Fellow homebrewers, meet my new beer engine . . .

sirsloop said:

If you like your beer 50 degrees, force carbonated, and pulled through a manual spicket...dude...more power to you.

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The point in all of this is that I do NOT like my beer force carbonated . . .

. . . and the word you are looking for is "spigot" . . .

I realize, even if I don't understand why, some people don't find cellar temperature, gently carbonated beer appealling. But I really believe most folks if given a GOOD draft of real ale would see the light. I wish there was more real ale available in the US. But until that day, I have my engines and the means to brew all the beer I could ever want. Life is good.

Sonvolt, you enjoying the CAMRA guide?

Brewpastor said:

Sonvolt, you enjoying the CAMRA guide?

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I am! What a great read. Thanks for the post. I am only a few pages into a close read, but I have browsed it well.

It is one of those thing I pull out from time to time and read, picking up some tid bit each time.

Wow! Please post instructions to build that. I have to have one of those!

Nevermind i just saw you instructions to build. I got so excited i posted that request before reading the whole thread. You're a genious, somehow the idea of real ale at home has never occured to me. I love it!

Brewpastor said:

I realize, even if I don't understand why, some people don't find cellar temperature, gently carbonated beer appealling. But I really believe most folks if given a GOOD draft of real ale would see the light.

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Absolutely!

It's not even one of those things that you have to 'develop a taste for' or train yourself to like it, it's just naturally very tasty. I think one of the problems is there's just as much, if not more, bad cask ale out there as there is good cask ale.

There isnt any reason why this hand pump wounldnt work with a refriderator. Somthing like that Sanyo that people are converting into kegerators. Maybe get a tempature control device to keep the temp around 58 degrees?

alright mates - just returned from the UK and I must say real ale is where its at! I will be building my engine as soon as I am able. Those Brits sure know how to leave a good thing alone and enjoy it. I must say it is different and absolutely not ice cold silver bullet, but it is unique, rich and satisfying. Cheers.

NEPABREWER said:

alright mates - just returned from the UK and I must say real ale is where its at! I will be building my engine as soon as I am able. Those Brits sure know how to leave a good thing alone and enjoy it. I must say it is different and absolutely not ice cold silver bullet, but it is unique, rich and satisfying. Cheers.

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I am jealous!! I cannot wait to have one of my favorite styles of ale in its native environment. So . . so jealous!

I had the joy of experiencing "real ale" in the UK about 5 years ago and they truly taste amazing. I also think that a force-carbed ale pumped out of my kegerator in my back room also tastes amazing. I think comparing them, however, is a little unfair. It's like comparing two different kinds of beer. You'd never compare a stout with a Miller Lite because they are too different to even compare. I think the cask ale is awesome but a completely different animal than a force carbed ale. I guess what I'm trying to say is you can like both and I don't see any inherent contradiction whatsoever. It seems somewhere in this thread a line was drawn where you're either a real ale fan or a forced carb fan. I, personally, am both.

By the way, that beer engine is awesome. To make a piece of equipment that would allow me to experience the draught beer again may be worth all the dirty looks my wife would give me as I was making it. Well done.

Would anyone be able to scan the two beer engine articles from byo? I desperately want to build one (and sonvolt's looks fantastic), but I only started subscribing to byo early this year.

Thanks, dreaming of cask conditioned ale....

-S

lustreking said:

Would anyone be able to scan the two beer engine articles from byo? I desperately want to build one (and sonvolt's looks fantastic), but I only started subscribing to byo early this year.

Thanks, dreaming of cask conditioned ale....

-S

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I'll get those articles to you. Some kind people from this board sent them to me, and I am ready to spread the wealth.

Good luck with your beer engine, and let me know if you have any questions. I won't be able to forward those articles until this evening as they are on my home computer.

Think ya may be abler to do a how to write up and post it over here?
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=10277

I'm curious how well it ages after you begin to serve. I would imagine most pubs go through a cask pretty fast. It might take me a couple months to drink a keg. Would it still be good for that long?

Todd said:

I'm curious how well it ages after you begin to serve. I would imagine most pubs go through a cask pretty fast. It might take me a couple months to drink a keg. Would it still be good for that long?

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This is a great question. If I were to answer using CAMRA's beer ethics, I would tell you that the resulting oxidation of a beer over the days after it is tapped contribute to the complexity and that such oxidations should be enjoyed.

