4 gallon keg questions?

[jamie3]

I have a kegerator that can fit four 4-5 gallon kegs at a time.

The problem I am having is that my LHBS only stocks 4 gallons kegs and all the standard recipes call for 5-5.5 gallon batches. I typically end up having to bottle the last 1-1.5 gallons which is a pain in the but because the purpose of kegs was to avoid bottling all together.

1) Does anyone know of any canadian 5 gallon keg suppliers? I could order from the U.S. but shipping and duty is expensive.

2) Has anyone done 8 gallon batches and just split the batches into two kegs? I'm thinking this might be a better solution to my problem. Twice the beer and less effort.

 

[944play]

US or Imperial? All my kegs are 5 (US); I have never seen or heard of a 4 gallon keg.

Sounds like scaling your brewlength is the best course. And switch to metric....

 

[mattd2]

Check if they are 4 gallon US or UK, as it seems that 4G (UK) ~ 5G (US)

 

[snisleziggy]

If it is 4 gallons (which I've personally never seen), then your idea about doing an 8 gallon batch and splitting into two kegs would work. Still, if you wanted to only do a 4 gallon batch, you could input the recipe into a brewing software program (I use Beersmith) and they have options to scale recipes to different amounts. ie. your "typical 5-5.5 gallon recipe" to a 4 gallon to fit your needs

 

[Jmac00]

Chances are, they're 5 US gal kegs....i'll assume you're going to Noble Grape? How many litres do the recipes make? around 18litres is 5 US gal, 23L is 6 US gal. Most of the kits i do are all 23L "kits" like brewhouse and Festa Brew.

 

[mattd2]

Do the ones at your LHBS actually look different? have you measured them? Ask them how many litres they are (to avoid the US/UK gallon confusion).

 

[jamie3]

Chances are, they're 5 US gal kegs....i'll assume you're going to Noble Grape? How many litres do the recipes make? around 18litres is 5 US gal, 23L is 6 US gal. Most of the kits i do are all 23L "kits" like brewhouse and Festa Brew.

Yes I am going to noble grape. All of the kits from there I top up to 23L mark. And it looks like the buckets they have are measured in U.K. gallons.

My keg is 5 U.S. gallons. Looks like I've been doing some math wrong the last year or so.

 

[Jmac00]

Yes I am going to noble grape. All of the kits from there I top up to 23L mark. And it looks like the buckets they have are measured in U.K. gallons.

My keg is 5 U.S. gallons. Looks like I've been doing some math wrong the last year or so.

Yup, they're 6gal kits. You're still gonna have to bottle the remaining 1 - 1-1/2 gallons which is what i do, and its great for giveaways, aging, or taking to parties.

you using ball lock kegs or pinlock?