I have a 20 lb tank and the honest truth is that I have had it in continuous operation, on the original fill, since April of last year. I have a old Beverage Air kegerator that hold 4 kegs and have used it for a mixture of force carbing and dispensing kegs all the time. I would expect that it is getting low and will need to be refilled soon, just because.
I would say that with my system that I do the majority of my carbonating using one of several other smaller Co2 tanks that I have. In addition to my kegerator, I have a refrigerator that is dedicated to beer and where I put kegs to chill and carb. At least that is what I do now, was not always the case. But I have 3 smaller Co2 tanks in addition to some paintball tanks that I use for everything from pushing cleaner thru beer lines to pushing sanitizer thru my CFC. Takes a lot of the pressure off of the main tank I guess.
Well
I have used starsan on them and could not find anything but after I posted this post last night, I went to go get a homebrew and the guage was on its way down. I did fill a keg a week ago and had some trouble with the air release and thinking that is the problem. However, apparently I never got it fixed as I have 3 kegs on tap and I used an entire 20lb bottle on 3 or 4 kegs. I have it in town to get filled so will get it tomorrow, so will have to do some real leak searching. I tried it before, however how does one check the connectors? I squirt some all over the place and it just didnt work the way I thought it should, so I used soapy water, and same result.
I had this problem before before and couldn’t trace it down. I finally brought out my flashlight and magnifying glass and there it was, a very small leek in my line from a not so tight worm clamp. With that said, your problem could be from the tap itself. A plastic baggie might help, either taped or rubber banded around the faucet it will balloon up if it is leeking. Remember, check everything! From the regulater gauges , the stem, the lines, all the keg fittings and the tap itself. Dont use soapy water, starsan will do same thing, the same ratio you use to sanitize with. There is a leek somewhere and you will find it. Have a homebrew and go a searching. Cheers and Beers!
[quote=“560sdl”]I have a 20 lb tank and the honest truth is that I have had it in continuous operation, on the original fill, since April of last year. I have a old Beverage Air kegerator that hold 4 kegs and have used it for a mixture of force carbing and dispensing kegs all the time. I would expect that it is getting low and will need to be refilled soon, just because.
I would say that with my system that I do the majority of my carbonating using one of several other smaller Co2 tanks that I have. In addition to my kegerator, I have a refrigerator that is dedicated to beer and where I put kegs to chill and carb. At least that is what I do now, was not always the case. But I have 3 smaller Co2 tanks in addition to some paintball tanks that I use for everything from pushing cleaner thru beer lines to pushing sanitizer thru my CFC. Takes a lot of the pressure off of the main tank I guess.[/quote]
This.
I get about 1.5-2 years of dispensing out of a 20 pound tank, about 40-45 kegs. I force carb with some 5 pounders that are easier to move around.
Another question on kegging. Remember I am new at this. I used to bottle and letting set in the bottle the beer was always clear. Now that I started kegging, it comes out cloudy. I can say there are some off tastes. So then I had some in a keg for almost a week, and it cleared up and tasted so much better. I typically 2 weeks primary and 1 week secondary. I am assuming I need to spend more time in secondary, but any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I use clarity fern on all my beers (celiac situation) and I got some irish moss that I ordered on my last order but forgot to use on my last batch of beer which was brewed last weekend.
Is there something better then one of these two products and I will add it to my next order. It was really disappointing last evening when I poured a pitcher of beer to go to neighbors to work on my sons car and ran out of my nice clear speckled hiefer and tapped the new keg to find it so cloudy I could not begin to see thru it. Almost looked like orange juice. It was 2 weeks primary, 1` week secondary and a week in the keg. So I tried the other tap of irish blonde ale which was the same with the exception of only 4 days in keg.
kevlee67, how long have your kegs been in one place before you are pouring a glass/pitcher?
If you just moved them from a closet to the fridge/freezer, no matter how carefully done, you have disturbed the sediment on the bottom. After a week or so they should start to clear.
Hello
Typically a week in a keg is how long my last one was and they just kept getting clearer. And a few pints left rule…oh how true that is…okay so I have 4 kegs and only room for 3 in my fridge…if I leave one set at room temp for a week (with co2 to it)will this clear the beer up?
