Tag: Home Bar

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Home Bar Setups

So you want to put a bar in at home? Well, we’ve done loads of home bar setups so can help with that. There’s a short video here with the critical dimensions so that deals with the space issue. The key dimensions are width, depth (as in front to back) and height.

Depth wise we always think of 600mm as being about right. That’s enough to fit the cooler in with some breathing space around it and fit kegs in as well if that’s what you want. It’s convenient too if you want to use regular worktop as your bar top.

Width wise we would be thinking a bare minimum of one metre, which would accommodate the cooler and gas bottle, and one and a half metres if you want to fit a keg under there as well. We do build our own mobile units to a metre and they work just fine, we just have to put the keg separate from the bar is all.

This is our two product event bar and as can be seen from the pictures there’s enough room to fit the gas bottle, beer cooler, beer gas regulators and all the associated pipe work. With these ones we would leave the kegs outside and run cooling jackets off the recirculation pump in the cooler. We also run cold water through the python and up into the font from the same source; there’s plenty of cooling going on in this setup.

The headroom in this one is a metre, which gives us plenty of space for the gas bottle.

If you’re building a home bar then this is the exact same setup that we would use and / or recommend. You may want a single or double font rather than this triple but all of the dimensions and equipment are the same. These coolers have four cooling loops but we would only ever use two at any one time so a cooler with two loops wil be just fine for one or two products in your home bar setup; they’re just a touch smaller physically.

  • Event Bar 2 Product
  • Event Bar 2 Product
  • Event Bar 2 Product

These bars are all driven by gas, there’s no need for any motors. We use 60/40 – 60% carbon dioxide (CO2) and 40% nitrogen – and find that 25psi usually does the trick. There’s lots of arguments about gas pressures and there is some very clever maths around length of pipe run and all that guff. At our level, all we need to do is understand what works and for us that’s 25psi of top pressure and no real issue going up or down by a few PSI to get the balance right.

We do use a secondary regulator per product in all our event bars and home bar setups, which some might see as a slight bit of overkill, but it does give complete control over each product and for what a secondary regulator costs it’s not really worth trying to save a few quid.

At the bottle, we need a primary regulator. If you’re tempted to use a welding regulator because you can’t see the difference or there’s one going cheap please, please, don’t. The gas in those bottles is stored at over 800psi and the beer kegs are not rated to 800psi. Regulators are not cheap, think £75 or so, but they are an absolutely critical component and not a place to try and save money.

It’s quite possible to dispense beer with CO2, we do it ourselves here in the brewshed and have seen plenty of home bar setups using CO2. Dispensing with CO2 is a great compromise if you’re a brewer and want to carbonate your beer as well. If you’re designing your home bar from scratch though mixed gas is the way to go.

We will do another post on the gas setup itself, in terms of where the pipes go etc., if you have any questions around any of this or any other aspect of your home bar setup do drop us a message; we’re always (usually!) happy to talk beer.

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Home Bars – How to Set Them Up

How to set up a home bar – the beer side

We’ve seen some inspiring creativity in the world of home bars during the last few months and we’ve been asked to fit a few out or resolve some technical gremlins. Who knew that the humble pallet was so versatile?

Behind the bar though, people want beer and if you want beer on draught then it’s an extra level of commitment. What we are doing with this post is going through what that commitment will entail.

So, what do we need to get beer from our keg into our glass?

Well, gas will drive the beer from the keg (don’t need to know how do you? Thought not) but we want it cold don’t we? And we don’t want a glass of foam; cold or not.

The gas we use, typically, is CO2 and we can get CO2 in cylinders. The trouble is that CO2 cylinders run at 850psi or so and beer is dispensed at 12psi; give or take. Please don’t take a CO2 cylinder into your life without understanding its needs. In all honesty it’s pretty simple; make sure you buy food grade CO2 and for fuck’s sake don’t try and save ten quid by using a welding regulator.

I went to a job this week that genuinely scared me. He had a welding regulator wide open and the pressure into the keg was phenomenal. The beer was firing out of the tap like a damn fire hydrant and I felt like we were one step away from a very messy end, although it would have been a pretty rock’n’roll way to go. Take CO2 cylinders seriously; they can do some serious damage.

Regulators aren’t expensive, think £50 or so, and should be thought of as an absolute must; don’t cut corners there.

