Aging / Aeration in an SS 50L Keg

[Frothwizard]

Hey Peeps,

So I've got a mate of a mate who works at Coopers here in S.A and he's gifted me with a free shiny keg to work with...the good lads at Coopers even took the spear out for me.

In other news, I've got a wedding for a mate coming up in 1.5 years and he's a bourbon drinker. What I want to do is surprise him with a ridiculous amount of decent bourbon.

I've settled on Brendan's Faux Bourbon, modified CFW recipe, and put the first batch down tonight.

The question I've got is, has anyone actually setup an aging / aerator setup in a keg before and if so how did they go about it?

I'm just imagining filling the keg with 62.5% and hanging a mix of toasted and charred dominoes (15g/L) on string into the liquor and then just sealing it with cloth and a rubber band.

Any ideas on setting up an aerator so the angels can have more of their share would be good.

Thanks,
FW

[res]

Sounds good to me. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
I would opt for cleaned copper wire to hang the oak, that's how I roll. :D

[Frothwizard]

Sounds good to me. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
I would opt for cleaned copper wire to hang the oak, that's how I roll. :D

That's a good idea. String might get soggy and break.

[Zak Griffin]

I've currently got 21L of 65% modified CFW in a stainless keg... I've got half a dozen toasted and charred dominoes in it, hanging on stainless wire, and I made a 'cork' out of a piece of oak from a wine barrel that fits inside the original screw-in spear piece... I'll get a pic tomorrow :)

Similar thing, my cousin is on an 18 month holiday, when he gets back I'll have a little bit of bourbon for him...

[Frothwizard]

I've currently got 21L of 65% modified CFW in a stainless keg... I've got half a dozen toasted and charred dominoes in it, hanging on stainless wire, and I made a 'cork' out of a piece of oak from a wine barrel that fits inside the original screw-in spear piece... I'll get a pic tomorrow :)

Similar thing, my cousin is on an 18 month holiday, when he gets back I'll have a little bit of bourbon for him...

From what you've written you're just letting it age naturally without aeration?

[Urrazeb]

The oak bung will breathe FW though I would still remeve it regularly to allow more airing as the 2in oak has a lot less surface area than a barrel :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I just cap mine with a blanking cap and tri clamp and every so often I remove it and cover with a filter paper for a few days

[Frothwizard]

The oak bung will breathe FW though I would still remeve it regularly to allow more airing as the 2in oak has a lot less surface area than a barrel :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I just cap mine with a blanking cap and tri clamp and every so often I remove it and cover with a filter paper for a few days

Oh yeah for sure, I understand how it would still breathe. What I meant was, there's no artificial aeration with a pump or whatever. That's what I'm looking for, ideas on how to do that. I'm not the handiest of people and you boys usually have some ingenious ideas.

[Urrazeb]

Oh I got ya! Should of read the title hey 8-}

Doc has a few good comments on aeration, but the jist of it is to use an aquarium air stone and drop it to the bottom.

Either that or some guys crimp a length of copper pipe at one end and pump air through that way.

http://aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic ... =+aeration

That post has a good lengthy conversation going on about the topic.

[dogbreath vodka]

I've currently got 21L of 65% modified CFW in a stainless keg... I've got half a dozen toasted and charred dominoes in it, hanging on stainless wire, and I made a 'cork' out of a piece of oak from a wine barrel that fits inside the original screw-in spear piece... I'll get a pic tomorrow :)

Similar thing, my cousin is on an 18 month holiday, when he gets back I'll have a little bit of bourbon for him...

You mean like this? :D :D :D

23ltr keg for ageing.JPG

I went one further and added a copper top to the oak bung to slow the evaporation
Will have another look at how it's going in a little while... been aging with oak since October last year.
Shake this puppy every day to keep the booze moving around the dominoes.

6 dominoes on a stainless wire.

Dominoes on a wire with bung (Copy).JPG

Just wish I could get a hold of a couple more small kegs.

Aeration would be a good idea.

