Hiding modern Kegging Gear

[Jack Roberts]

Hey Mickey, with all your extensive brewing experience, have you tried to make a PC recipe for beer?

I do realize that our hops our more refined now then back then but it still would be cool.

[michaelsbagley]

Hey Mickey, with all your extensive brewing experience, have you tried to make a PC recipe for beer?

I do realize that our hops our more refined now then back then but it still would be cool.

Actually Jack, that is one of this years projects. I have found an online facsimile copy of a book published just post period (1730s) on brewing, and a chapter of a 1680s(? going from memory) book about brewing. I do plan to delve into both of those and see what I can come up with. I may use period recipes, but modern kegging... Out of convenience and also for the sake of hygiene and food safety... But yeah, period(ish) brewing is high on my list of things to do this year. In fact I bought most of the last few parts I need for my kegging rig over the holidays. All I need now is a CO2 cannister, which I have found a decent source for. I just need to hold off for a few weeks (months?) until I have the spare cash and time to start. I'm hoping I might be able to bring a keg with me to Blackbeards for after hours consumption. I even have an idea for hiding the modern alluminum keg and air cannister in a period(ish) looking wooden cask/keg)...

Long story short, yeah, I've been putting a lot of though into brewing, and even some preliminary research (found sources, now to read them).

As a side note, I have done some research on primitive brewing (dark ages) from back in my Viking days, even wrote an article on it and tought a class at some SCA events about it.

[Jack Roberts]

Awesome. I never even thought about the kegging process not being period. I was just thinking you'd bottle it, but then

that get expensive also. Keep us posted. Thanks for the hard work.

[michaelsbagley]

Awesome. I never even thought about the kegging process not being period. I was just thinking you'd bottle it, but then

that get expensive also. Keep us posted. Thanks for the hard work.

Bottling is my very least favourite part of making alcoholic beverages... I just hates it... In fact buying and collecting up the gear for kegging is the only reason I was willing to do ale/beer brewing. With wines and mead, the bottles are bigger, so bottling isn't as much of a royal pain in the derrière, specially if you use "magnum" size bottles (1.5 litres or about ~1 1/2 quarts?).

Kegging is period, but wood barrel/cask kegging causes so many challenges and more work, I'm going to stick to modern kegging hidden inside a wooden vessel.

[Littleneckhalfshell]

Kegging is period, but wood barrel/cask kegging causes so many challenges and more work, I'm going to stick to modern kegging hidden inside a wooden vessel.

I'd like to hear more about how you hide modern Kegs inside a wooden vessel (and by wooden vessel, I assume that you don't mean the ship ;-) ) also, what do you use for the 'tap' ?

What kind of modern Keg are you using? The stainless soda syrup containers that some home brewer's use? or the small 5 liter mini kegs that also some home brewer's use? or are you talking true comercial kegs? I once years ago put up a quarter barrel comercial keg of home brew just for the heck of it. The trouble is keeping it cold when you have those large amounts, most people with kegs of any size usually keep it cool if not cold to keep it from 'going off' at least for beer that is, wine or mead would I guess be a different matter altogether.

I have give thought to putting one of the 5 liter kegs into a 3 gallon wooden barrel with some ice and just plumbing it out to look like the beer was coming from the wooden keg. I have a stainless tap for the 5 liter kegs that uses a small detachable CO2 source that hooks up to a tire valve fitting on the tap. When you need it to pressure, you just pull the trigger. It uses the small disposable CO2 cylinders, although I have the large CO2 tank and regulator from when we used to keep half barrels in the old refrig in the garage.

[michaelsbagley]

Kegging is period, but wood barrel/cask kegging causes so many challenges and more work, I'm going to stick to modern kegging hidden inside a wooden vessel.

I'd like to hear more about how you hide modern Kegs inside a wooden vessel (and by wooden vessel, I assume that you don't mean the ship ;-) ) also, what do you use for the 'tap' ?

What kind of modern Keg are you using? The stainless soda syrup containers that some home brewer's use? or the small 5 liter mini kegs that also some home brewer's use? or are you talking true comercial kegs? I once years ago put up a quarter barrel comercial keg of home brew just for the heck of it. The trouble is keeping it cold when you have those large amounts, most people with kegs of any size usually keep it cool if not cold to keep it from 'going off' at least for beer that is, wine or mead would I guess be a different matter altogether.

I have give thought to putting one of the 5 liter kegs into a 3 gallon wooden barrel with some ice and just plumbing it out to look like the beer was coming from the wooden keg. I have a stainless tap for the 5 liter kegs that uses a small detachable CO2 source that hooks up to a tire valve fitting on the tap. When you need it to pressure, you just pull the trigger. It uses the small disposable CO2 cylinders, although I have the large CO2 tank and regulator from when we used to keep half barrels in the old refrig in the garage.

