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A minimum setup consists of the following items:
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The soda keg is the heart of your new kegging system. You can choose from pin-lock or ball
lock kegs. I like ball-lock. Having worked in a restaurant years ago which used coke kegs, I
determined that they weren't for me! (Tore my hands up on the pins fumbling with the fittings...)
As luck would have it, they also suited my refrigerator - Coke kegs are shorter than are Pepsi
kegs. 'Course, they're also fatter... Back |
| The CO2 cylinder is secondary only to the keg. Without it, there
would be no force carbonation of the brew, though carbonated beer could still be gravity tapped
or air-pressure tapped. Unfortunately, employing either requires that the beer be consumed
completely at tapping to avoid staling! These cylinders are available in many sizes. Anything over 20 lbs is impractical for home use. Most popular are the 20, 10 and 5 pound cylinders.
Be sure to chain it up so that it can't fall over... Back |
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A CO2 cylinder requires a CO2 regulator.
These are available in no-, single-, and dual-gauge versions. No-gauge units are not
recommended, and are getting more rare to find. Single-gauge units will show you what pressure
you're delivering to the keg. Dual-gauge units show all that single gauge units do, but also give
you an idea as to the volume of gas left in the keg. Some argue that this is worthless - that once
the liquid CO2 is exhausted, the pressure (and gas) in the cylinder drop
very rapidly from there. In my experience, I get a week or so warning by watching the gauge. But,
yeah: it does drop quickly when at all - it'll take a year to budge, but a week to empty! Also,
putting the cylinder in the fridge will cause the bottle pressure gauge to drop slightly from its
room temperature reading. Back |
| You'll also need a gas-in connector and a beverage-out connector (either pin- or ball-lock) to
fit your keg. These are available with built-in barb fittings, and with male threads for swivel nuts;
in plastic, steel or (in the case of most pin lock connectors) plastic and stainless steel. I prefer
those that have the male threads for the swivel nuts. This affords some extra flexibility in your
draft system. (A ball-lock connector is shown.) Back |
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A faucet is required as well! The basic system will use a "Cobra" picnic faucet. These are
similar to those used on coffee urns like you see in hotels, churches, cafeterias - only, instead of
being threaded to fit into the side of a tank, they have a barb fitting on the base.
The faucet is connected via tubing to the beverage out connector. |
| Tubing is what ties it all up for us. We use 3/16" ID BEER HOSE, as it is typically called, on the beverage out fitting. Food grade tubing is different than beer tubing. Apparently, beer tubing provides a greater resistance to the flow of beer than does food grade tubing. (Don't ask me how! I don't know!) Also beer hose has a thicker wall than does food grade.
We use 5/16" ID CO2 or GAS HOSE on the gas in fitting.
Better gas hose is usually opaque and colored. The color used will vary with the company that
made it. Clear tubing is available and provides a visual check if you're worried about beer making its way up the
gas line (not likely, if you're careful). |
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There are a few different types of clamps available for securing the hoses to the barb fittings
used in the system. Best are the "ear"-type clamps. The double-ear clamps are made from a single band of metal. A crimper is used on the "ears" to clamp the hose to the fitting. The single ear clamps can be a band or a linked strap with a single ear. They are tightened and function similarly to the double-ear clamps. These puppies are permanent - they must be cut off to remove. Next are the Worm-gear clamps. These are tightened by turning a screw which draws a "threaded" metal band through a threaded transport. One drawback to their use is that the thread slots will emboss into the hose - sometimes deeply enough to result in leaks.
Finally, we have those plastic "removable" clamps. In my opinion, these suck. They are difficult
and painful to close tightly by hand, but if you use pliers, they become very difficult to remove.
Save these for attaching racking hose to racking canes and other things you'll typically need to
take apart for cleaning or other uses. A well constructed picnic-style draft system should never
have to be disassembled. |
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Last updated 7/11/96 |