I am brewing 20 gallons of a cali common for a friends wedding this summer. I normally bottle as I have no money or room for a kegging system but bottling 20 gallons will take so many bottles and time that I thought I would try to get some kegs and prime with sugar so I don’t have to lay hands on a CO2 system. so my question is can one get a 20 gallon keg? and is it reasonable to do this and push with air? I know this will mean that we have to drink up all the beer so perhaps 4 5 gallon kegs would be better. opinions? Also in another post someone mentioned a little CO2 system that is just used to push the beer out might that work even better?
can you borrow a CO2 system?
That would be better. Who do you know that has one?
Yeah I have been thinking about that. I might ask at the homebrew club. Maybe I can even find someone to lend me the kegs. even better!
anyone out there in teh vacaville CA area that wants to help out? maybe a rental situation?
My club will rent a jockey box (which would be handy) and co2 to a member for free I think but there is a fairly high deposit. I would be surprised if a lot of clubs didn’t do that.
Well the next meeting is on the 18th so I will find out then. not technically a member till then as I havn’t paid my dues
I can’t find a picture of one right now, but if you borrow a couple of 5 gallon kegs and prime the beer with sugar, you can get a little CO2 adapter that fits onto the gas in fitting. One small charge should push all the beer in a keg. Minimal expense and you would only need a cobra tap and the kegs.
here’s a link Soda Keg CO2 Charger
if this is just for the wedding, ie one time, and all the beer is likely to be consumed, sure you could use air. especially if you only do one 5er at a time and not spoil one that doesn’t get tapped. however, getting a decent air source i think would be more of a hassle than co2. i would find a welding or gas supply shop and borrow, rent for the day. you will be much better off, then if one is not consumed bottle the rest and cap right on the foam out of the keg.
Those are great to push kegs once they are carbed. I HIGHLY recommend adding this in the middle though, to control your serving pressure. The first time I used the little charger I was foaming and having a hard time keeping a good pressure, but put this in the middle and then you can simply add little pulses of CO2 as needed to keep your kegs at a steady pressure and enjoy nice pours
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/bleeder-valve.html
Better borrow some hand trucks to go with it. ;D
More like a fork lift. 180 pounds plus.