small kegging system to take away with me.

I use corny kegs in a kegerator at home and never want to go back to bottling. I always miss having my own brews with me when I'm away but the half size kegs are so expensive and not as readily available as standard corny's so I did a bit of googling and came across this idea.

5l minikegs, presta valve, bike pump. Awesome.
I am a cyclist anyway so I have a co2 pump and often have spare innertubes with presta valves.

I bought a couple of minikegs and bungs from this place (no way affiliated etc): http://minikeg.net.au/
I have knocked up a great DIY delivery system that fits in an esky or fridge. I know I am not the first one to do this but here are some instructions and pics for any young players.

Take the rubber bung with the intact middle bit.


Drill a 5mm (or 5.5 - takes a bit of trial and error) and push a presta valve through the hole. I pushed it halfway through then put a bit of silicon on the base and pushed the rest through.


I should point out here that I used a threadless valve, in hindsight this was a mistake as the nut would have held the valve in place better. I know for the next time.

I bought a beer line disconnect for a corny key and attached a couple of metres of pvc hose to it.
I connect this to the out of my standard corny and let it fill the minikeg. Simples....


I should also point out that the beer is already carbonated and ready for drinking from the corny. This is just storage/serving. You can use these kegs to carb as well, but I already have a system in place for that,

Once it's full you simply put the bung in and attach a co2 bike pump to pressurise the keg, hardly any gas is needed, just enough to push the beer out.


Result

[rodsswag]

Nice set up.
 

Rod.....

[hoytshooter]

taking kegs camping is great