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Public service announcement: right now (2/10) Northern Brewer has 2.5-gallon kegs at a really good price:
New Ball Lock Cornelius (Corny) Keg - 2.5 Gallon
$87 each, and then 20% off that (code KEG20), so just under $70 for a new keg. You do pay shipping, but it seems to be on the order of $5-10 per keg (I bought 8 and some grain and they charged me $35 for shipping.)


Even with that discount code, More Beer's Torpedo keg in the same size is $15 cheaper.
 
Even with that discount code, More Beer's Torpedo keg in the same size is $15 cheaper.
Maybe I am not mathing, but it was $70 this morning, after code.

Right now it seems to be at $125, which comes to $100 after code. Not a deal to come post on HBT about, though not a bad price.
 
Maybe I am not mathing, but it was $70 this morning, after code.

Right now it seems to be at $125, which comes to $100 after code. Not a deal to come post on HBT about, though not a bad price.

Maybe it's dependent on area. After shipping and taxes, that keg was $125 for me. Before the Keg20 code, the total price was $154.
 
Public service announcement: right now (2/10) Northern Brewer has 2.5-gallon kegs at a really good price:
New Ball Lock Cornelius (Corny) Keg - 2.5 Gallon
$87 each, and then 20% off that (code KEG20), so just under $70 for a new keg. You do pay shipping, but it seems to be on the order of $5-10 per keg (I bought 8 and some grain and they charged me $35 for shipping.)
And now it seems to be back to $87. Unless they’re doing funny things with cookies and internet addresses.
 
I have no affiliation with Northern Brewer. It's just one of the sites I monitor for deals.

Right now they've got 1.75-gallon cannonball kegs for $58 -- I paid $266 for four including tax and shipping, so $66 apiece: here. The best price I'd found previously is $76 on Amazon (before tax, but free shipping) for a no-name vendor; so this is a good but not Earth-shattering deal.

(They've also got a really nice 2-gallon brew kettle for $50: here.)
 
I have no affiliation with Northern Brewer. It's just one of the sites I monitor for deals.

Right now they've got 1.75-gallon cannonball kegs for $58 -- I paid $266 for four including tax and shipping, so $66 apiece: here. The best price I'd found previously is $76 on Amazon (before tax, but free shipping) for a no-name vendor; so this is a good but not Earth-shattering deal.

(They've also got a really nice 2-gallon brew kettle for $50: here.)
I've always filled growlers, so I admit I've never considered a small keg like this. But I can see how something like this would be nice to bring to a party. For kegs on-the-go what CO2 and beer line options would you use to dispense the beer?
 
I've always filled growlers, so I admit I've never considered a small keg like this. But I can see how something like this would be nice to bring to a party. For kegs on-the-go what CO2 and beer line options would you use to dispense the beer?
CO2 ... I don't really know. I'm aware of products like this one, but have not used them myself. I think there are threads in the Bottling/Kegging forum with more info. A little 16-g cartridge should expand to 8 L or so of gas, so not enough to force-carb a small keg but enough to push the beer out.

For the beer line, I'd absolutely go with the Picnic Tap 2.1 (also discussed here.)
 
CO2 ... I don't really know. I'm aware of products like this one, but have not used them myself. I think there are threads in the Bottling/Kegging forum with more info. A little 16-g cartridge should expand to 8 L or so of gas, so not enough to force-carb a small keg but enough to push the beer out.

For the beer line, I'd absolutely go with the Picnic Tap 2.1 (also discussed here.)
Thanks. I can see just filling it from a corny rather than carbing in it. At least I think that's how I would tend to use it.
 
Now, I feel like a liar so I had to do a screen shot.

@AlexKay @ba-brewer

LOL! I know it's been a few days since you all posted. Guess it's safe to say that deal is now gone. $154 now for me and that would also be a hard pass as well. The 3 gallon megamouth is much cheaper. 2023 NB Keg Deal.png
 
I've always filled growlers, so I admit I've never considered a small keg like this. But I can see how something like this would be nice to bring to a party. For kegs on-the-go what CO2 and beer line options would you use to dispense the beer?
I bought this one last month and love it, especially for my sodas (40 psi and picnic tap don't play well together). I'd forgotten about the Tap 2.1 though. That looks great too..
 
I have no affiliation with Northern Brewer. It's just one of the sites I monitor for deals.