Now when your giving me advice, you have to remember I am a hillbilly from ND. I get the barley from the neighbor, I malt my own barley which is a whole nother story. I would gladly buy malted barley but the freight is way high. I dont make it to the cities hardly at all, in fact trying to make it the 15 miles to the local town is a chore in of itself for me. (once or twice a month maybe???) So keep in mind, I am getting lower ag from my beers more then likely cause of my malting practices.
Went to work this morning at 9am, its sunday, sleep in a bit, work til 11 when the next guy show up, which should have been his job but its bean time…he asks if I am unhooking the batwing, I say ya, we be combining beans tomorrow and its not even hooked up…he say, well I will go check my deer stands then, then half hour later another guy shows up, he asks “norm helping you?” I say i hope so, and he grumbles and leaves, so I move the tires on the tractor myself, took til 2pm…(a job which we typically have 2 to 4 people on…) I get piss off and say, I am going home to make more beer so that is what I have just started…
Today is possibly my last day off til we are done with corn harvest and hard telling when that will be, but a few years ago it was dec 4, and this year prolly first part of oct…so my last chance to make a batch of beer…so I have much time for advice on how to make clearer beer. I prolly wont have results for some time though…just letting you know. I plan to try as many results as I can get though…80 to 100 hour work weeks are not very conducive to making beer.
I also have been wondering and I dont know the terms about the part where you start with 120 degree water and work your way up to the 150 degree water, whatever terms those are.
Like I mentioned in my last post, it is how long the keg sits in it’s final spot the will determine it’s clarity. When you move it, you disturb the yeast and proteins that have settled to the bottom of the keg again.
The raising of the temp is called “step mashing” . Normally not needed with today’s malts. But if you are malting your own it may be beneficial???
So Mr Nighthawk,
I see your from SE SD. Okay that may explain a bit, why your taking all this time to explain all this stuff to a former SDan.
I so appreciate all of your time you have spent replying to my messages. I still consider myself a south dakotan, even though I moved north. So south east part of state, well if you dont know the name of the town it must me close to sf…
Ya think this batch of beer, well, had some issues with the malting of it, well after I gave it the hour rest, it kinda come out looking like mud…so will see what this one does…malting this batch of barley was a challenge for me, Nothing seemed to work correctly, although I am not sure what correctly is.
I did try to connect with the ND club you posted, will wait, I sent.
If your near hartford and know my uncle and aunt LeRoy and Mary Hieser tell them hi.
Thanx again and look forward to hearing more from you.
So Mr Nighthawk,
I see your from SE SD. Okay that may explain a bit, why your taking all this time to explain all this stuff to a former SDan.
I so appreciate all of your time you have spent replying to my messages. I still consider myself a south dakotan, even though I moved north. So south east part of state, well if you dont know the name of the town it must me close to sf…
Ya think this batch of beer, well, had some issues with the malting of it, well after I gave it the hour rest, it kinda come out looking like mud…so will see what this one does…malting this batch of barley was a challenge for me, Nothing seemed to work correctly, although I am not sure what correctly is.
I did try to connect with the ND club you posted, will wait, I sent.
If your near hartford and know my uncle and aunt LeRoy and Mary Hieser tell them hi.
Thanx again and look forward to hearing more from you.
Okay Mr Nighthawk,
If I were to step mash what are your suggestions? PLEASE BE DETAILED…I like to try things new and really need to brew while i have time…wont start a new batch tonite but, I need to try something different, to get my beer to where it used to be. A rainy day may give me the chance but that is unlikely. I need info so that when I have a time, I can brew. I have to sleep 6 hours a day. My oldest broke his leg last weekend while helping me siding a garage. Have a house to tear down, part of it to move, my time is limited. brewing beer is my passion.
I see northern brew has drastically cut the price of the malting barley. Also change the $7.99 basic shipping. I put my order in tonite for a 100 lbs of rahr 2 row. Malting my own has been fun and I will keep going as I got 40 bushels of barley for free, however, the buck a pound price, even with the freight just is awesome.
This is the only advice I can offer for step mashing. I don’t do it myself. And it’s extremely difficult to do with a picnic cooler. You really need a recirculating system to keep from scorching your grain or overshooting the temps.
