Recently we got ourselves a Cornelius keg off eBay. This should solve the problems we’ve been having with carbonation. We think that two out of three of our existing plastic kegs are leaking gas and thus our brews aren’t carbonating. We’ve had to resort to adding sugar to the bottles directly.
After ordering the keg Steve the brewer suggested the use of a ‘bottling bucket’. i.e. condition in the keg without priming, put the priming sugar in another key, syphon out this keg and bottle from there. It should be easier and more reliable than per bottle priming.
However, we now have a corny keg so have a choice of methods to use.
- Prime as per Steve’s suggestion
- Condition and prime in the corny keg
- Force carbonate
As well as the keg we’ve got a regulator, some hose and a 6kg CO2 cylinder. All quite exciting. At first the keg was leaking but good service from Jonny on eBay meant that we’re now up and running. Even got a Spunding valve to measure the pressure if we try the prime-in-the-keg approach.
This also opens up the path for making soft drinks and carbonating them in the keg, for Mike obviously.