The Beer Engine arrived!

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Bsquared

Bsquared

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I told my wife this summer, "If you and your parents want to get me one present this year, this is what I want" and showed her a link on ebay for a guy selling used beer engine's from the UK. On Christmas day I got a big box...with a picture of a beer engine. Turns out they bought it but it got stuck in customs in SF and then sent back to the UK. But Today it got here!

I gave it a pull and it has good suction, and sputters out of the spigot . It even smells like fresh beer! The handle is Porcelain the brass, and the stand is walnut, I think. The manufacture is England Worthside LTD.

I'm supper stoked, Going to brew an English IPA this weekend after the Quad I have planed!
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Congrats! I want one. The rocket hand pump I am using is ok, but it takes like 20 pulls to fill an imperial pint and makes a lot of foam.
 
Sweet! I wasn't sure I'd ever see another Worthside this side of the pond. I bought mine a few years ago on ebay. If yours is like mine, the base is Mahogany (looks like it from the photos). Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to use mine in a permanent install yet, and I've only drawn about 10 gallons thru it. But I love it and can't wait to get the pub built so I can give it a permanent home. I encourage you to check out this site: http://biohazard.veriqikdsl.com/page15.html. These folks have done a great job researching and experimenting to get the best real ale experience from equipment we have commonly available here. If you don't want to spend $100 on a real cask breather, you can use an LP low pressure regulator (get a single stage one from an RV dealer). 11" Water Column, just a tad over atmospheric pressure, but you'll never be able to tell the difference, and you can get one under $20. Works great!

Congrats! I guarantee you'll love it :fro:

MrH
 
MrH said:
Sweet! I wasn't sure I'd ever see another Worthside this side of the pond. I bought mine a few years ago on ebay. If yours is like mine, the base is Mahogany (looks like it from the photos). Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to use mine in a permanent install yet, and I've only drawn about 10 gallons thru it. But I love it and can't wait to get the pub built so I can give it a permanent home. I encourage you to check out this site: http://biohazard.veriqikdsl.com/page15.html. These folks have done a great job researching and experimenting to get the best real ale experience from equipment we have commonly available here. If you don't want to spend $100 on a real cask breather, you can use an LP low pressure regulator (get a single stage one from an RV dealer). 11" Water Column, just a tad over atmospheric pressure, but you'll never be able to tell the difference, and you can get one under $20. Works great!

Congrats! I guarantee you'll love it :fro:

MrH
Click to expand...

I was good on it up until they used a sparkler! :cross: Really though, that was an interesting read. Made me realize I need to get my pseudo cask beer to temp before venting.

How much are these things on eBay? I may have to try to wrestle one up.
 
I can't speak for the OP, but I had to search for a while and got lucky on ebay when I found a UK seller willing to ship to the US. If you go to ebay.co.uk, you can almost always find one, but most won't ship outside the UK. I had to go back and search to find my old paypal receipt. Keep in mind this was '05 when exchange rates were better, but I paid £106.00 total. £41 for the pump, and another £65 for shipping. Expensive, yes. Worth it? Absolutely! Then again, you could always get a refurbished one for $400 :eek:
 
Thanks for the info MrH, thats a good site. I'm really excited to get this set up. Though i think I ran into a little problem that may be you can help me out with. after I unpacked the Engine I tried pumping a little sanitizer through it. It worked great for about 1/2 a gallon then I lost the vacuum, then the pump stopped working. Do you know if I can replace the gaskets on the in side? or know of a site where parts are sold? I contacted Worthside, and will contact the seller soon to see if he has some suggestions.

I noticed the unit was last serviced in 2005, so I would not be too surprised if an internal gasket failed.
 
Mine has been in storage for a year now, but I never experienced any problems with the draw. I did open it up when I first got it to see how it worked and how difficult it looked like it would be to service since I knew eventually I'd probably need to replace seals. I don't remember that it looked overly complex, but it's been a while. I'm off tomorrow and I can look at it again. I'm pretty sure the main seal was one big o-ring, and o-rings are easy to find in any size and material you need.

MrH
 
I NEED ONE OF THESE!

omg... I thought a stout faucet/tower was going to be the next addition but I have seen the light!
 
Originally Posted by Gremlyn1 View Post
When's the real ale party going to be?
I'll bring the chips!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

I'm shooting for the 28th of February, If I can get it back up an running. I have emailed the Manufacture in England and they are being helpful, and are going to get me in contact with one of their technicians to talk to. I'm sure it must be a blown o-ring, and i should be able to track one down from Mcmaster Carr.

Thanks Mr H for looking at yours.
Do you remember how to open up the engine, I was monkey'n around with it last night but did not want to put too much strain on it till I have a better idea how it comes apart. ae04400 copy.jpg
Does the bottom inlet unscrew from the engine?
 
I got a hold of a guy David from Worthside, who was supper helpful and explaned how to take apart the Engine and what to look for that would be causing the problem. He said that the gaskets should be good because the the stickers on the unit said it was last serviced in 2005,and they last a while.

