Tyred of Flat Beer
The idea of bottling beer in PET soft drink bottles is not new. They are quick to fill and cap, and easy to transport to BBQ's and sporting events. There have even been reports of security guards at the footy supporting our motto that "CraftBrewed is Better" by allowing dark beers in coke bottles to pass through the checkpoint.
The only problem is how to easily purge the bottle of air and adjust the carbonation level after filling. Liquid Bread from the Orlando Florida has made a Carbonator Cap for a number of years. This is basically a heavy duty cap with a standard ball lock gas post on top. To get perfectly fresh, carbonated beer you just slowly fill the bottle and squeeze it to bring the beer level up to the very top. You then screw on the cap and gas it up to the desired level.
The only problem is that they are difficult to find in Australia, plus
they cost about $20 each.
Over the years there have been a number of home made and cheaper substitutes
described on the Internet, but as these use US materials it was always
difficult to find the equivalent parts here in Australia. But I have found
that by visiting suitable automotive supply stores you can buy some tyre
valves and adapters to give you all that you need for assembling some
very functional carbonating caps of your own.
The following photos show my setup. You can click of each one to zoom in to give a larger view.
The valves to use are the chrome ones, the normal black rubber ( arrowed ) ones leak, they rely on high pressure to seal them and we don't use that much. The chrome ones have rubber seals and a nut/washer so you can tighten them to seal.
Notice my inflator has a ball lock tower attached via an adapter so I
merely connect it to my gas line to pressurise the bottles.
|
|
|
|
|
I use a bulkhead fitting & automotive quick connects to connect gas
( C02/Nitrogen )to my fridge & I have an adapter so I can connect
my gas to the inflator without opening my fridge.
The whole point of the quick connects & adapter, if I'm not stating the obvious is that I can easily use my gas bottle to gas up my kegs ( outside the fridge; or my pet bottles ) without opening the fridge or disconnecting my gas lines inside.
The second bulkhead fitting ( yet to be installed ) will be for Nitrogen as I've found it's the only way to serve stout the way that I like it. When filling my bottles I just do it from the tap, let it settle, top off, fit cap, disconnect from bulkhead, connect to adapter, connect to inflator & gas, the reg is left at serving pressure & I have had no fire extinguishers or flat beer; disconnect from adapter, plug back into bulkhead & jobs done.
For my kegs, I know the consensus is to gas kegs cold but I don't need to rush as I usually have 3 or 4 in storage, & have found that if I just bung in 60 psi give it a shake then put it under the house, when I come to get it maybe 3 or 4 weeks later it's about right ( not very precise I know, but it's quick & effective ).
Incidentally I use the same connects on barby & burners so that one gas bottle serves all purposes, saves screwing unscrewing or 3 bottles ( actually I have 2, 1 for backup, nothing worse than half way through a boil & !!! )
PLEASE NOTE THAT THEY ARE NOT LEGALLY RATED FOR THIS !!!.
I've never had a problem but I leave it to you to decide if this is a
good thing to do. Please don't blame me if some idiot in a basement blows
himself up.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hope that you get as much use from these gadgets as I do.
Grahame Lingwood