King keg float system

mozza

Hi, I've been given a couple of king kegs that my friend has had in his garage for about ten years. I've given them a proper clean and bought new taps, lids and a new latstock float system. My question is, having never used a king keg before, how easy is the float/ are there any problems people have encountered in getting them to work? I'm assuming you have them facing up and siphon your beer in and it should work? Any tips would be great as I don't want to mess it up and have to open it at a later date letting all the pressure out lol. Cheers, Sam

HBO_Staff

Hi Sam, King Kegs are great barrels, we would also recommend that you check the rubber seals everywhere to be sure that they are in good condition as they can perish over time, especially if quite old, but other than that you sound good to go (washer packs are available to overhaul barrels if needed). The Latstock Float systems are simple devices which just float on top of the brew, and draw the brew through the hole on the underside which sits in the liquid. When you fill the barrel you can just take a look and ensure that the float is sitting correctly, but generally they sort themselves out as they are buoyant.

With old kegs which may not have been used for some time, it is worth testing them, as it is best to find any problems before they are full with your precious brew. This is one way;

Fill the keg with say 20 litres or so of tap water, put the lid on the barrel, and then because water will create no pressure, inject CO2 into the barrel (if using bulbs then one 8g will be fine) which will put the barrel under pressure. The float will be sitting on the water, and you will not be able to hear any gas escaping from around the lid, or see liquid escaping fom the seal on the tap etc, if everything is OK. Then open the tap and draw off some water, this will highlight any problems.

As long as everything looks OK then you should be fine to use the barrels and fill up with your brews. Here is a handy link with things to check and common issues with barrels which may be of use to you, pay particular attention to the tap area and lid; http://homebrewonline.vanillaforums.com/discussion/209/barrel-problemsco2-injector-cap#latest

Top Tap barrels must be constantly under pressure or the brew will not be forced down the pipe to the tap, so if your brew is not naturally pressurising the barrel enough and the flow stops, you will need to inject CO2 as and when needed.

Any questions or problems just ask

mozza

Brilliant. Thanks for the quick response. The new lid came with a new pin valve so I've basically replaced everything that could go wrong just to be safe. Hopefully I won't have any trouble!

HBO_Staff

That sounds like you've done the right thing to be on the safe side, might be worth just testing one with water. Let us know how your brews turn out....