You and I both know that such oxidation may be ok after a few days, but after the amount of time that it takes me to kill 5 gallons, such oxidation would be detrimental.

Here is what I do. I tap the keg with my beer engine and pull the release valve on my keg all the way off. So, oxygen is entering the keg as I pull the beer through the engine. After a night of drinking, I unhook my beer engine and force some CO2 into the keg . . . bleeding it off so that I know that my beer is covered with a blanket of CO2 at a very low pressure. This limits any oxidation.

I just finished two fo the first beers that I kegged and used with the beer engine. After about 3 months or so, the beer had definitely changed . . . but it was not badly oxidized. In fact, the last draft of a Pale Ale I did was the best draft of the whole keg.

Hope this helps

My pump should arrive on Tuesday! I wish I had time to brew this weekend.

Sonvolt, how much priming sugar did you use?

-S

lustreking said:

My pump should arrive on Tuesday! I wish I had time to brew this weekend.

Sonvolt, how much priming sugar did you use?

-S

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Lustre,

Did your engine come together ok?

BTW, I used about half the sugar I would normally use for bottling conditioning. However, on one of those kegs, I screwed up and added the normal amount (1.25 cups of DME). I couldn't tell much of a difference. You can always vent, etc. if you overcarb.

sonvolt said:

Lustre,
Did your engine come together ok?

BTW, I used about half the sugar I would normally use for bottling conditioning. However, on one of those kegs, I screwed up and added the normal amount (1.25 cups of DME). I couldn't tell much of a difference. You can always vent, etc. if you overcarb.

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I completely ripped off your cooler design. In fact, I even used the same exact cooler, but mine's red and old and beat up.

It turned out very well. I served it at a party last weekend and it was pretty well received. I wish I had put it in the fridge in advance to get the yeast to drop out a little better. I think I used a quarter cup of corn sugar. I'll probably use more next time, as well as a more flocculant yeast.

I have a question about the pump. Are you able to get all the fluid out of it? I pumped it until it's dry, and left the handle pulled forward (labeled drain) but I can still hear the water inside it.

I have an observation about the pump. I like how on the back of the packaging they say driil a 1 7/8" hole.... Nobody sells a 1 7/8" hole saw!



Thanks again!
-S

I hear you! I had to use a file to cut the whole to the right size.

As for getting water out - it never gets completely dry. After using it, I run a lot of water and some sanitizer through it (usually happens the next day). Then, before using it, i do the same again.

More of a novelty/special event use for me than an everyday/every weekend kind of thing.

I am resurecting this thread - I want this to be my everyweek end type or beer dispensation method ha ha ha! I finally ordered my pump - so all I need are some fittings
and a cooler. I have a corny of cellar aged brown ale waiting for its hand pump.

so is it only me who can't see any of the pictures that are put up? cuz i'd love to make something like this

clearlysuburban said:

so is it only me who can't see any of the pictures that are put up? cuz i'd love to make something like this

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I can no longer see them either, but he is an active member-you could try to PM hime.

It would be worth it.

Flyin' Lion said:

I can no longer see them either, but he is an active member-you could try to PM hime.

It would be worth it.

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If you tried to PM me, my inbox was full and I got the message that I missed your PMs. Sorry . . .

As for the pics, I deleted them from webspace where I was hosting them. If anyone wants to see them again, I am more than happy to post them. Just let me know. I cleared out my inbox, too . . . so I should get your PMs this time.

Ok . . . you asked for it, so here you go. Just pm or post any questions you have about how I made it. I took the directions from an old issue of BYO (I also have jpgs of that issue if anyone needs them - pm me), and modified them a bit.

Two more (limited to six at a time, ya know)

This is awesome. I am re-re-resurrecting (?) this thread for more info please? I do not understand how it mechanically works. If there is no CO2 pushing the beer how does it move up the lines?

Also, would this work with a 5L mini-keg? Sorry if this was explained I read all of the thread but did not get it.

oh, and if I may request a copy of the original plans/article please?

Check BYO's Build a Beer Engine: Projects (Jan-Feb 05).

Good luck,
Wild

wild said:

Check BYO's Build a Beer Engine: Projects (Jan-Feb 05).

Good luck,
Wild

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They only seem to sell back issues in groups of 5 for $25. I do not really need or want that many issues (or to spend that much)...

Okay, call me a cheapskate I certainly am.

