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I'm still new to brewing, not having brewed yet myself. Our monthly beer tasting group has a few members that do and we are slowly becoming a homebrew club it seem. I'm planing on brewing my first beer (either some kind of IPA-ish something or an Irish Stout) within a month or two. Planing on starting easy (kit) and moving along from there. Anyways, to the story! Last weekend I scored two Corny kegs from my Dad who used to do a lot of home brewing. He hasn't done anything with them in the past 10 years at least so needless to say I'm having to rebuild them (replace all o-rings). I also managed to get two regulators (one of which isn't for CO2 explicitly, though seemingly has been used for it, the other of which might be broken), a 20 lb CO2 cylinder which is mostly full, a hydrometer, some airlocks, and a carboy brush. But the purpose of this post isn't to bore you with a list. I want to detail tearing down a seemingly quite odd keg. I tore down the the first one and everything seemed standard enough. When I got to the second one things got a little weird. I did some research and I think it is an "older firestone" keg with a "racetrack" lid. The other seems to be a newer style Cornelius keg. Both have ball lock connectors though the details of the internals vary. Here is an overview of the parts.  The right set of parts is from the second older keg (firestone). You’ll notice that this set has a red plastic tube. This red plastic tube is the gas tube and it is a smaller diameter (.25”) than the metal gas tube found on my other keg (left). Other differences include the white polymer (delrin or Teflon probably) spacer things that inside the post and hold the poppets inside the posts properly. I haven't found this ANYWHERE but I have a buddy at work that is going to turn me out a few on a lathe. This spacer thing also serves as the sealing surface against which the liquid and gas tubes seal. No such part is used on the newer one on the left. Another big difference is the poppet type. The firestone keg uses a “Poppet Valve (Older Pin Lock Firestone)”.  The other keg uses a “Poppet Valve (Cornelius)”.  Additionally, the posts are slightly different externally, though I'm not replacing them. Another big difference is the firestone liquid tube o-ring (and the liquid tube for that matter which is much larger diameter than the other liquid tube). The o-ring is has a significantly larger inner diameter AND is much thicker. It kind of looks like a black olive slice. Austin Home Brew was the only place that I could find that has something that seems to be what I need. This is why I ended up ordering almost everything from them as they had all but the newer pressure relief valve. They also have $6.99 shipping on orders up to $100. The next difference (related to the racetrack vs. oval lid) is the pressure relief valve.  The one in the firestone (racetrack) lid is kaput and I'm replacing it with this which is probably going to require drilling a 3/4" thru hole in the lid. Shouldn't be a big deal. The newer keg just needs a replacement one of these.  All in all I'm spending $36.71 per keg to refurbish them which is still cheaper than buying refurbished ones that are ready to go. I honestly enjoy working on these kinds of things so the "cost" for my time is something I'm happy to spend. The strange parts for the firestone keg are bringing up the price, as well are the more expensive poppets for the newer keg. I'm also buying 3x of each poppet (only need 2x but I like having replacements on hand) and more o-rings than I need. I'm very sure I'll get the newer one working, but I'm a bit worried about the firestone keg and its odd tube o-rings. That keg might turn into quite a fun little project! The price per keg doesn't include the price of some keg lube, star san, and PBW. I'm looking forward to having a keg cleaning and reassembly in a few weekends. I've go the whole tear down thing figured out, but what is my best bet for cleaning and sanitizing? Soak stuff in PBW followed by a quick soak in star san? I know I should keep Aluminum parts away from star san, but everything here is polymer or stainless. Hope someone might find this useful if they ever run into a crazy rear end keg. Feel free to comment or ask questions or tell me I'm completely insane! Ninja edit: I also have a mini fridge that I'm going to do my best to convert to a keg-o-rator. Another project!
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Feb 27, 2013 17:17
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| # ¿ May 11, 2024 15:18 |
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fullroundaction posted:Austin Homebrew Supply does flat rate shipping on all products year round And before that they've had free shipping on all kits but coopers can kits. They love running specials like free shipping it seems. Also, the Coopers Mexican Cerveza kit isn't really too bad! I had some straight out of primary and it was very drinkable.
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Jul 25, 2013 15:35
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strikehold posted:I just ordered the AHS Killer IPA (14B) extract kit. First one from AHS, as I usually do NB's kits. My first IPA, pretty excited. I've been happy with both of their kit's that I've made so far. AHS Budget IPA (14B) and AHS Budget Kolsch (6C). I have an AHS Budget Stout (13A) that is going to get brewed this Friday. I'm going to try and make a "bourbon barrel" stout out of it. Toasted Oak chips soaked with bourbon, pour all that into secondary. Should be interesting!