You guessed it.... Basically, I want to put a modern cornelius keg (the 5 gallon soda kegs home brewers use) into a wooden barrel or cask. I plan to hide the air cannister in there as well, and there should be plenty of room for ice on top of it all. The spigot I currently have for my Corny Keg setup is plastic and quite obviously so. I would likely try and hide it between uses, but eventually I would try to get a spit that looks more like wood (they do sell them). I don't think there are any spigots for home keggers that would look perfect, so this would have to be one of those "close enough" kind of things.

[Littleneckhalfshell]

You guessed it.... Basically, I want to put a modern cornelius keg (the 5 gallon soda kegs home brewers use) into a wooden barrel or cask. I plan to hide the air cannister in there as well, and there should be plenty of room for ice on top of it all. The spigot I currently have for my Corny Keg setup is plastic and quite obviously so. I would likely try and hide it between uses, but eventually I would try to get a spit that looks more like wood (they do sell them). I don't think there are any spigots for home keggers that would look perfect, so this would have to be one of those "close enough" kind of things.

I don't think you have to use wood, brass taps were period I believe, here is testimony from a 1786 wreck

""Seadart Divers have been concentrating their efforts working on a wreck site off the Dorset coast in the UK. The wreck is of the ship Halsewell, a trading ship of the East India Company that was lost to a storm on the 6th January 1786. As "salvor in possession" Seadart Divers have always taken a keen interest in the archaeological side to our finds.""

here is a picture of the artifact.

And these are modern ones available for purchase. I think TBG04 looks similar and could be plumbed to your beer line.

Edited February 12, 2009 by Littleneckhalfshell

[Littleneckhalfshell]

I have an old one that does not look too different from either of them and it was my grandparents. I also seem to remember that there was one in an artifact list of an older shipwreck, but can't find it right now. I think they were a very basic item over a large time span.

[Littleneckhalfshell]

Of course if you are set on a wooden tap, Jas Townsend has one for $7.50

http://jas-townsend.com/product_info.php?c...;products_id=34

Maybe I will see about doing something like this myself, I have a 3 gal. soda keg, just a bit shorter than the 5 gal ones (have two of those) I used to use the 3 gal for bringing some draft beer from my home half barrel to parties. I think it would fit nicely in one of my old wooden barrels, though, I think I might try to use my regular modern beer faucet, it does not look too different and with a 'key top' instead of the paddle, it might pass a ten foot test in the dark of the tent. ;-)

[michaelsbagley]

Of course if you are set on a wooden tap, Jas Townsend has one for $7.50

http://jas-townsend.com/product_info.php?c...;products_id=34

Maybe I will see about doing something like this myself, I have a 3 gal. soda keg, just a bit shorter than the 5 gal ones (have two of those) I used to use the 3 gal for bringing some draft beer from my home half barrel to parties. I think it would fit nicely in one of my old wooden barrels, though, I think I might try to use my regular modern beer faucet, it does not look too different and with a 'key top' instead of the paddle, it might pass a ten foot test in the dark of the tent. ;-)

Cool!

Thanks for sharing all that info Littleneckhalfshell! I'm not set on wood, I was thinking of using wood in my ignorance of not knowing that metal spigots go far back. It's good to know that I now have options.

I've been seriously considering eventually trying to get a couple of 3 gallon corny kegs as I am not a huge ale/beer drinker, and it would likely suit me better than the 5 gallon one I have.

I'll definitely share pics when I get to that point (in a few months). If you beat me to the mark, I'd love to see what you come up with.

I'm wondering if I should split the hiding keg posts into their own thread, as it is a cool topic that stand on it's own... If anyone has any objections to that, let me know.... otherwise I will split it off some time tomorrow.

[Littleneckhalfshell]

Ok, now that we are here on the hiding keg post area, a question? The attitude of the Keg? No not if it is happy or grumpy, but is it vertical or horizontal ? I know I have seen kegs both ways, but usually the common way is horizontal, but this presents a little bit more difficulty for hiding the modern keg, since it too then has to be on its side, and modern kegs (beer) usually are meant to remain vertical.

Just a side note regarding wine. I have already in the past put a full bag from a boxed wine into a wooden barrel and brought it out through a re-designed head so that it looked like I was dispensing from a real barrel of wine, that was easy, by comparison, beer is hard.

I know that if I left the barrel vertical and put the tap down near the lower end, it would work, (and making it able to hold ice would also be a plus, warm beer just does not float my boat) but would it be an acceptable way to hide the modern keg in a in period encampment? What say ye?

[Bright]

Well I haven't done one for beer yet but I could not afford the railroad cask for me water so I hide me a five gallon cooler in a dry goods barrel I got for $15.00 and I couln't find the all brass taps so I had to use one that was chrome plated but I have seen them on rum cask ;-}