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Greetings,

Just changed my profile as I no longer reside in Smalltown, Ontario and am officially once more a Brewnoser...I am looking for info on kegging in this area, as I have brought my gear with me and am in the process of getting my first and second brews ready. My Oktoberfest is going to the bottles, while I want to keg my Festa cerveza...I would like to hear from anyone with information on gassing up and expertise in the Bridgewater area...thanks and it's good to be back here drinking beer and riding (but not necessarily in that order or at the same time :0)

Welcome back!

So, do you have the kegs and gear, just looking for advice?
I don't know where one would get a CO2 tank refilled on the South Shore.

I go the "geah for the beah", as they say on the shore... I believe Praxair will be able to fill the tank but I only have a 5lb bottle...I used to get my local HBS to cold crash, cold filter and force carbonate my kegs but Mr. Dexter doesn't let us do that here. And so wondering who might have the gear to do that privately...my LHBS had a large tank with a carbonation motor hooked and could do the carbonation in about five minutes...

Gotcha.

Well, I can't really help, as I don't filter my beer. I will do a cold crash, which gets it clear enough for my liking, and then will fill the keg and either jam the pressure to it for a quick carbonation, or just put it at slightly above serving pressure and let it go for a week or so.

I'd estimate that 90% of us keggers do not filter.

Welcome Don.

Well folks,

Got unpacked and opened up my kegerator only to find the dreaded mould everywhere! I cleaned out the fridge with Swish Quato 44 (supposed to kill everything but food and stainless friendly) and used pink detergent to soak taps, connectors and lines. Lines were still milky and since tubing is cheap, two new ones were purchased and installed. Kegerator is running and keg is charged. Anyone have experience rolling and purging the keg to assist with carbonation? I have read lots but would like to hear from any Brewnosers' techniques for carbonating up a keg. Having a small five lb. bottle, I am concerned about using too much CO2 and want to use the majority of the gas to push the beer. Using priming sugar is suggested by some, but then it would take longer and leave residue in the keg...

I like keg priming, but to force carb I set my regulator to 30psi and roll the keg on the ground. I do that until I don't hear any gas flowing then turn it back down to serving pressure and purge extra co2 from the keg. Then let it rest for 8 hours or more. It give ok results but seems to me others have way less trouble then I do.

I usually just hook the keg up to the co2 at serving pressure and let it sit for a week or so. I used to force carb by doing similar to Graham, just set the pressure to ~30psi, shake the shit out of it for a min or two, then hook it up at serving pressure. Both methods work, but there is always the possibility of over carbing with the force carb method.

Jimmy wrote:I usually just hook the keg up to the co2 at serving pressure and let it sit for a week or so. I used to force carb by doing similar to Graham, just set the pressure to ~30psi, shake the shit out of it for a min or two, then hook it up at serving pressure. Both methods work, but there is always the possibility of over carbing with the force carb method.

I agree 100% with Jimmy. Leaving it for two weeks is the better way to go, but if you have time why not prime? I like the carbonation from priming myself, but some people don't notice a difference. Regardless, if you only have 5#'s of CO2 priming will stretch that much farther.

Priming will definitely stretch that out. Personally, I chill the keg for 12 to 24 hours and then hit it with 30psi of C02 for 48 hours, purge, and drop the regulator back to serving pressure. Seems to be pretty foolproof so far. Once I get my pipeline built back up again after the beating it took over the summer I'm planning to start priming the kegs.

Thank you to all Brewnosers posting advice for the kegging process, and ascertaining that I am on the right track with the process. I guess I wasn't weaned from the U Brew gear quick enough and became dependent on all the goodies and gadgets available on such premises. I hope the government here gets with the friggin times here and allows U Brews/VInts as we are now the last province to disallow them. I have written Mr. Dexter and former Minister Graham Steele regarding the inequity, anachronisms (and cronyisms) and sheer greed of the NSLC's liquor monopoly.

Glad to hear about your letter. Care to post it up here so we can send it along as well?

elreplica wrote: . I hope the government here gets with the friggin times here and allows U Brews/VInts as we are now the last province to disallow them. x

I wouldn't be too sure of that. AFAIK we also disallow them.

Chris,thanks and I will dig it up and post it as soon as I can find it :0)

Tony, do heil - as they say on the South Shore here - as in what "do hell" is AFAIK - as far as I care/concern with the phonetic K? And all other provinces on the mainland do in fact allow U Brews (except NS) If the Rock does not, then I am surprised because I always felt NFLD/LBR was more progressive than most of the mainland with corner store sales

Ahhh, thanks to the power of Google, I think Tony meant "As far as I know". Even if not, I still think NFLD/LBR is more progressive than most of the mainland My first brewery tour started there at the tender age of twelve where I was introduced to Dominion, Black Horse and Blue Star... thank God for progress and micros such as Quidi Vidi

And I do believe Tony is correct - it appears that our esteemed island neighbour in fact, does not allow U Brew/Vints either.It is a shame because it does draw in less intrepid customers and allows people who are ergonomically challenged to participate. It is also a great venue for meeting and discussing techniques, and sharing equipment, recipes, events etc. I greatly enjoy working at home, but really appreciated those facilities when I lived in apartments and condos while working in the GTA area in Ontario. That's where I did my first all grape wines and all grain beers

Yup, you've got it Don. The U-Brew/U-Vints are great for apartment dwellers, elderly (which is how I inherited a lot of my initial equipment, an elderly friend of the family was no longer able to brew due to physical limitations), and encourage people to get into the hobby.
Thankfully, stores like Wine Kitz in Halifax have been doing this for years to serve this population.

I wonder if Noble Grape will make any attempts at U-Brew kits (ie, brew on in-house gear)? People are willing to pay a $50 premium on their boxes of wine to store them there, I imagine something similar could be worked out for beer.

chalmers wrote:Yup, you've got it Don. The U-Brew/U-Vints are great for apartment dwellers, elderly (which is how I inherited a lot of my initial equipment, an elderly friend of the family was no longer able to brew due to physical limitations), and encourage people to get into the hobby.
Thankfully, stores like Wine Kitz in Halifax have been doing this for years to serve this population.

I wonder if Noble Grape will make any attempts at U-Brew kits (ie, brew on in-house gear)? People are willing to pay a $50 premium on their boxes of wine to store them there, I imagine something similar could be worked out for beer.

NG is running brew on premise in various locations.