Hey again guys, me with more questions lol. Im trying to move from bottling to kegging, washing, cleaning and sanitizing 50 or 60 bottles is just too much for me, is fun, when youre done. But i wanna know if any of you have a guide or something i can read or watch to know what i need to buy for a kegging system? I know abput the corny keg 5gl the co2 but is all blur for me, is there any guide like kegging for dummies or something like that ypu can recommend? And btw any guide about the whole force carbonation process and all? If its too much to ask im really sorry, theres so much info around and im kind of lost. Dont wanna ended up buying a bunch of items that i dont need. To force carb the beer must be cold or you can force carb at room temp? 75 to 80F? Because i cant afford a kegerator atm and im thinking of building a jockey box but i dont know if thw beer to carb needs to be cold. Tx in advance.
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/attachments/0000/1312/Summerzym95-Kegging_How-To.pdf You can carbonate at any temperature. But the higher the temperature, the higher the pressure needed. Here's one of dozens (hundreds?) of charts that shows you how much pressure you need at any given temperature to equilibrate at a given volume of CO2. http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php Some people think it takes more CO2 to carbonate at higher temps. It doesn't. It just takes higher pressure to force the same amount of CO2 into the beer.
Building a jockey box really isn't cheap after getting that stainless steel tubing. A used mini fridge, or chest freezer can be found for free to $50 if you look hard enough / have patience. Look at Craigslist, and Facebook groups for buy / sell in your area. An added bonus of having a keezer / mini fridge is you will be able to have active temperature control during fermentation. That having been said; the process of carbonating and serving beer is so much easier if you keep it cold after fermentation. If you keg warm, store warm, and serve from a jockey box; it will take longer to carbonate, you won't have the nice effect of cold conditioning, and you will have to juggle changing the PSI. The PSI will have to be quite high to carbonate the warm beer. But to serve it from a jockey box you will have to turn it down very low. If you don't remember to turn the PSI back up when you are done, your been may lose some carbonation. It creates a new set of problems. I think it would be easier in the long term if you just keep your eyes peeled for a fridge / freezer.
That having been said: you need a keg sanke, or Cornelius. If you go Cornelius you need to choose ball lock, or pin lock. You need a CO2 bottle. I suggest not getting anything smaller than 10 pounds. CO2 tanks often work like propane; you buy one, and exchange it when it's low. I do this with a welding shop near me. You need a regulator. CO2 hose. Beer line. Fittings (stainless, and pin lock / ball lock / sanke). And a faucet. What size / type of, cooler / fridge etc will dictate what you have room for. So again I suggest you sort out what you will be serving from first - jockey box, fridge, or freezer.
I don't advocate a Jockey Box as an everyday keezer substitute, but you don't have to turn the pressure down to use one. Normally, you have to turn it way up (compared to a typical keezer dispensing system, and even compared to the pressure needed for room temp carbonation), because of the added resistance of the long coil.
Really.. That makes sense, but I could have sworn that I had been told / read somewhere to turn the psi down to like,... 2. This was to prevent foaming, and allow adequate cool time with the ice / not push the beer too fast so as that it does not chill down.
Here is your how to for a jockey box @Jos3h2r Also : http://byo.com/malt/item/367-build-a-draft-jockey-box-projects From what I've read, copper will work, but stainless is really the way to go.
Ya, unless you are making perfectly clear been and were meticulous (and I don't do any of those things myself), I would be worried about clogging the plate chiller. Tubing is what I would use if it were me.
You guys are the best. Tx, once again, for all the comments. Ill work on this now. Im considering the keezer now that you put it that way
Don't use copper with beer. Really, that is not acceptable. Beer is not water. It is specifically prohibited in US health code in fact. My two cents, don't go with a j-box. It is not a solution to draft dispense at home. A jockey box solves a short term problem of serving beer without having to haul a refrigeration unit. Ice and the box can be set up anywhere. But you have electricity, and you don't want to be buying ice, bags of it, everyday. And emptying water. And foam. And no temp control. Build or buy a kegerators. Trust me on this. Plenty of threads over at Home Bar forum. Cheers.
