OnTap Magazine

56 | Spring 2024 | ontapmag.co.za S o, at this point, if you have been following my baptism into brewing, you will have read about my brewing antics and bottling nightmare (as well as everything in between). But like a true sucker that has been bit by the bug of brewing and everything that encompasses it, I am now progressing onto kegging. There is no fun to be had in cleaning bottles… But, let us be honest for a bit; getting kegging equipment is not cheap either. After a bit of research, I found a relatively cheap way to learn the kegging processes while still leaving some money for brewing a beer after. With some insight from my home brewing club, Onderste Brew, I was advised togo for the 8 litres PET Oxebar keg with the complete tapping head. I scrolled Facebook Marketplace for hours to find a suitable CO2 tank and regulator. I bought the keg, piping and tap from the Craft Beer SA website. And, of course I had to brew some beer… I contacted Hein Snyman, brewer at Charlie's Garage Brewery in Noordhoek and he was incredibly calm and insightful in helping me through this very confusing process of getting carbonated beer from a keg. We had a look at what I had bought and how to put it all together. Of course, I had some gaps, such as not yet having ball lock disconnects for the gas and beer lines, but Hein came to rescue again with some of his own, and we were back on course. As I have become very accustomed to by now, we sanitised and cleaned the living daylights out of every single item we were going to use. He showed me how the regulator and CO2 tank is fitted together. Thankfully the tank was full (I found out that if your tank is not in a good condition, it must be destroyed… so make sure your tank is checked regularly for safety.) The keg itself comes with all the fittings and thanks to the power of YouTube I had some idea of how to connect the tube and filter, the pressure relief valve and how to link up the keg with the CO2 tank and regulator. Hein was with me every step of the way and showed me how to purge the keg of any oxygen before we started adding my beer from the fermenter. The ball lock disconnects are so simple to work with that anyone could do it! Hein also mentioned to me that when filling the keg, the flow must be controlled. He reiterated that the keg should not be overfilled. Once the keg was nearly full, we pushed the CO2 up and then proceeded to force carbonate the beer, by shaking the keg. The aim of this is for the CO2 to make as much contact with the beer as possible. The keg got very rigid and I knew I was on the right track, so after about 10 minutes of painstaking shaking, we were ready for the first pour. I connected the Kegland Duotight Picnic Party Tap and we were off to the races… Beer, glorious carbonated beer in less than 15 minutes! Well, it was a bit over carbonated but the lesson was learnt. Of course, I poured some for all in the vicinity and I thank them for keeping my hopes alive, while telling me how terrible the actual beer tasted… tobacco was mentioned. Thank you to Hein and Charlie's Garage for allowing me to learn something new and make a bit of a mess. But I learnt a ton and it totally beats having to clean bottles and painstakingly waiting for them to condition!