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Ball lock cornelius kegs

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  • Ball lock cornelius kegs

    Is anyone using these to distribute beer? I know they're popular in the homebrewing area, how about commercially?

    What modifications would be needed to connect them to bar tap system or to sell directly to consumers?

    thanks
    j

  • #2
    Many people distribute in Cornelius kegs. There are several threads which discuss filling & cleaning. Give them a search. Good luck.
    Phillip Kelm--Palau Brewing Company Manager--

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    • #3
      Yes, there are a few here that do, including us.

      Over here (UK) the differences in the cellar are very minimal. Instead of 3/8 tubing connecting to 1 coupler as with a Grundy or Sankey fitting, the 3/8 tubing connects to the grey and black fittings. Over here everything is John Guest, so it is as easy as plug and play. God Bless John Guest!

      One big problem you can have is the customers putting the fittings on the corny keg back to front when changing a keg...as you may or may not know when this happens it can cause missed sales, a call out and usually the destruction of a couple fittings to get it right again. For a while now we have been using black and white dust caps on the respective posts when the kegs go out the door and this has helped considerably...touch wood.

      Cleaning them is a bit more labour intensive, but it is very very easy to build a keg washer for them, and I just like being able to see inside them.

      As we look to move part of our business away from self distribution, we are thinking of making a switch just to become more 'normal'...undecided on that one at the moment.

      Cheers,
      Jeff Rosenmeier (Rosie)
      Chairman of the Beer
      Lovibonds Brewery Ltd
      Henley-on-Thames, Englandshire
      W: www.lovibonds.com
      F: LovibondsBrewery
      T: @Lovibonds

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      • #4
        Cornies

        We've been using them for a few years now. In our part of the world, we provide a full dispensing setup to our draft customers (chiller, CO2, towers and taps) so we're free to decide what types of kegs we want to supply. In the US, where most bars own their own equipment and most kegs are Sanke fittings you may find a bar-owner reluctant to take kegs that won't fit his existing hardware. Apart from that, just as Jeff says, they're fairly easy to clean and work with once you get used to them. We tend to use 6mm hose rather than 3/8" but we're stuck pouring through flash chillers - Jeff's lines may not be as long so his dispensing pressure may be lower. We also painted the rubber chime white around the gas-in QD to avoid customers mixing up the fittings. VERY IMPORTANT - use check valves (ball-lock fittings don't have them built-in) and stock spare everything - poppets, gaskets, prv's, etc.

        Good luck.
        David

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        • #5
          David, good point on the non-return valve, we don't hook up gas to a Corny keg without one! I've got the tshirt on that one!

          I think it was covered here:



          All cellars in the UK (for what they call keg beer, at least) that I have seen run a 3/8 (od) line (very low resistance) from the beer to the bar and then we vary the length of 3/16 (od again) as the choker from python or underbar chiller to the tap. The majority of underbars and remote chillers here are the same 3/8...with the odd one setup for 5/16. Again, these are all john guest, push fit, none of this messing around with jubiliee (hose) clips.

          The specs of the lines that I'm talking about were covered here:



          Cheers,
          Jeff
          Jeff Rosenmeier (Rosie)
          Chairman of the Beer
          Lovibonds Brewery Ltd
          Henley-on-Thames, Englandshire
          W: www.lovibonds.com
          F: LovibondsBrewery
          T: @Lovibonds

          Comment

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