Below is a link to another video from kegconnection on how to use the proprietary pin valve regulator for smaller (i.e.: 20oz or any paintball style) CO2 tanks.
Couplers / Taps Selection Sheet
April 28, 2009 By 1 Comment
Countless times I have gone to the local liquor store with my taste buds watering to try a brand new keg of some local or imported beer. Problem is, 95% of the time I have to rent one of their taps because mine at home just aren’t suited for what I am buying. While renting taps isn’t too costly, neither is owning them! So here is an ever growing list, thanks to Kegconnection, of popular beers and the taps which will make your lines flow. Just click below to view our PDF!
http://www.draftbeerinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/BEERlist.pdf
How To Force Carbonate Your Keg of Beer!
February 19, 2009 By 5 Comments
Force carbonating can be a great way to enjoy your keg faster than it would normally take. But for some of us newbies, it doesn’t seem like the easiest task to try. But, thanks to kegconnection.com, we have some handy instructions with the ENTIRE word document for download at the bottom of the page!
Force Carbonating Instructions
“How to force Carbonate your keg of beer!”
Force Carbonating your keg of beer is very easy; most people seem to try to make this harder than it is!Basically you want to follow the following steps:
- Put your beer in the keg. You do this the same way as you would your secondary fermentor.Most people have some time of gravity hose system they use.Put your siphon hose to the bottom of the keg so you don’t oxygenate your beer.The most important part of this process is to keep everything clean and sanitized! See my keg cleaning and sanitizing Link for more on this.Treat the keg the same as your secondary fermentor when it comes to sanitizing. When the keg is full, put on the lid and put about 20# of CO2 in tank.Then turn off CO2 and relieve the pressure.Do this about 3 times to remove oxygen and replace with a blanket of CO2 on the top.This will keep your beer from going bad to fast and should give you several months or longer to enjoy your beer (depending on the style)Leave about 15#of pressure on the keg while you cool overnight.
- Cool down your keg, a cool keg is an easy to carbonate keg.I usually leave mine in the refrigerator overnight and then carbonate in the morning.This gives the keg time to settle before you serve.(unless you are a morning drinker, in which case I can recommend AA meetings in your area)
- Once the keg is cool, hook back up to your CO2 system and crank it up to 25 or 30 LBS of pressure.Roll it on its side back and forth (or rock it on your knees with a towel on your knees for the cold) for about 6 min.Check your beer a couple of hours later and it should be ready to serve. If it is still not carbonated enough repeat process above for another 3-5 min.
- When serving release pressure from your keg and pressurize to between 10 and 15 PSI.If you are getting too much foam reduce the pressure.
Beer Line Cleaning Instructions
February 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Another great instructional from kegconnection.com! This time it is for your line cleaning and, whether you go through kegconnection or whomever, we all know this has to be done! If you click the link at the bottom, not only will it allow you to view the full word document, but it also comes with a pictures to help walk you through a diligent line cleaning!
Line Cleaning Kit Instructions,
Gravity Feed Kit
Cleaning your beer lines in 10 easy steps!
1.
Mix one gallon of warm water and one ounce (one rounded tablespoon) of (BLC) Beer Line Cleaner in a bucket, (“Straight A” or “PBW” cleaner also works well). Water should be 100 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, (hot water out of your tap should work well, most hot water heaters are set between 130 and 140), Stir well to completely dissolve powder.
2.Turn off your CO2 tank and/or regulator valve.Remove faucet from your tower using the enclosed faucet wrench (see 1st photo on Right). You will also want to remove the air hose from your coupler (tap that goes on the keg).
3.
Screw end of hose to threaded shank from which your faucet was removed. (see 2nd photo).
4.Disassemble faucet and place in bucket with remaining hot solution (see 3rd photo of faucet disassembled). Brush is enclosed to brush inside of faucet spout.
5.Remove cap from the top of the cleaning kit bottle and fill with hot cleaning solution. Leave sitting upright so solution does not drain.
6.
Place bucket with remaining solution and hold your couple over bucket.Push ball lifter (wire with yellow handle) in from bottom of coupler as shown in 4th photo.
7.Hold bottle in the air and let about ½ of the solution drain from the bucket (5th photo).Remove ball lifter and then place bottle back on counter.This should leave line full of solution.Let solution set in line for about 1 hour.During the same time leave the coupler and faucet soaking in the bucket.
8.At the end of the hour re-insert ball lifter and run remaining solution through the lines.
9.Pour out solution and replace with clean water in bucket and bottle.Flush line and parts with water.
10.Remove bottle and re-assemble faucet (use 3rd photo as guide). Re-install faucet and air line to coupler.You are ready to use your system again!
Keg Cleaning/Sanitizing Instructions
February 19, 2009 By 2 Comments
Brought to you by Kegconnection.com, here are some instructions for cleaning and sanitizing your kegs! Click the link at the bottom of the page to download the Word Document!