I wish i had a camera but SWMBO took it up north to LA, Sorry. But Turns out the base screws right off with a bit of force. and the main piston slides right out. There is a one way valve in the bottom inlet that stops beer from pouring back down the line, and valve in the piston that closes to draw beer in and opens to direct beer out the spigot.

As I was getting it apart I noticed lots of little bug carcases. and as I got it further apart I could see the valves where stuck open because of all the dead bugs.

I have It soaking in some Oxyclean and hot water. The good thing was all the gaskets looked good, and once the bugs where knocked loose the valves worked fine.

Next thing to do will be to brew a eIPA, and set up a LP Co2 return line, and set up a mini fridge to house the keg at 55.
 
Bsquared said:
I got a hold of a guy David from Worthside, who was supper helpful and explaned how to take apart the Engine and what to look for that would be causing the problem. He said that the gaskets should be good because the the stickers on the unit said it was last serviced in 2005,and they last a while.

I wish i had a camera but SWMBO took it up north to LA, Sorry. But Turns out the base screws right off with a bit of force. and the main piston slides right out. There is a one way valve in the bottom inlet that stops beer from pouring back down the line, and valve in the piston that closes to draw beer in and opens to direct beer out the spigot.

As I was getting it apart I noticed lots of little bug carcases. and as I got it further apart I could see the valves where stuck open because of all the dead bugs.

I have It soaking in some Oxyclean and hot water. The good thing was all the gaskets looked good, and once the bugs where knocked loose the valves worked fine.

Next thing to do will be to brew a eIPA, and set up a LP Co2 return line, and set up a mini fridge to house the keg at 55.
Click to expand...

gross! but at least it is working.
 
Hillbilly_Bill said:
Now that you have it all cleaned up and serviced...
How much do you want for it?

:mug:
Click to expand...

Ha ha not for sale just yet.

I was cleaning out the brew room today, and remembered I had an in line water filter I got with my march pump that I never used. I'm thinking I'm going to make a Randal for the engine. I really think a cask pulled hoppy beer is second to none, so Imparting some fresh hop in the line might be quite awesome.

Party is set for the last weekend of February, lets break this thing in!
 
I reassembled it today an gave it a good coat of food grade lubricant, and it is working great. I think i will keg a Chocolate stout tonight with priming sugar for 1.5% CO2. Then I can try it out next weekend!
 
Bsquared said:
I reassembled it today an gave it a good coat of food grade lubricant, and it is working great. I think i will keg a Chocolate stout tonight with priming sugar for 1.5% CO2. Then I can try it out next weekend!
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Awesome!! How/where is it mounted? Doesn't look like it can sand on it own. Looked like you clamp it to something....?
 
IrregularPulse said:
Awesome!! How/where is it mounted? Doesn't look like it can sand on it own. Looked like you clamp it to something....?
Click to expand...

Exactly, It clamps to a counter top and has one inlet on the bottom. here is a little video of it at work.I was just pumping water through it testing it out.

I plan on building it a little enclosure, or attaching it to a mini fridge.I'll keep you posted.

 
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That thing is foxy! Do you plan on serving from a corny, or are you going to use a pin and cask breather?

I've only ever served via gravity from my pin, but I sure would use it a lot more if I had a pump and a breather!
 
Jaysus said:
That thing is foxy! Do you plan on serving from a corny, or are you going to use a pin and cask breather?

I've only ever served via gravity from my pin, but I sure would use it a lot more if I had a pump and a breather!
Click to expand...

My plan is to serve from a 5 gallon corny for now, I think I am going to set up a one way valve attached to a 20µm filter as a keg breather for parties where the keg will have a good chance to be finished, as for daily use I want to set up a Cask aspirator. MrH talked about it earlier in this thread, It is basically a low pressure gas regulator that you hook up in line to the keg. It provides 11in of pressure to the keg, so there is a blanket of CO2 protecting the beer. Its not a true real ale, but I should not drink a keg in 3 days. I know I can but really should not.

So I've been doing some looking around and I guess the big question is...

Sparkler or no Sparkler?
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Yes, I have ordered a set of replacement gaskets from the UK, and a set of 3 different sized sparklers. I've read that they help out a lot.
 
arturo7 said:
Pardon the noob-ish question but, what's a sparkler?
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I did not know ether until a few months ago when I started looking in to this. It is a tip that goes on the end of the goose neck spout. It has lots of little holes to spray the beer out and aerate it as the beer is poured, and make the beer frothy, kinda like N2 does with a Guinness or a Bodingtons.
 
If you get on some forums that deal with cask beer, it can get pretty funny.

People arguing about using a device that makes their flat beer even flatter.

;)
 
Aha! That would explain it!

I enjoyed a tasty hand pulled Scottish ale at Square One Brewery in St. Louis over the holidays. It came out all frothy like a Guinness. Now I know how/why!

Thanks guys.
 

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