Right now they've got 1.75-gallon cannonball kegs for $58 -- I paid $266 for four including tax and shipping, so $66 apiece: here. The best price I'd found previously is $76 on Amazon (before tax, but free shipping) for a no-name vendor; so this is a good but not Earth-shattering deal.

(They've also got a really nice 2-gallon brew kettle for $50: here.)
Price on the cannonball (same link) is now $42 (though you'll have to pay shipping.) I already have a superfluity of small kegs, or I might grab some more. I might anyway...
 
Cleaned up after a very active Strawberry Wheat. Goofy me didn’t think to use a blow-off tube until post-explosion. Thankfully I brew these small experimental batches in the spare shower we don’t use. Works great in situations like these! 🤣
 

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Brewed two kits from BBS this weekend (Cashmere Single Hop IPA/Breaskfast Stout). Air locks go in this evening, then patiently waiting for bottling day. I am going to bottle the IPA and force carbonate the Stout in my uKeg to see how that works out. Afterwards, I plan on doing my own recipes.

Side note: I was approved for my home brewing license in the state of Oklahoma this week! Super stoked about that.

Cheers!
 
Brewed two kits from BBS this weekend (Cashmere Single Hop IPA/Breaskfast Stout). Air locks go in this evening, then patiently waiting for bottling day. I am going to bottle the IPA and force carbonate the Stout in my uKeg to see how that works out. Afterwards, I plan on doing my own recipes.

Side note: I was approved for my home brewing license in the state of Oklahoma this week! Super stoked about that.

Cheers!
Mind sharing about this a bit more?
From South Africa, so the idea is a bit foreign to me. We have a beer brewing culture that's pretty much always been legal and normal in a few cultural groups.
 
From South Africa, so the idea is a bit foreign to me. We have a beer brewing culture that's pretty much always been legal and normal in a few cultural groups.
I am not from Oklahoma, but in the US there are common federal laws that apply across all states and set some high level regulations (there is a federal law that says brewing beer at home is legal with some restrictions), but then every one of the 50 states will have their own, often very confusing, sets of regulations related to alcohol (where you can purchase it? what days/times you can purchase? what licenses are required to serve alcohol? where can you share homebrewed beer? etc.).

In some states, homebrewing has only been technically legal for the past decade or so (though I suspect enforcement was virtual non-existent and you could likely purchase homebrewing equipment and ingredients in those states). Most states make a lot of tax revenue of alcohol sales, so most laws are in place to try and protect that revenue stream. Also, many states have lots of outdated laws on the books, or laws written to shield us from that demonic liquid that is alcohol. There are some "dry counties" in the US where you cannot purchase or serve alcohol, but I am not sure how homebrewing works there.

From what I can tell, Oklahoma requires a permit to brew beer at home that is greater than 3.2% ABW (~4% ABV). Why? Hopefully there is a valid reason, but I suspect it is just to set up a hurdle to make it harder for people legally brew beer at home.
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrewing-rights/statutes/oklahoma/
 
I am not from Oklahoma, but in the US there are common federal laws that apply across all states and set some high level regulations (there is a federal law that says brewing beer at home is legal with some restrictions), but then every one of the 50 states will have their own, often very confusing, sets of regulations related to alcohol (where you can purchase it? what days/times you can purchase? what licenses are required to serve alcohol? where can you share homebrewed beer? etc.).

In some states, homebrewing has only been technically legal for the past decade or so (though I suspect enforcement was virtual non-existent and you could likely purchase homebrewing equipment and ingredients in those states). Most states make a lot of tax revenue of alcohol sales, so most laws are in place to try and protect that revenue stream. Also, many states have lots of outdated laws on the books, or laws written to shield us from that demonic liquid that is alcohol. There are some "dry counties" in the US where you cannot purchase or serve alcohol, but I am not sure how homebrewing works there.

From what I can tell, Oklahoma requires a permit to brew beer at home that is greater than 3.2% ABW (~4% ABV). Why? Hopefully there is a valid reason, but I suspect it is just to set up a hurdle to make it harder for people legally brew beer at home.
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrewing-rights/statutes/oklahoma/
I’m assuming it’s to keep track of those brewing higher ABV and selling the product without the proper licenses. How they would know? I’m not sure. The permit just allows me to brew 200 gallons of home brew for my own consumption per year, but I’ll be giving away gifts to friends and family to try. I highly doubt I’ll reach 200 gallons. I only have 4 gallons under my belt currently and my first kid is due in 3 weeks lol
 
I’m assuming it’s to keep track of those brewing higher ABV and selling the product without the proper licenses. How they would know? I’m not sure. The permit just allows me to brew 200 gallons of home brew for my own consumption per year, but I’ll be giving away gifts to friends and family to try. I highly doubt I’ll reach 200 gallons. I only have 4 gallons under my belt currently and my first kid is due in 3 weeks lol
Yeah, once I said that too. Never get that much brewed, especially as I'm mostly a one gallon brewer. And then I joined a club, entered competitions, ect. Even one gallon at a time it is possible to get to quite a lot in a year.
 
