Fellow homebrewers, meet my new beer engine . . .

[FlintPaper]

Has anyone had issues with their Valterra Rocket Hand Pump? I just got one for my forthcoming beer engine experiment, but I'm finding that it's leaking water from the arm.

Any help is appreciated. If I can get this working I'll post picks of my setup.

 

[chucke]

Has anyone had issues with their Valterra Rocket Hand Pump? I just got one for my forthcoming beer engine experiment, but I'm finding that it's leaking water from the arm.

Any help is appreciated. If I can get this working I'll post picks of my setup.

Are you leaving the arm forward? If so, this causes leaks.
Try keeping it to the rear. Mebbe that'll help.

 

[FlintPaper]

There is something rattling inside it, and liquid leaks from the arm during use (not when still).

I'm guessing that I got a bad pump.

 

[wild]

Sounds like a bad pump to me.

 

[chucke]

Yep, sounds like you have a bad pump.

I have one and use it regularly.
It shouldn’t leak or rattle.

 

[Foamenter]

How many ounces would you estimate you get per pull on the rocket pump?

 

[chucke]

How many ounces would you estimate you get per pull on the rocket pump?

2 - 4 maybe.
I really meant to measure it... but the cask ale was too dang good and kept forgetting.

 

[novafire]

I had an idea in lieu of using the propane regulator to prevent oxidation. What if you hooked a second keg, purged with CO2, but not pressurized, directly to the gas-in on the beer keg?

The layout would be: Beer Engine hooked to OUT on beer keg > beer keg > jumper between beer keg IN and CO2 keg OUT > CO2 keg.

The CO2 keg would have to have its pressure release valve open while using the engine, but since CO2 is heavier than air, the CO2 would stay in the CO2 keg. CO2 would feed from the CO2 keg bottom into the dead space in the beer keg as beer was pulled. Any air getting into the CO2 keg should stay near the top if undisturbed. In actuality the air will no doubt mix with the CO2 somewhat, but it would still be a lower percentage of O2 than straight air.

Anyone with an empty keg and 2 spare disconnects could rig this up in no time.

 

[elmetal]

I think you'd want 1 volume of co2 in the second keg.

but I don't know much abou this

 

[novafire]

I think you'd want 1 volume of co2 in the second keg.

but I don't know much abou this

From what I understand, "volumes" refer to gases dissolved in a liquid.

This would just be CO2 gas under current atmospheric pressure.

 

[elmetal]

it doesn't have to be dissolved in the liquid. if you have a corny keg with air you have 0 volumes of co2. if you have 1 volume of co2, you essentially have the keg filled with co2 and no pressure.

I don't know exactly what you would want but the oxidation in the ale is a good thing, but not for more than like a week. but if you use co2 to push then it's not realistic

but if you could get a way to remove air and replace with co2 on pumps.


can the pump pump co2 from a filled corny instead of using air and use it that way?

like pump co2 from empty corny with co2 and replace the beer in the beer corny with co2 from corny number2?


god I'm confused.,

 

[wild]

I had an idea in lieu of using the propane regulator to prevent oxidation. What if you hooked a second keg, purged with CO2, but not pressurized, directly to the gas-in on the beer keg?

Done it. It works.

 

[novafire]

Done it. It works.

Cool, figured I was not the first to think of this simple setup.

Great minds think alike!

 

[novafire]

it doesn't have to be dissolved in the liquid. if you have a corny keg with air you have 0 volumes of co2. if you have 1 volume of co2, you essentially have the keg filled with co2 and no pressure.

I don't know exactly what you would want but the oxidation in the ale is a good thing, but not for more than like a week. but if you use co2 to push then it's not realistic

but if you could get a way to remove air and replace with co2 on pumps.


can the pump pump co2 from a filled corny instead of using air and use it that way?

like pump co2 from empty corny with co2 and replace the beer in the beer corny with co2 from corny number2?


god I'm confused.,

The pulling of the beer itself would pull in CO2 from the second corny. It's that simple.

 

[kniles38]

So, what replaces the co2 in the co2 keg? or does it just become less pressurized?

 

[14thstreet]

Has anyone who hasn't got an authentic pump/engine but uses the RV pump mount this on the outside of a freezer or fridge?

 

[novafire]

So, what replaces the co2 in the co2 keg? or does it just become less pressurized?

The pressure valve on the top of the CO2 corny would be open, so air would come in, but the gas fed from the bottom should still stay primarily CO2 for some time.

I would imagine keeping the CO2 keg undisturbed and closing the valve right after pouring a beer would help keep the CO2 and air separated in the corny as best as possible.

