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Beginner with questions about kegs.

Tyoung68

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Well, hello all I'm pretty new to brewing and have questions about whats style of keg i should get, or If I should even get one. With the runs I've done I've bough bottles and try to save them, but you know after getting a few beers in, i don't really want to wash bottles... any ways long story short tried to was them out and ended up with moldy beers. so at 1$ a bottle a keg seems like a better option.

so I'm asking all you gurus, Tell me everything I need to know to pick out the right style of keg.

thanks!!
 
Here are a few links:
  http://beersmith.com/kegging/
  http://beersmith.com/blog/2008/02/14/how-to-keg-homebrew-beer/
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx-9W4hJlTM

I like the podcast myself...

Brad
 
Been a bottler for over 20 years... It is a bitch, but I find that a beer in hand while washing makes the work go much more quickly, and with bottles, you have no limits as to the varieties you can have at one time in your "secret room" I have 18 different styles sitting at any given time...Be really expensive with kegs! I woulde have to start a mini...hmmmmm

I do 1/4c bleach to 5 gallons and just dunk the bottles in for @15 minutes then use my bottle sprayer to rinse them out and taa daa... But to each his own.
 
My man.  Get some ball lock kegs  You will find pin-lock but they do not usually have a pressure relief valve.  I have a friend who uses pin lock because I gave him 4 so I could have only one style.  That's important. Don't mix pin and ball because it gets connectors all confused.  You can find them new and used on craigslist.  If you go used, which is great, then you will need to change the gaskets.  I'm not sure what size socket it is but there is a socket that will remove the gas in and gas out posts to get to those gaskets. It's super easy. or you can go new.  If you go new, you can also find different size kegs.  There are 2.5 and 3 gallon I think. They are not cheaper and I have never seen a used one.  You will not look back. 
 
okay well now I have new question; I bought a piney the elder kit from beer beer and more beer, I see that you don't need to add the bottling sugar but do I need to change anything else about the recipe?
 
Need to know the recipe. Kind of a head scratcher about the "not needing priming sugar" though. Usually it is needed because the yeast has eaten up the fermentables and you need a little to create CO2. Are you using a recipe that is for kegging or bottling? that may be the difference.
 
Hello,  corny kegs are by far the best, clean with oxyclean (cheap from any supermarket) and sanitise with Starsan...very simple...lots of vids on youtube. I'm from the UK, I'm sure the kegs are called the same in other parts of the world. Hope this helps  :)
 
If you are having sanitation problems with your bottling process, you need to solve that problem first. Kegging requires the same cleaning and sanitizing that bottling does. I would recommend addressing that before making a decision on how to package your beer.

While there are several techniques that are used successfully, I find that a thorough rinsing soon after emptying a bottle of beer is a good place to start. Once you accumulate a bunch of thoroughly rinsed bottles you should give them a good soak in PBW, or a similar product, followed by a close inspection and scrubbing as needed. Once they are squeaky clean and you're ready to fill them, sanitize with Starsan or Iodophor per manufacturer's instructions.

I would also suggest that if you have sanitization problems while packaging, you likely have them in other parts of your process as well. It has been stated many times in all of the popular How-To brewing books that the 3 most important steps in brewing great beer are sanitize, sanitize and sanitize. Neither of those 3 steps will do a bit of good unless everything is thoroughly cleaned first.
 
Tyoung68 said:
okay well now I have new question; I bought a piney the elder kit from beer beer and more beer, I see that you don't need to add the bottling sugar but do I need to change anything else about the recipe?


nope, that's it.
 
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