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Jul 25, 2013 16:04
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I think I need to just repeat to myself several times "it will be fine". Just made my Austin Homebrew supply Budget stout last night. Pitched the yeast around 6 pm and in the past I've seen very solid signs of vigorous fermentation within 12 hours. I saw a few bubbles in the airlock that indicated that it had been passing CO2 alright. I went and read the directions and they mentioned not worrying until 24 hours out. Hopefully it will be doing something more when I get home from work today. This is my 4th brew so I'm still a bit paranoid when it comes to worrying that I'm going to screw things up every time I brew. Really hope this one turns out well as I'm planing on trying to make a bourbon barrel "aged" stout out of this and I have been very much looking forward to my first real experiment with beer.
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Aug 5, 2013 13:59
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Docjowles posted:It is going to be fine. If you get to day 3 with no sign of activity (and I mean you crack the bucket and there is no foam or anything at all going on, airlock bubbling is an unreliable indicator) then maybe you can start worrying about buying a new pitch of yeast. But it's pretty drat rare for yeast to just totally fail. Thanks! I suppose I do know that, I've just got the new brewer jitters I guess. I have some dry yeast ready as a backup worst case since there is no HBS within a reasonable (less than 3.5 hour round trip) drive. I doubt it will come to that.
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Aug 5, 2013 19:14
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I'm doing a bunch of thinking and research on how I want to convert a mini-mash version of a Dry Irish stout to an all grain recipe. The mini mash version used 5 lb of liquid "Dark Malt Extract". I've found some decent articles online for doing conversions (see links below), but I guess what I'm looking for is if anyone has already done this and has an answer in their hat. I think I've found some good ideas of what malts to use, it's more question of ratios of those malts to replace the dark LME. I'm starting from the AHS Budget Stout Mini Mash recipie that I've made several times http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=13520. http://byo.com/stories/item/616-extract-to-all-grain-and-back Very detailed info converting that takes into account color and flavors. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/help-converting-extract-recipe-all-grain-128206/ Suggests 2# of Munich Malt, Crystal 60L, and Black Malt(divided equally) - in place of the 1# DME. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/malt-extract-all-grain-conversion-added-ingredients-208087/ Talks about what malts to use in place of dark malt extract. Suggests a mix of 2-row, Munich, crystal 60 and black malt. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/what-dark-malt-extract-192362/ Some more ideas on what malts to use in place of dark malt extract. Similarly talks of Base Malt [I assume some kind of 2 row], Caramel Malt 60L, Munich Malt, Black Malt.
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Jan 21, 2014 15:47
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So I'm working on the details of a Dry Irish stout and I'm using Northern Brewer (German) Hops. The recipe I'm working with calls for 18 AAU of bittering hops only. Everything I've ready says you calculate AAU (Alpha Acid Units) by multiplying the number of oz of hops by its AA%. So 2 oz of 9.2% Alpha Acid hops would be 2*9.2=18.4 AAU. Seems straight forward enough, BUT Brewtoad seems to vary the AAU calculation based on when you add it to the boil. What is going on? Are those different AAU?  What the hay? Does anyone have some input on this? Current recipe version is here: https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/guinness-clone-v1 This is basically a direct copy of the "GOODNESS STOUT" from 1982 Edition of "The Big Book of Brewing" by David Line. Edit: And thanks for any help! 
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Oct 17, 2014 23:20
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Cpt.Wacky posted:Roughly, the longer they are boiled the more bitterness is extracted. See also: http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter5-5.html I'm with you there. Longer boil time leads to more isomerization of the alpha acids into more of the bitter compounds. What I don't quite get is the change in AAU with respect to time. I've not been able to find a definition of AAU that has time as a variable.
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Oct 18, 2014 00:05
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| # ¿ May 11, 2024 15:18 |
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wildfire1 posted:I believe AAU assumes an hour of boiling. Hmmm. But all defintions I've found so far are just oz*AA% with no mention of time beyond saying "This is the AAU added at this time in the boil". If oz*AA% assumes an hour, why is the AAU so much higher than 2*9.2=18.4? I'm certain there is an answer! I've been homebrewing for about 2 years now, but this is the first time I've dealt with AAU and the internet is failing me! Not y'all, just my google-fu. No time dependence being used as a reason why AAU has "fallen out of use": http://brewwiki.com/index.php/Alpha_Acid_Units block51 fucked around with this message at 00:33 on Oct 18, 2014 |
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Oct 18, 2014 00:29
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