Just mulling over the process here. I wonder if you ran CO2 to the keg at extremely low pressure - just a pound or two - so that it wouldn't really affect the carbing of the beer, but instead of oxygen, it would be pulling CO2 when pumped. As long as the 1-2 lbs pressure is negated by the length of beer line from keg to pump, the CO2 won't be pushing, the pump will be pulling. Does that make any sense at all??

I think you can use a keg/cask breather on a CO2 line for that very purpose. It lets CO2 in as beer is pulled off.

well, really i was looking to do it without CO2 at all like the original poster. I was just trying to understand how it worked so I could create my own set-up. I think I get it now and am working on a mini-cask system. Just was hoping someone had the original article on beer engine building to share. I would still love to see it but, I have a plan of my own now regardless.

oh, and if anyone wants to create their own mini-keg CO2 tap try this.

Though it seems to me the guy went to a bit more trouble than he needed. He could have avoided some of the drilling and all of the soldering cause I am almost certain you can get a brass fitting exactly like that already made cast solid. I cannot think what it is called at the moment but I saw one at the hardware store when I was getting some compression unions.

knights of Gambrinus said:

I was just trying to understand how it worked so I could create my own set-up.

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I built mine in the fall prior to the article. Picked up an RV water pump. Mounted it onto a box. I added copper line so that I could cool it similar to a jockey box. Hook it to the out tap of a corny and lock off the pressure release valve. That's it.
Tip: A good cask conditioned ale is tapped young.

Wild

Jester369 said:

Just mulling over the process here. I wonder if you ran CO2 to the keg at extremely low pressure - just a pound or two - so that it wouldn't really affect the carbing of the beer, but instead of oxygen, it would be pulling CO2 when pumped. As long as the 1-2 lbs pressure is negated by the length of beer line from keg to pump, the CO2 won't be pushing, the pump will be pulling. Does that make any sense at all??

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I think that is against what he is trying to do as hes not trying to save cost of CO2 or just naturally carbonate/cask condition but to use oxygen to in a sense add off flavors from oxidation which normally is considered a bad thing to most of the beer world but has been part of the central love of "Real Ale" of the UK as it brings its own favorable characteristics.

HemiPowered said:

I think that is against what he is trying to do as hes not trying to save cost of CO2 or just naturally carbonate/cask condition but to use oxygen to in a sense add off flavors from oxidation which normally is considered a bad thing to most of the beer world but has been part of the central love of "Real Ale" of the UK as it brings its own favorable characteristics.

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True, but for myself (since I posed that question for my own evil purposes ) I wouldn't go through the cask fast enough (I'm going to have 7 faucets to choose from!) before the stuff went undrinkable. I believe I read somewhere that CAMRA does not necessarily oppose putting down a CO2 blanket over the beer for preservation, just that it can't force carb, or dispense it, so I would still be serving 'real ale', just a little longer lasting. Granted, I wouldn't get the changing oxidization level as time went on, but hey, can't have everything!

Jester369 said:

True, but for myself (since I posed that question for my own evil purposes ) I wouldn't go through the cask fast enough (I'm going to have 7 faucets to choose from!) before the stuff went undrinkable. I believe I read somewhere that CAMRA does not necessarily oppose putting down a CO2 blanket over the beer for preservation, just that it can't force carb, or dispense it, so I would still be serving 'real ale', just a little longer lasting. Granted, I wouldn't get the changing oxidization level as time went on, but hey, can't have everything!

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An interesting experiment would be brew two of the same recipes one right after another. Force carbonate one dispensing on co2 and naturally carbonate the other dispensing using oxygen and see how they differ over a period of a couple months. Kinda funny now I think what other variables contribute to the fine taste of "real" ales. You know those old guys were smoking their pipes like smoke stacks....I believe this would be a major source of the flavor . Gives it a bit of a "smoky" flavor

I love this idea, it seems like a great way to serve your beer at its natural best.
So much so that I had to sign up and plead for someone to send me the BYO articles that I can't find anywhere.

I just put together one of these, and i had a few questions. Does it matter if the release valve is off or on, if so why is that so? I have dispensed it in both ways. Also this seems like it would be just like taping a keg with a hand pump tap you used at parties with the sankey kegs. I have my pepsi keg in a mini fridge that stays arond 45-50, would staying in the fridge differ from kept outside of the fridge? Well my first 2 pints have been amazing, this is a very easy project that you can put together in an hour so far it has seemed well worth it.