 

[blackcows]

Is there any reason that you couldn't solve many of the concerns by storing a volume you could drink over the period of 3 or 4 days? You would need to have an excess of kegs (which I do) to make this happen but why couldn't you brew 5 gallons of beer, split it between three kegs, a gallon, a gallon, and 3 gallons...carb the three gallons as usual and serve on CO2 and then serve the one gallon quantites by opening the relieve valve and pull with an engine or dispensing with gravity. Wouldn't this eliminate the need for cask breathers and second kegs of O2? I have never done this so I guess I am asking more than suggesting. All of my kegs are 5 gallon kegs so I do wonder how this impact things.

Mike

 

[novafire]

Is there any reason that you couldn't solve many of the concerns by storing a volume you could drink over the period of 3 or 4 days?

Mike

I would imagine that would work just fine.

 

[mezman]

I'm digging this idea and formulating a plan as I read though the thread. One of my favorite things when traveling in Europe is the beer, which is why I started brewing my own. I miss the real ales from England so I want to get something like this set up.

So what do you guys who use the RV pump use for a sparkler? Or do you use a sparkler?

I'm thinking I'm probably going to try doing the mini-kegs thing and mount the RV pump to the top of a small dorm fridge.

 

[wild]

I didn't need to put a sparkler on my pump.
If I were to plan to take longer than a few
hours to empty a keg, I'd probably add one.

 

[commonlaw]

Thanks to the ideas in this thread, finally got my handpump set up (at least temporarily--i did a crap job building the box and split the wood on top when screwing down the pump!)

The first beer came out perfect--lightly carbonated and delicious. Very much as a cask ale should taste. I'm using a propane regulator to blanket with co2, so we'll see how it goes as the keg gets drunk.

 

[commonlaw]

I didn't need to put a sparkler on my pump.
If I were to plan to take longer than a few
hours to empty a keg, I'd probably add one.

sparklers are the things that northerners (in england) attach to the end of a pump to force a bigger head on the beer, and many believe that it totally kills the hop aroma. Not sure what that has to do with taking time to empty a keg?

In any event, I think sparklers are pointless. This is especially true for the RV pump--it shoots the beer out quite well and as you can see in my previous picture you get a nice enough head on the beer with the pump.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Had a cask beer for the 3rd time over the weekend along with my first Firkin pull. I forgot about this thread and love the cheap dorm fridge conversion 5L mini keg idea. Definitely adding this to my list or projects and keeping it in mind during my bar build coming up.

 

[Schlenkerla]

This is my version... Thanks for the cool idea sonvolt!!!

 

[blackcows]

Very cool...how about some picture of a pour?

Mike

 

[IrregularPulse]

You just serving at room temp then??

 

[14thstreet]

Very cool...how about some picture of a pour?

Mike

Agreed! Very nice! How do you have yours set up on the inside, process, etc? I'm thinking of doing this as well. Thanks!

 

[Schlenkerla]

I have not been brewing lately. Been on the road for work ~ 5 months.

Here is how it will be connected. The black cube has a 2.5"x5" hole in the back, the hose will come out of that and into the back of the cabinet. I have a ceramic hole saw that I can use on the tile if I want to go straight down through the tile.

These are the options I have for serving;

1. At home; Use the engine with my upright fridge. The fridge will have a pass through shank and a beer nut to the shank and a hose clamped to the pump. The CO2 set-up will have LP Regulator (BBQ Grill Type) between the main regulator and the gas in connector.
2. At Events Option 1; 1 5 gal cornie fits inside. Quick disconnect to the beer line then the other connected to the pump. Open the vent or hit it with co2 using a low pressure LP regulator. (Use a keg glove to keep cold)
3. At Event Option 2; Use 1 gal polypins. Connecting the spigot of the pin to the pump. No CO2 required. The pump pulls a vacuum as the poly pin collapses. (see pictures) The Pins are dirt cheap $2.35 each. I like this option the best since I can use ice blankets to keep the beer chilled inside the cabinet. Also gallon pins can be kept in a cooler on ice w/o much hassle.

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Poly Pins; http://www.bestcontainers.com/hedpak---cubitainer-cubitainer--combination-packaging.html

Ice Blankets: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B000ZOWG62/sr=8-1/qid=1266059822/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=3375251&s=sporting-goods&qid=1266059822&sr=8-1
​

 

[kinnasst]

Hey commonlaw, how did the propane regulator work out for you. I'm in the midst of setting up something very similar, and if you've got some lessons learned to share, it'd be appreciated.