Fellow homebrewers, meet my new beer engine . . .

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

OK - more or less finished version:

Tapper:

Fully hooked up Mini-Engine:

 

[Revvy]

Boerderij, you got me waiting with baited breath to see if it works!!!

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

Boerderij, you got me waiting with baited breath to see if it works!!!

You may have to wait a while..... Have you seen all the projects I have stacked up? It is much easier to design systems than it is to find the money and time to build them. That said, my next brew will likely be my smoked porter for the winter and I would love to have that on the engine.

Plus, this should only cost me about $50. When I get around to it, I will do a build thread and write up on how to use it. It'll probably be two or more months.

 

[wild]

On its own the RV pump isn't tall enough to fit a pint glass under the tap. Besides the pump cylinder extends 2-3 inches below the pump stand. You may want to consider raising the pump off the surface of the fridge.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

I wish my lunch hour would last all day....

Here are the plans:

1 small dorm fridge: $139 from Lowes or under $10 any day of the week on CL.

Drill a hole through the top of the fridge. I have shown it centered because I will likely only have one real ale on tap. If you wanted you could likely fit 4 of these on top of one mini fridge.

1 Rocket Hand Pump: $38.13

1 Stainless racking cane (3/8): $10.00

Some wood as desired. I will probably use white oak or cherry because I have a lot of that laying around.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

First Build, the tapper:

Cut the SS racking cane to about 11-12" and bend the end such that it will reach the outside radius of the mini kegs. Slide the racking cane through the center hole of a dual hole stopper. Then, press a HEPA air filter into the second hole.

The bend in the tube allows full draining of the keg, and the filter inhibits air bourne contaminates from entering the keg and prematurely spoiling the beer.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

The rest is quite simple, I would build a block to raise the pump, as suggested.

Here is the fully assembled unit:

Here is the front removed, I would just make this a compression fit, pop it on, pop it off. It is important to leave enough room for the fridge door to fully open:

It is also important to leave the back open so that the fridge can operate normally:

Here you can see into the fridge, with the front off and the fridge door open. The tapped keg is sitting on a wedge so that it is tilted with the curve of the tapper sitting at the lowest point.

The orange tubing would be some beer line. As the pump draws beer up and out the sparkler, air is drawn through the filter into the keg. Authentic, and much cheaper than a regular engine.

 

[RockfordWhite]

So i'm confused how do you go about carbonating this before you put it in the mini-firkin and how long will the beer stay good in there?

 

[modenacart]

So i'm confused how do you go about carbonating this before you put it in the mini-firkin and how long will the beer stay good in there?

Just add priming sugar when you keg. I suspect if you purge the air, maybe a month?

 

[RockfordWhite]

The mini keg or do you keg it in a normal corney first?

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

Just think of the mini-kegs like big bottles. All the same rules apply.

 

[Zymurgrafi]

DAMN YOU Boerderij Kabouter!!!

Why did you have to resurrect this thread! I had finally forgotten it. Now I am even more amped about it! I too have way too many projects already, sadly not all beer related.






mmmmmmm, creamity yummity, cask ale...

 

[RockfordWhite]

could you theoretically hook the filter up to the gas in side of a corny and serve this out of a kegerator?

 

[Revvy]

DAMN YOU Boerderij Kabouter!!!

Why did you have to resurrect this thread! I had finally forgotten it. Now I am even more amped about it! I too have way too many projects already, sadly not all beer related.






mmmmmmm, creamity yummity, cask ale...

I just damn him with teasing us, and saying he has too many projects before he can get around to doing it...Otherwise I think the idea is the tits!!!!!

He's a beer engine tease.

 

[Zymurgrafi]

I just damn him with teasing us, and saying he has too many projects before he can get around to doing it...Otherwise I think the idea is the tits!!!!!

He's a beer engine tease.

mmmmmmm. beer engine... tits...

 

[wild]

could you theoretically hook the filter up to the gas in side of a corny and serve this out of a kegerator?

Yes, that's how I served my Roggen at the Real Ale Fest.

Tip: Here's a trick if you don't think you'll finish the ale with in the 72 hours...
Take a second keg and fill it with CO2. Just enough to purge the air out of it. Connect the beer out of the CO2 keg to the gas in of the real ale. Open the gas in of the CO2 keg and start pumping your ale. The vacuum will draw the ambient CO2 from the other keg leaving a blanket of CO2 over the ale. It will last longer and still fall under the rules of CAMRA.

