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Anyone have experience with these? Done a fair bit of reading up online and I'm thinking these could be an (expensive!) solution to a few issues I've been having.
1) Bottling - hate it. I love every other aspect of brewing but find bottling really monotonous. On the surface cornies seem much quicker/simpler - sanitise then rack and you're done. Unless I'm missing some hidden faffage with them?
2) Storage - I live in a flat and storing loads of empty and full bottles is a pain in the arse. Yeah, I can box and stack them, but it looks untidy - I'm thinking 2 or 3 kegs and a CO2 bottle isn't going to take up much floorspace or much effort if I need to move them.
3) Oxidisation - this has shortened the lifespan (I think) of a few beers and made a couple of brews rather mediocre. Am I right in thinking that by kegging you can fill the keg with CO2 first then top it off virtually eliminating any danger of oxidisation? Also you can use the same principle to bottle from the keg after if required?
The main problem I can foresee is that I wouldn't have room for a fridge to chill the kegs so probably would have to prime with sugar rather than force carbonate (unless I could do it at a higher pressure to compensate for the higher temperature?). Also is dispensing going to be a problem without chilling the beer? I've seen inline chillers that you can put in before the party tap.
I've got about 8 of them 😯
You can keep beer for ages in cornies, I don't bother with filling with CO2 first. Just make sure all the air is purged after the cornie is filled and the lid sealed.
I tend to rack bright beer to the cornie to avoid lots of sediment stirring up when the keg is moved. If you prime in the keg then you will get lots of sediment and this will come into the glass if you move the cornie about.
I'm used to "southern style" ales so not fussed about masses of carbonation and beers you could stick a flake in 😉
I've always used them. As you say a reasonably simple method to get beer to belly quickly and it keeps OK if you are careful in the way you clean and get the beer in.
If possible I would try and build a kegerator for them, you can get two cornys and a 3.5kg gas bottle in a small fridge. You can of course just use them at room temp for cask beers. I've done both with success both ways. You will find with CO2 that you can force carb the beer in the keg , put a drop of Co2 in before you rack the beer in then purge the headspace, roll the keg on the floor with your reg set to 20psi and it will push gas into the beer, purge a bit out then do a bit more. reset your reg to about 15psi and leave it for 24h, then you need to work out your line length to get the delivery pressure. With a kegerator you bang two taps in the front or the top. Other way is with a beer engine for cask beers.
Good point, didn't think about that.If you prime in the keg then you will get lots of sediment and this will come into the glass if you move the cornie about.
I'll have a measure up when I get home. Clearly this is the ideal solution, just not sure that I have the space!If possible I would try and build a kegerator for them, you can get two cornys and a 3.5kg gas bottle in a small fridge.
Have you filled up bottles/growlers from your kegs? Is that easy enough?
You can get pressure bottlers. I sometimes decanted beer into plastic flagons for parties etc and its fine as long as you drink it all.