Equipment

[Wade E]

Finally seen my friend today and he gave me a corny keg(reconditioned), dual gauge regulator(brand new), and all the hoses with a picnic tap(brand new). He said he will give me more cornies soon(also all reconditioned. He was low on them this week but usually has a few hundred.

 

[smurfe]

Fantastic. I sure need a few more. A side note. Most of these corny's are around because Coke and Pepsi quit using them and went to the bag in box system. I was taking my daughter to a local Ice Cream shoppe yesterday after school and the Coke truck was there. They were unloading cornies of Coke products to the shop. I was really surprised as that is the only place around here I have seen using cornies. I didn't get a chance to talk to the driver but I am gonna head to the local Coke plant to see if I can score any "retired" cornies.

 

[Joanie]

Where does the name "corny" keg come from?

 

[smurfe]

Where does the name "corny" keg come from?

They are actually called Cornelius Kegs. I guess that was the name of the company that first made them? If I had time, I would find out for sure. If not posted when I get home, I will find out for you. It is basically a slang of Cornelius though.Edited by: smurfe

 

[Wade E]

Got my turkey fryer from another buddy today in exchange for a few bottles of wine. His mom had bought him 1 for Christmas but he never used it, its still sealed in the box so Im way ahead of the game now. Just have to get a cooler and make my Mash Lauter Tun now. Woo-hoo! Almost there. I even downloaded Strangebrew brewing software for free, do you use any software for making AG brew anyone?

 

[smurfe]

I use Beersmith and it is fantastic once you get the knack of it. I chose that one because it is updated regularly and still developed. It and ProMash are the most popular software for brewing. Promash hasn't been updated in a few years though. Both have free trial versions.


I will say this about software though. It isn't much use until you have used your set-up a few times and know your efficiency. If you don't know your efficiency it will not calculate much correctly. On the plus side, you can use the software to calculate your efficiency.

 

[Wade E]

Thanks Smurf, that will most likely be the 1 Ill eventually get as it seems to be the consensus that it is a more liked program.

 

[Wade E]

Just finished my Mash/Lauter Tun. Here are some pics. It didnt ave the Spigot when I bought it that some do and when they do it is much easier to work with but none of the stores around here had a decent size with a spigot, they were either too big or too small. I bought all of the parts at Home Depot along with the copper tubing and between the cooler which was $19.99 at target and all the parts came which came to $$22.98 I am way under what is sold at Brew Supply stores or online. I left the part where it joins into the screwed in collar of the ball check valve un-soldered so that I could clean it up when done but soldered the rest so that when Im stirring the grains it doesnt come apart as that wouldnt be good!!!!!!! I tested it and it left 1 1/2 cups when done. I will probably drill a hole through where the manifold and the collar come apart and get a stainless steel cotter pin to insert in there to make sure these 2 parts dont come apart while Im stirring

 

[smurfe]

Good job! Looks like it should work fine. I can speak from experience about the manifold coming apart while mashing. I have had it happen twice with my last batch experiencing such an event. I had to scoop all of the grain and liquid out. I happened to have a braid from a water supply line handy and stuck it on that time and dumped the mash back in. It cleared the runoff instantly and worked great. I think I am going to use it instead of the manifold. Here is the manifold i use. I don't have a pic of the braid I used last time after the manifold came apart.

 

[Wade E]

Why dont you glue them together? I was thinking of using the braid but was afraid that the weight of the grains would crush the braid down.

 

[smurfe]

Basically for cleaning purposes. Both times it has happened to me it wasn't the entire manifold coming apart but rather like you mentioned with the cotter pin, the manifold coming off there where it connects to the valve. It is hard to see in my pic but the coupling is screwed onto the valve. There is a piece of pipe glued into the coupling. The manifold slides onto the piece of pipe. Once it came off stirring, the other time it came off was when I was batch sparging and I dumped my sparge water into the tun. I am thinking strong and hard about getting a Bazooka Screen or a Bazooka Tee to replace the manifold or the steel braid. Edited by: smurfe

 

[Wade E]

Just wondering before I drill that hole if I really should or if I need to come up with a better plan, Im thinking that I will lose suction sooner if I do that and leave more water behind.

 

[PeterZ]

Wade, instead of a cotter pin, what about the type of coupling used on compressed air hoses? I think that would be secure, avoid suction problems, and disconnect easily for cleaning.

 

[Wade E]

Thats a good idea Petr, Ill have to see if I can still manipulate that quick disconnect into my system without redoing it all. Also Ill have to see if I can find a Stainless Steel one. Im not a big metal guy, I have copper piping and dont want any chemical reactions happening in my mash/lauter tun. I know most of those Q/D's are Brass or Aluminum.

 

[PeterZ]

Stay away from the Al, but brass is compatible with copper. They are very close in electrical potential, which means low possibility for bi-metallic corrosion. Put the spring loaded half on the detachable side so if the spring rusts out you can easily replace it.

 

[Wade E]

Thanks for the info.

 

[andy123]

i was at home depot and saw plastic wellpoints.they were a bit long but if someone was making a large mash tun this might be the item you wished was available

 

[Wade E]

Oh well!

 

[Wade E]

Well I bottled the Sparkling Plum today using a method a little unorthodox. It uses the picnic(party) tap with a broken off racking cane and I had some troubles with foaming up. It can be 1 of a few problems or a mixture of all.
1) I may have over carbonated since it really didnt give me a range for the carbonation I needed at this temp since I dont have a freezer or a fridge that I can fit the corny keg in without evacuating alot of food and wife would shoot me.
2) It could be that this method really doesnt work as its not the correct way to do it but I cant afford a Beer Gun or a counter flow bottler right now.
I will try it tonight out of the bottle to let it chil a little more in the freezer and get back to you on the results.
I will be kegging my Brew House Cream Ale in the next few days and that will be easier since it doesnt require a lot of carbonation and the scale does give me a temp and pressure for that.

 

[Wade E]

Survey is in and its no where near as carbonated as it was while in the keg so I lost a lot. Its still good though and it was a learning experience. Oh by the way, while dispensing from the keg I had the pressure set on about 1 or 2 PSI. and was still almost all foam so i believe I did over carb. it. Ill keep it much lower on the crabapple and work it up bottle by bottle until its just right I hope.