 

[hopsalot]

Sounds like some good cream stouts and Scottish ales...

 

[Bob]

Kabouter -

Here is a dip-tube tap idea for 5L minikegs.

Here is the best way to keep a blanket of carbon dioxide on the ale: Click here, then click "Sundries". You want the cask breather. Yeah, it's expensive, but it works. Don't half-arse it; use the right tool for the job.

You know, for that matter...

Here is an Angram handpump. I've seen these go for ~$100. Add the cask breather, and you can dispense anything the UK way.

In fact, here's a Homark engine for £45, Buy-It-Now. Shipping will be a bitch, but...

Bob

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

I realize that you can do this in a different way that would be more professional. However, the idea of this whole thread is to provide a cheap alternative to that. There is now way I would drink enough real ale to justify that setup (yet anyway). I can justify the $50-60 it will cost for my cheap conversion though.

Also, I like the idea of not using a breather and allowing the beer to slightly oxidize over the three or four days it takes me to kick the 5L. Maybe some day I will get a real engine, but I don't ever see a breather in my future.

 

[dataz722]

I have a couple questions. I love casks on a hand pump but in order to get that cask taste you you add oak chips to secondary? Also, asthetics aside, is there much difference in the angram pump and the cheap $25 one?

 

[Bob]

Oak chips? Not necessary. There is no reason to expect wood flavor from cask ale. Just because it's "cask ale" doesn't necessarily mean it's been in wood.

As for the differences, one is for beer, and the design has been pulling beer for well over a hundred years. The other is an RV water pump engineered into service by homebrewers who are either too cheap or too clever by half. And I seriously mean that with all due respect!

Bob

 

[dataz722]

As for the differences, one is for beer, and the design has been pulling beer for well over a hundred years. The other is an RV water pump engineered into service by homebrewers who are either too cheap or too clever by half. And I seriously mean that with all due respect!

Bob

But what is the main difference with the beer between the two?

 

[lustreking]

Here is a dip-tube tap idea for 5L minikegs.

Thanks Bob. This is the simplest, least costly, and lowest profile diy 5L tap that I've seen. I guess I've got another project for the weekend!

 

[Bob]

But what is the main difference with the beer between the two?

Not knowing the RV water pump in as great detail as I know the beer engine, I have to confess I don't know for sure. Both are designed to pull fluid from a reservoir to the outlet, where "normal" CO2 systems push fluid from reservoir to outlet.

A beer engine has a cylinder with flaps and valves in it. There is an inlet and an outlet. When you pull the handle, beer is pulled into one portion of the cylinder, and beer in another portion of the cylinder is pushed through the neck into the glass. This is why the cask itself must be vented; air (or CO2 through a low-pressure breather valve) must be pulled into the cask to prevent pulling a vacuum and damaging the engine.

Thanks Bob. This is the simplest, least costly, and lowest profile diy 5L tap that I've seen. I guess I've got another project for the weekend!

Glad I could help, Steve. Hope you had fun at the Big Brew!

Bob

 

[flyangler18]

Had to bump this one for good measure; I was listening to an old BBR podcast discussing cask conditioned ales and it reminded me of this thread. BK- did you ever get this one off the ground? I've seen a couple beer engines on ebay recently at a good price from the UK (not withstanding freight charges) and I'd like to build a system using the 5L mini-kegs that are stacking up in the basement.

I'm leaning toward the RV pump conversion for the price factor, of course.

Time to go CL-hunting for another mini-fridge!

 

[Schlenkerla]

Sonvolt -

What size tubing did you use? (1/4" @ 10' ???)

Do you think it cools your beer well enough?

How cool is your keg while serving?

Now that you have used it for awhile, is there anything you would do differently if you made another one?

 

[hughmac]

Wow, and I'd JUST given up on the beer engine as WAY out of my price range! Thanks so much for the RV pump idea ... should allow me to bust into the engine world without undue marriage-testing expenses.

 

[craigd]

I somehow missed this the first time around. Thanks for bringing it back from the dead. BK, any word? This might answer my problem of low funds and low space if it works well.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

I have not had a chance to try this yet. I am still working on getting my brewery back up and running with some upgrades. Not sure when I will get to this.

sorry

 

[craigd]

The wife just gave me the go-ahead to use the soda fridge if i want to try. May have to see if i can make it work. it certainly looks sound...