Starting the road to kegging

Buying, building and using brewing equipment and apparatus. Product reviews and questions.

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jcassady
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Starting the road to kegging

Post by jcassady »

Well I started gathering equipment to start keggin my brew! I obtained over the weekend 4 cornies for a grand total of $0.00, thats right, zip, zero, nadda!!! Now I need to get a fridge, lines, CO2, faucets, shanks.....

Question though, I was looking at vinal lines at Lowes, and they have the reinforced 1/4" ID tubing that holds 250 PSI at 70 degrees or non reinforced that holds 50 PSI at the same temp. Would 50 PSI be good enough for the gas lines, or should I spend the extra $.75 for 250 PSI?

I plan to buy good 3/16" ID beer lines online...

-Jim
BillyBock
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Congrats, Woohoo!

Post by BillyBock »

Good job. How did you manage the free gear?

If it were me, I'd suggest rating your hose at either the maximum expected operating pressure or the maximum pressure of the regulator. Then give yourself some wiggle room--10%, 50%? However, I personally can't see a reason why it wouldn't work.

There are two problems with the reinforced hose. It's difficult to cut, and it's not real flexible when it gets cold. FWIW, I use the thick-walled 1/4" hose on my gas lines--which is a LOT more flexible. Maybe buy some of that when you get your 3/16" lines online?

v/r
Bill
jcassady
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Free gear

Post by jcassady »

Well since my parents are in the food concession business, they use the 5 gallon Pepsi all the time and lots of it. I found out in their barn about 35 cornies they have had for about 3 years so I aquired four of them. When I get really into kegging I figure I'll go back and get some more.

I will see what they have on-line for thick walled hose. I was thinking I'd only have my regulator up to 30 PSI max, I don't see any reason for going any higher, but I didn't know what the cold does for PSI rating on a hose. I was wanting something in the 100 PSI range for safty reasons, I don't want to be sitting there drinking a homebrew and have the hose blow and lose all my co2 and not be able to drink anymore or worse have a keg go bad on me...
fitz
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I went

Post by fitz »

I went with the reinforced hose, and yes it isn't as flexible in the cold, but it isn't that bad.
Sapper
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Post by Sapper »

I like the braided hose.
It seems to be the standard in the food service industry.
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Push Eject
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Quick Disconnects

Post by Push Eject »

This guy did a great job with his beer fridge and quick disconnects for dispensing!

http://sdcollins.home.mindspring.com/BeerFridge.html

Cheers,
Charlie
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Charlie, thanks for the link

Post by Azorean Brewer »

Hi Charlie,

That is an awesome web page with some cool home made gadgets ... thanks for sharing it with us ...

Regards,

Paul.
"I drink therefore I am"
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Post by tnlandsailor »

Thanks to Paul for turning me on to this forum and Charlie for giving out the link to my website. There are certainly cheaper options for multiple kegs, but barb fittings really suck. I'm a huge proponent of the screw thread keg fittings and the use of quick or push connect fittings for CO2 line.

A great resource for things like the push connect fittings is the Parker Store. Parker is a multi-billion dollar company that has a pneumatics division which stocks some of it's distributors and resellers with pneumatics and hydraulic inventory so that folks can go in and "touch and feel" all of the stuff and buy it on the spot. This place is an absolute gold mine. Also, if they don't have something, they can order it for you.

Go to www.parkerstore.com and click the link to find a store near you.

Dennis Collins
Knoxville, TN
"In theory, theory and practice are the same, but not in practice."
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Push Eject
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Rock on!

Post by Push Eject »

Welcome to BeerTools, Dennis!

Found your website years ago when I was getting ready to build a fermentation chiller. Never did build it, (although I bought everything but the polystyrene), but I DID keep the link to your site!

Cheers,
Charlie
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