DBV

[dogbreath vodka]

Frothwiz
Thinking about aerating a 50 ltr keg.. :think: :think:

Why not rig up an end cap with a stainless tube long enough to go to the bottom of the keg?
It would also need some type of airlock or vent in it.
That way there is no pressure build up or making the pump work too hard.

If you fit a 4" ferrule to the top of the keg you could add some arrangement to hang dominoes from.

That way it all came out at the same time and the only modification to the keg would be the 4" ferrule.

Just a thought.

DBV

[Frothwizard]

Frothwiz
Thinking about aerating a 50 ltr keg.. :think: :think:

Why not rig up an end cap with a stainless tube long enough to go to the bottom of the keg?
It would also need some type of airlock or vent in it.
That way there is no pressure build up or making the pump work too hard.

If you fit a 4" ferrule to the top of the keg you could add some arrangement to hang dominoes from.

That way it all came out at the same time and the only modification to the keg would be the 4" ferrule.

Just a thought.

DBV

I'm trying hard to imagine this...can you explain it in laymans terms...I'm not too clever. :angry-banghead:

[dogbreath vodka]

I'm trying to draw it.... but Corel is not letting me save it as a jpeg.

Two tubes in a 4" end cap one goes to the bottom of the keg (aeration) the other goes just inside the cap to vent.

PLUS a rod in the middle of the end cap with holes drilled through the rod to hold wires that hold dominoes.

4 inch cap for ageing.pdf

DBV

[dogbreath vodka]

To further complicate things :angry-banghead:

The vent and dominoes post could be one tube.
A spear from a keg.
Drill holes in it that are in the spirit, for hanging dominoes.

and a hole or two above the level of the spirit to use as a vent.

Then there are only two tubes.

4 inch cap for ageing 2.pdf

:D :D

[dogbreath vodka]

Sorry for the stuffing around but how about this one.

4 inch cap for ageing 2.png

I'm only just learning to convert these drawings... don't do enough of them to remember it all :roll: :roll:

DBV

[pulsetech]

An Airlock on the vent would be a good idea. Stop any bugs getting in

[dogbreath vodka]

So how about this.

Flatten the locking ring on a keg spear.
Grind off the locking tabs.

Drill holes for the wires to hang dominoes.

Drill hole for vent inside keg.

Keg spear for vent and dominoes hanger (Copy).JPG

Then weld it into an end cap.

An extra stainless steel tube to one side of the end cap for aeration. :D :D :D

Now I'm just obsessing.

Or if you have the copper laying around, solder the spear and aeration tube into a copper end cap.

DBV

[Urrazeb]

So how about this.

Flatten the locking ring on a keg spear.
Grind off the locking tabs.

Drill holes for the wires to hang dominoes.

Drill hole for vent inside keg.

Keg spear for vent and dominoes hanger (Copy).JPG

Then weld it into an end cap.

An extra stainless steel tube to one side of the end cap for aeration. :D :D :D

Now I'm just obsessing.

Or if you have the copper laying around, solder the spear and aeration tube into a copper end cap.

DBV

Nice. I like the re purposing :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[pulsetech]

Im thinking about modifying the original spear and outlet to make it easier to get off for filling. then its a simple mod to a keg adapter to remove the check valve
so your air in goes down the spear and air comes out where your gas line would normally be.

[dogbreath vodka]

Hey Pulsetech

Had thought of something similar - except still using the 4" ferrule.
The larger opening makes it easier to get the dominoes in and out of the keg.

The 23ltr keg pictured above in a previous post has a 2" ferrule on it.
It's a pain to get the dominoes in and out.

You would also need a way of hanging the dominoes, instead of drilling holes in the keg spear.

DBV

[pulsetech]

Im happy to split domino's I do it now to get them into bottles.

I have 20L corny kegs that I plan to age in eventually. Got them on Ebay for $20.00 for 2
they are pretty much perfect IMHO. They have the pull ring style pressure release that you can hold open
if you turn the ring 90 Degrees. There is a nice place on the bottom of the lid to Tie domino's
You could inject air into the dip tube very easily.