Brewed two kits from BBS this weekend (Cashmere Single Hop IPA/Breaskfast Stout). Air locks go in this evening, then patiently waiting for bottling day. I am going to bottle the IPA and force carbonate the Stout in my uKeg to see how that works out. Afterwards, I plan on doing my own recipes.

Side note: I was approved for my home brewing license in the state of Oklahoma this week! Super stoked about that.

Cheers!

Bottled the Stout. uKeg’d the IPA. These were my last two batches with the BBS one gallon kits.

Today, I purchased the Brewzilla Gen 4 35L and all the goodies that go with it. I’m excited to step into the next chapter of my brewing career and start creating my own recipes. I’ll start with the smallest batch size (30%) on the BZ, so around three gallons.

Cheers!
 

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For those with basements, here's an interesting topic over in /r/homebrewing (link) on fermenting using passive (or no) temperature control.

There have been similar discussions here in the past, but the new topic puts a lot of information in one place. There's also some discussion on yeast strains that work (or don't).
 
Wow, thanks for posting this! I shopped around trying to get quotes to make a custom welded tank like this and couldn't get anyone to bite at that size. I was prepared to drop serious money on it since I'm dedicated to the 1-2 gallon brewing scale. I'm pretty stoked.

brb while I measure my fermenter space
 
I just discovered an effect that I thought would be worth sharing.

I've been using an Inkbird temp controller with its probe set in a thermowell in the fermenting beer to control temperatures. While this certainly works, in logging my fermenter temps with a Tilt and TiltPi, I discovered something interesting: because I've set the cold outlet on the Inkbird to a fridge set to like 38˚, and the hot to a heating blanket, the Inkbird basically slams the fermenter between my temp limits, say 67-69 for a 68 set point, fairly frequently, as you can see below.

To circumvent this, here are two interesting options:
  1. set the hot and cold outlets to cooling/heating devices that are simply less powerful. One of my fermentation chambers is a wine fridge w/ a temp setting, for example. Alternatively, if you're insane, you could chain together three Inkbirds, and have the main hot outlet control a subordinate Inkbird which controls the heating blanket, and is set to bring ambient to like 75˚
  2. Much more sane: for the initial fermentation, where the heat derived from the exothermic fermentation process would normally bring your fermenter temp several degrees, potentially, above ambient, control your fermentation chamber with a probe set in a thermowell, but after like five days, just use ambient as your set point, evening out your temp fluctuations - this is what you can see in my chart
tiltpi chart 7-30-23.png
 
Forgive me asking questions that may have already been answered in this thread, but WOW—187 pages of posts, dating back to 2012! (I did search first, though, and am not finding my answer.)

For you small-batch brewers (1-gal or 2.5-gal), what are you fermenting in? I understand BIAB instead of using a separate MLT, and a smaller kettle is a no-brainer. But do you ferment in a full-size carboy? I've read that the extra headroom (especially if a 1-gal batch in a 5-gal carboy, for example) can negatively affect your beer. Conversely, fermenting a 1-gal batch in a 1-gal jug seems like just asking for trouble (krausen overflow).

ETA: Sorry, search fail. I found some answers after trying another search. But would still be interested in thoughts about excessive headroom in a carboy (say, 2.5-gal batch in 5- or 6.5-gal carboy).
 
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I ferment 2gal batches in 3gal better bottle carboys(can do 2 side by side in mini fridge), also use a 3.5gal SSbrewtech mini brew bucket for 2 to 3gal batches(3gal could be messy with the wrong yeast I mostly do lager in that one). I have a 3gal speidel that have done 2.5gal batches in.

2gal food safe bucket work great for 1gal batches, easy to add holes for spigots and airlocks if needed.
 
90% of the time I ferment in glass. I have 8 1.2 gal carboys and 2 1.3 gal carboys. Works well and almost never goes out the airlock. In summer if it is very warm O use a 3 gal bucket.
 
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