Keg Cleaning and Sanitizing Instructions
Congratulations on the purchase of your 5-gallon Ball Lock Keg.Before you use your keg you need to do an initial through cleaning.If you purchased your keg from Kegconnection we have already cleaned the keg, so you can skip to “Sanitizing” for your first use!
Keg Cleaning
- Relieve all of the pressure by pulling up on release valve on top of lid.
- Open large lid by pulling up on metal tab and pushing down on lid.
- Remove the lid.
- First rinse your keg out with fresh water (a hose with a nozzle attached works well, hold the keg upside down and spray in circular pattern)
- Measure out one rounded tablespoon of Straight A and put in tank.
- Fill tank with hot water (100 to 160F).Hot water from your kitchen or bathroom tap will work fine
- Depress poppet valve on In and Out posts with a sharp object.This will allow cleaning mixture to replace the air in the tube.
- Drop lid and lid O-ring into tank and let soak for at least 45 minutes.
- Remove water and thoroughly rinse tank inside and out.
Your tank is now clean.I recommend greasing your O-rings and sealing at this point.If you can pressurize the tank with CO-2 this would be a good idea.
Sanitizing before filling with beer or soda
Before filling your keg with beer or soda you will want to use the one step cleaner (or Star San) to sanitize your keg.This is a very simple process.Mix up one gallon of One-Step or Star San and pour into keg.Gently shake the keg up and down to make sure solution is reaching all parts of the keg.I generally do this for about one minute.You can then open the lid and pour out the solution.There is no need to rinse after One Step, but make sure you get the liquid out of the keg.Your keg is now ready to fill with beer (or soda).
Disassembling Keg for Thorough Cleaning
Many people like to completely disassemble their kegs for a thorough cleaning.This is easy to do.Find a proper sized deep socket for your posts.The size varies from keg to keg so I would recommend taking your keg to the hardware store with you if you don’t already have a set of deep sockets.Unscrew the posts and place them in a solution of Straight A.You can now pull out the dip tubes.The one on the gas side is very short and the one of the liquid side extends to the bottom of the tank.They have O-rings where they attach to the posts.(Make sure you remember what post and tube goes in which hole.)
Some people like to replace the O-rings because of a fear of the beer gaining a soda taste or because they want to make sure they don’t have a failure due to old O-rings.To replace the O-rings simply remove the two O-rings from the dip tubes, the posts and the large single O-ring from the lid.Lightly grease the O-rings with food grade O-ring lubricant.After replacing the O-rings reseal your keg and pressurize.
Always keep a set of O-rings in stock in case you have a bad O-ring!
Other helpful hints and suggestions:
Leakage from post valves
If you are experiencing leakage from you post valves do the following in order, stopping the process when the leak stops.
1.Pressurize the keg and then depress the valve with a pointed object.Depress it well and let go quickly.Usually the leak will stop. Warning, if you do this with liquid in the keg (often necessary) liquid will come out and spray on you.
- Remove the posts as described above in the thorough cleaning section.Take valve apart (not always possible, some valve assemblies are welded) and very lightly grease rubber part of stem.Clean valve in thoroughly in a PBW solution, re-assemble, cross fingers (for luck of course) and pressurize.Depress valve several times to make sure you get a good seal.
Leakage from lid
Take lid off; make sure the lid lip, keg lip and O-ring are very clean.Lightly grease the O-ring and replace.Make sure lid is properly aligned and close tab.Rock closed lid back and forth to make sure it has a good seal.
If this does not work you may need a new lid O-ring.I usually replace all O-rings at the same time.
Cleaning your beer lines
Have you been looking at one of those beer line-cleaning kits? Guess what, you already have one. When you clean out your keg with “Brew Clean” just run about half of the solution back through your keg and then let the solution set in your lines for about an hour.Then run the remainder of the solution through the lines.When you are done rinse your tank and fill with clean water.Run the water through the lines to flush out the “Brew Clean”. As you run the Brew Clean solution through your lines let it drain into a bucket. Then remove your faucets, disassemble and let the faucets soak in the solution in the bucket while lines are soaking.. (Just send a check for half of what I saved you in purchasing a line cleaning kit to “Kegconnection” to show your gratitude)
Enjoy your keg and the wonderful homebrew you fill it with!If you have questions email us at help@kegconnection.com . We are here to help you! I would appreciate any feedback you have on these instructions, good, bad or indifferent.
Visit www.kegconnection.com for O-ring sets, Straight A, One-Step, Star San food safe O-ring Lubricant and anything else you need for your kegs.
Connecting your Disconnects
When working with disconnects, always remember that “IN” is for GAS, and “OUT” is for LIQUID. It is easy to get careless and quickly attach disconnects, but when attaching the “IN” to LIQUID or “OUT” to GAS, it will become extremely difficult to remove them. So, always remember to read which post you are working with BEFORE applying the disconnects.
“IN”=GAS (GREY)
“OUT”=LIQUID (BLACK)
Installing a refridgerator shank!
February 17, 2009 By 2 Comments
Thanks to the kegconnection for supplying this great visual instruction on installing a shank to convert your fridge into a kegerator!