Equipment – Vessels used

Here I will explain all of the equipment I use during the life time of my beers and ciders.

Jugs

Stop that sniggering at the back! The joke hasn’t been lost on the manufacturers either. In fact there are brands like “Big Jugs” out there – just be careful if you google them.
I have several jugs, at least three I can find.. I use them for mixing and distributing ChemClean and ChemSan. My jugs have a graduations on the side which makes it easier to add the correct amount of the powdered ChemClean or liquid ChemSan. It’s then easy to pour the liquid into or onto the equipment being treated. Smaller items, like tri-clamps, seals, caps, tapping head parts etc, can also be cleaned or sanitised directly in the jug. I also use my jugs for accurately measuring water for making black tea for when I want extra tannins to add to cider, or hot water to add to beer wort concentrate before mixing. Jugs can also be used for serving beer or cider and can be filled directly from the brew tap.

Stainless Steel (SS) Kegs

These are used for conditioning, storing and serving beer from. On top of the keg there is a gas connection post, a liquid post and a Pressure Release Valve (PRV). Inside the keg there is a dip tube connected to the underside of the liquid post. This metal tube allows liquid to be dispensed from the bottom of the keg as it will always be in the liquid until the keg is empty. The gas post allows CO2 or Mixed Gas to enter the keg above the liquid line. The PRV is a safety feature that protects the keg against over pressure, by releasing gas if the pressure gets too high. It’s important to fit the correct PRV for the keg being used, where plastic or SS.

I currently have five 19 Litre kegs and two 9.5 Litre kegs. This is probably as many as I need.

Kegland Oxebar PET kegs

I have quite a few of these. ten x 8 Litre, four x 4 Litre and one 20 Litre. All of these kegs have caps and/or tapping heads. The tapping head screws onto the top of the keg and provides gas and liquid posts and a PRV just like their SS cousins. They are just a smaller (in the case of the 4L & 8L keys) and cheaper alternative to stainless steel (SS) kegs. I generally use these for cider and SS kegs for beer. “Oxebar” is a portmanteau of Oxygen and Barrier. They are made with a specialized PET and nylon/polymer blend that reduces oxygen transfer and CO2 loss. I realised after I bought it that the 20 Litre Oxebar actually has a larger diameter than my 19 Litre SS kegs. My serving cellar (fridge) can fit three SS kegs, but only two 20 Litre Oxebars so I’m currently only using it for storing RO water for brewing. I won’t be buying anymore of this size. In the case of cider, I use Oxebars for fermenting and conditioning. When fermentation has completed, the cider is transferred from one Oxebar to another. This gets the cider off the lees so there is very little sediment in the conditioning/serving keg. I use a Fermzilla (see later) to ferment my beer and transfer to SS kegs when fermentation is complete.

Fermentation Vessels (FV)

For beers including bitter, lager, stout and porter, I ferment in a 30 litre Fermzilla. This is a clear PET vessel that comes with a tapping head with gas & liquid posts and a PRV. This is great for 9, 18, 19, 20 and 23 litre batches of beer. It’s a pressure vessel and so is great for fermenting under pressure. It fits nicely in my Fermentation Enclosure (‘fridge) but I did need to make it a new stand as there is a step in the bottom of the fridge for the compressor. As this fermenter is clear, it’s important to keep light off of it when brewing beer that involves dry hopping, as the hops might go “skunky”. As I always brew with my Fermzilla inside my Fermentation Enclosure (FE), this isn’t an issue for me.

As already mentioned, I use Oxebars as FVs for cider.

For other brewing projects like making melomel, I have a few wide mouth glass carboys. These are usually great but can be difficult to make airtight. Sometimes the airlock stops bubbling and air leaks are the issue. It makes it harder to know when fermentation has completed.

Gas cylinders

Technically these are also vessels, but I thought they deserved a separate article. >link will go here<