thebrewshop

A complete set for home brew beer. The standard 2" neck barrel, a complete pressure injection system and ten Co2 bulbs.

The Co2 bulbs are those things that look like bullets round the bottom of the barrel!

It's a nice easy to use system - The standard barrel is reliable and good value. Under the right conditions you won't need to add gas until the barrel is half empty!

For best results add 50 gram of sugar when barrelling the beer. This keeps the beer fermenting and produces a good natural gas. Then leave about a week in the warm before moving to a cool place.The beer should come out about half head and half beer! When it starts to flow with no head just pop a gas bulb on and charge up the barrel.

You're replacing the beer you've drunk with gas rather than trying to actually gas  the beer! It's called top pressure dispense and is the best way for real ale!

This is a complete set up using the King Keg Barrel. The King Keg has a nice big 4" neck so you can get your hand inside. It's a bit bigger than the standard barrel which means there's a bit more room at the top when it's full of beer.

Same gas system as the standard barrel, simple easy to use 8gm Co2 Bulbs-Easily obtainable.

Breweries call this gap "Ullage" Some breweries have more Ullage than others, we'd call it short measure!

You need some Ullage to allow for the storage of the natural Co 2 produced by the beer, the King Keg has the gap  about right for homebrew purposes!

Same as the bottom tap keg except the tap is at the  top! Why is it different? Well....

The top Tap King Keg - The top tap means the barrel can go at the back of a shelf. The bottom tap barrels have to hang over the edge of a shelf or you can't get your pint pot underneath.

The big trouble is that it depends on the  gas pressure to force the beer out so it's heavier on gas and if you run out of gas you can't get the beer out!

I'd always go for a bottom tap barrel unless you really need it to go at the back of a shelf or on the floor.

Only suitable for the king keg, makes taking the cap off your KIng Keg nice and easy!

Look at the picture and make sure it's the same cap though!

We've now given you the option on the valve type- You'll want the pin valve for the samll soda syphon type gas bulbs.

The S 30 is for the refillable co2 cylinders that have to be returned to us.

S30  Valve fits refillable gas cylinders -You'll need an S30 Cylinder. Empty cylinder must be sent back to us

Top Tap pressure  barrel ---Means you draw the beer off the top of the barrel. The idea is that the beer clears from the  top down so the beer is clearer at the  top. Works on a float system. There's a float in the barrel with a pipe from the back of the tap to the float. The barrel can go at the back of the shelf---But....You have to use  gas to get the beer out, run out of gas, run out of beer! Also you can just put a piece of wood under the front of  bottom tap barrel so it slopes backwards. You just take it out when the beer gets near the bottom of the barrel!

Bottom Tap Pressure Barrel---You can still get beer out if you run out of gas! Hooray! But... Draws beer off bottom of barrel..Just put a book under the front of the barrel so the sediment runs to the back. Take the book out when the beer gets near the bottom of the barrel. If you run out of gas you can just loosen the cap and let a bit of air in. We'd go for a bottom tap beer barrel every time. Big disadvantage is that it has to hang over the edge of a shelf so you can get the beer out of the tap!

Why do you need Gas in your home brew beer barrel? - When you drink the beer it causes a vacuum which sucks the gas out of the beer, so,the beer goes flat. You put a bit of gas in to create top pressure which means the beer stays nice and gassed. You're not injecting gas in the beer, just keeping the beer fresh. Without gas you have to let air in so the beer will come out!

Letting air in makes  the  beer go off very quickly-- In about a week usually.

So, We have two types of gas system.

Soda Syphon Bulb/Pin Valve Uses the small 8gm Co2 bulbs  --- Easy to use, just screw a small gas bulb on to the barrel when you need it. There's a small adaptor to hold the gas bulb.Throw away the bulb after it's empty. Cheap easy and simple. The valve has a pin inside which pieces the gas bulb. If you look inside the top of the valve you should see it.  If your barrel leaks you'll go through a lot of gas, but the system is very good.

S30 Valve and S30 refillable cylinder-- Add just the amount of gas you need and take the cylinder off- cheap to run once you buy it. You have to return the empty cylinder  to us for refil which is a nuisance. The gas is cheap to buy and because the cylinder reseals you put in just what you need so you don't over gas the beer.  It's not very convenient unless you can get into the shop.

If you click on the picture it will be easier to see! It's obvious which valve is which once you know!

You can see the  pin inside the pin valve and just a hole in the  S30 valve

Two of the pressure relief sleeve and one each of the other seals.

The pressure relief is the  one that goes first and the one you're likely to damage when you fit it, so, you get two!

The same seals fit all three valves, takes yours off the barrel and look at it. You'll find if looks like these then the seals will fit.

They're hard to get on but a bit of petroleum jelly usually does the job!

Don't put petroleum jelly on the big black washer as it's a friction fit.

New type tap, replaces the old drum type. For most barrels and containers. It will just drop in the same hole as the tap above.

It won't work in containers/barrels with a threaded hole, only those where the tap has a nut

The  bit of Widget World that supplied the homebrew market stopped trading, we suspected it would.

Ritchie products have taken over the gas refils, they are very nice people and we can offer the gas refils again.

Please ask -- refils will be with us soon. The rest of the system is not available at the moment

Peter and Mark