The Load and Go opens

Wellington’s newest Brewpub has opened… in my garage.

I’ve just put the finishing touches on my kegging setup. It’s now 100% ready to go, and is serving up my latest brew.

The first taste was good – but that’s a story for another time. So more about the setup:

Using a potent combination of dubious safety practices and inappropriate tools, I managed to place the hole in the door for the tap. This took bloody forever, and thankfully the collar on the tap is nice and wide so it looks much tidier than it is!

I got Moe to drop around with a proper drill bit for the second hole (this accomodates the gas tube through the rear of the fridge, leaving the door free to open). Of course, this took just 3 minutes and looks tidy as!

Anyway, what a result! The tap looks gorgeous, is sitting at perfect serving height and glorious amber liquid flows forth at the mere movement of my fingers.

Now you’ve seen the result, a bit about the workings. The CO2 bottle (a converted fire extinguisher) sits behind the fridge, regulated at the right pressure to serve the beer. The gas line runs from the regulator, up through the back of the fridge, and onto a connector on the top of the keg (which sits very snugly in my little fridge). Another connector leads from the top of the keg, through a 5 foot beer line, and joins the back of the stainless steel tap. So when the tap it pulled, the CO2 pressure drives the carbonated beer out, and voila, you have a beer.

Above, the tank and regulator setup (click for large version) and below a look inside the fridge (the jars in the freezer box contain hop pellets).

So that’s the system. Watch this space for an update on how my first partial mash brew stacks up. And let me know if you want to come round for a beer