“Kegging is King” especially if you bring a keg to a party, we like to have friends around for beer and pizza nights and a keg is great means to excite people with your brews, plus you can have beer ready a lot quicker in comparison to bottle conditioning and……………………… its a lot less hassle than bottling!
Kegging your own beer is simple and super satisfying as who doesn’t enjoy pouring a fresh pint of beer they brewed themselves. Kegs genuinely require minimal maintenance, they do however require you to clean them , if everything is sterile as with a lot of things in brewing it helps to gain success and avoid infections. We have alot of helpful information on the Geterbrewed Youtube channel Plus some awesome selections of home kegging equipment on our websites, checkout our Kegging Section
What makes up the Geterbrewed keg starter kit;
- 1 x Cornelius Keg Brand New 19 litre capacity
- 2 x Ball Lock Fittings
- 2 x Thread FFL John Guest fittings to attach to Ball Lock for quick release
- 1 x CO2 Regulator with quick release John Guest Fitting
- 1 x Beer Line
- 1 x Dispensing Tap Assembly
What are the Fittings on the Corny Keg?
Basically there is two ports on a Corny Keg, Beer Out and Gas In.
1. Beer Out, you attach a ball lock disconnect to this and it has a beer dispensing assembly connected to it, whether that be a tap directly added to the ball lock or if its run out into a length of beer line and then into a picnic tap or tower dispenser. The key point here is to avoid foam (fobbing), a lot of turbulance is created as beer exits the keg under pressure via the ball lock valve so you want sufficient beer line length to prevent this coming out of the tap, it needs to settle in a length of beer line . Also the beer needs to be cold, the warmer the beer gets the more the co2 wants to come out of suspension and foam up.
2. Gas In, you attach a ball lock disconnect to this (which has a gas line running to the regulator) and it connects the co2 tank to the Corny Keg via this assembly, the pressure is adjusted with the regulator and this allows you to set the psi
Points to keep in mind when kegging your own beer
- Keep everything sterile
- Try not to introduce oxygen when transferring the beer from the fermenter into the keg
- The colder the beer the more easily it dissolves the co2
- There is different carbonation levels depending on the style of beer
- Carbonation can be set with the psi and achieved slowly over a few days or you can force carbonate (rolling the keg back and forth to force carbonate the beer quickly with co2)
What is the regulator?
It controls the flow of the CO2 into the Corny Keg, you may want to carbonate a beer over a few days at 12psi, this reading is on the dial to the right of the control when connected to the co2 tank, the dial above the turn controller reads how much co2 is in the container. Remember you dial up to carbonate but need to reduce that down to a dispensing pressure after carbonation is complete
What is the Dispensing Tap Assembly?
Its where the beer comes out , we have selected a picnic tap and have sufficient beer line to prevent fobbing or foam during dispensing