Keg filling from brite tank valve

[kef300]

I have a brite beer tank with a butterfly valve that has an ID of 32mm (1.26"). I have a manual counter-pressure keg filler with a liquid in tailpiece diameter of 1/2".

How do I make the adjustment to connect the tank valve to my liquid line in? Also, if I remember correctly, decreasing diameter increases pressure. Will the smaller diameter in the tubing increase the beer pressure through the line? The reason I ask is I know I should keep my counter pressure about 6-7 psi lower than the tank pressure. If the smaller diameter of the beer line increases my pressure, I need to be able to adjust my counter pressure.

How do you guys do these adjustments normally?

Thanks!

[kef300]

If I have an outlet like the one shown in the attached picture:



Can I just get a tri-clover hose barb like the one in the link below? Is that all I would need? Are tri-clover connections screw-on connections?

https://www.brewershardware.com/1.5-Tri-Clover-X-1-2-Hose-Barb.html

[gitchegumee]

Ez...

What you are showing in this picture is a Tri Clamp connection. Likely 1 1/2". Also joins to, and uses same clamp as 1". There's nothing "screw on" about Tri Clamp. You need a 1/2" hose barb x 1 1/2" (or 1") Tri Clamp. The item you have selected from Brewers Hardware will work. And you need to keep your pressure in your BBT at least at saturation pressure for the target CO2 volume and temperature of your BBT contents. NEVER LOWER! The counter pressure in the clean, sanitized, purged keg should start off equal to, or slightly less than your BBT pressure. As you fill, SLOWLY bleed the keg of CO2. How slow should you bleed? What keg pressure? Don't worry about it. Fill based on fill rate. A reasonable fill time with 1/2" hose barb on 1/6 bbl keg might be 120 seconds to 180 seconds. Make sure that your procedure does not foam the beer. And weigh each keg to be assured that you are filling completely. You could easily fill two (or more) kegs at the same time with a 1 1/2" Tri Clamp tee(s) on your BBT and two (or more) of those hose barbs--one going to each keg spear. Good luck.

[kef300]

Thanks gitchegumee! It's all clear now, will get on it

[mswebb]

A slight refinement to the above process is to weigh the keg while filling. Don't wait until beer overflows to shut down. Get a decent industrial scale (doesn't have to be super expensive). Set up your fill with the keg on the scale and all hoses attached. Use the tare function on the scale to set the scale to zero with everything ready to go and start filling. You can watch the scale and stop the filling process when your target fill level is reached. Even high gravity beers don't weigh significantly more than water which is 1Kg per liter. You can also watch the scale and determine if you are filling too fast (based on your own experience over time).

[StaEva]

The Slow Crawl of Time...

A slight refinement to the above process is to weigh the keg while filling. Don't wait until beer overflows to shut down. Get a decent industrial scale (doesn't have to be super expensive). Set up your fill with the keg on the scale and all hoses attached. Use the tare function on the scale to set the scale to zero with everything ready to go and start filling. You can watch the scale and stop the filling process when your target fill level is reached. Even high gravity beers don't weigh significantly more than water which is 1Kg per liter. You can also watch the scale and determine if you are filling too fast (based on your own experience over time).

mswebb, what about those of us who would like to NOT spend the rest of our natural lives filling orders one keg at a time and die in front of a single-head filling-rig?

[mswebb]

To each his own. I've seen plenty of large breweries filling one and two per cycle. When we commission our 15Bbl brewhouse next spring we'll likely go to a four head filler and have to revamp our procedures accordingly.