Okay, so we’re out of the keg without putting the man cave into orbit but we need the beer to be not only at non-lethal pressures but cool as well, not Fonzi cool neccessarily, but pretty damn cool. How are we going to make that happen? Well, one of these would be an excellent solution.

This is an under bar or flash cooler. This is what is going to sit between your room temperature keg of beer and the ice cold pint in your glass. This one is a typical ‘4 out’ Maxi, they work by passing the beer through a stainless coil which sits in a cold water bath. The two pipes that point upwards are connected to a water recirculation pump which can be used to keep beer lines cold between cooler and tap and also to cool the font on the bar. The ones that ‘sweat’ condensation? That’s from a water recirc pump chilling it.

  • Flow Controller
  • Gas Regulator
  • Sankey Keg Coupler

So the flow is CO2 from the regulator goes into the keg via the coupler at 12psi or so. This forces the beer out via the same coupler and into the ‘in’ side of the cooler. The beer is chilled and then exits the cooler on the ‘out’ side heading for the tap. Between the cooler and the tap we fit a flow controller, we use a flow controller to, erm, control the flow of the beer.

The enemy of a good pint is excessive foam (fobbing) and our number one weapon is the flow controller. They’re not expensive and should really be viewed as a must have piece of kit.

This isn’t particularly complex work, setting up a home bar to give you decent beer, but it can be tricky to get right and there’s not much more frustrating than a glass full of foam when you wanted a cold beer. If you want to do it yourself it isn’t beyond you; honestly. Just treat the C02 with respect, follow the flow logically, and give us a call if you get stuck.

Update

We are increasingly seeing continental style lagers in home bars and those don’t play very well with CO2; you can run into pretty bad fobbing problems. The answer is mixed gas, usually 60/40, and a different regulator setup. If you’re planning to dispense continental lagers then mixed gas is the way to go.

Steve

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Beer Sheds!

As the country comes back to life and we all try to figure out what the new ‘normal’ looks like and we over here at Shed Beer are no different.

Our guess at the moment is that, as the pubs open and we begin to socialise again, then people who had a function planned for summer or autumn might start thinking that it’s possible again.

What this should mean is that our ‘Beer Shed’ concept is back in play and that we will be able to supply kick ass mobile bars to events and functions across the Fylde Coast.

  • Shed Beer

These are completely self contained units; all they need is a plug socket. We deliver the unit, plug it in and make sure it’s happy, give you a guided tour and leave you to it. Give the unit a couple of hours and you will have cold craft beer to dispense yourself; it’s that simple.

We are currently looking at dates in July as being possible so are happy to put some dates in the diary. Initial enquiries by email to steve@shedbeer.co.uk and we will give you a call to discuss.

Steve

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Beer – Where Next?

This year, 2020, will probably go down in history as the weirdest of the 21st century – although there’s a while to go so something really weird could happen yet.

For the beer industry it’s unprecedented, not even global conflicts have stopped the brewers brewing, so the industry has had to adapt on the fly and consumers have adapted right along with it.

This has, quite obviously, led to a huge increase in small pack beer consumption. I felt at the time that keeping beer on the ‘essentials’ list was a very British thing to do in a crisis and like the troopers we are we set about expanding our beer consumption rates with a will; heroes every one of you!

Our understanding right now, on the 5th of June, is that pubs will be able to open 4th/5th of July. That’s subject to confirmation and there will clearly be some guidance for businesses to adhere to but it’s definitely welcome news for many of us.

It’s also quite clear that many of us have enjoyed having their beer fix at home and and it’s been interesting for us over here at Shed Beer to have been part of helping that to happen. Our own beers have gone into bottles, we’ve been putting cask beer into bag in boxes and we’ve also helped some customers with fitting out bars at home.

Some of the creativity we’ve seen has been inspiring; who knew that the humble pallet could be put to such brilliant use?

Where this leaves us is really, genuinely, pleased that pub opening is on the horizon but also believing that home consumption is still going to be significant.

For us as a small business, what that means is that we will continue to support (and encourage!) those who choose to take their beer fix at home. We will carry as many small pack lines as we possibly can and continue to bottle as much of our own output as we can for home delivery across the Fylde Coast.

Once our supply lines are less gummed up and the brewers are actually brewing beer again we will be able to supply pretty much anything for those with bars at home from bulk beer in kegs to CO2 cylinders.

Steve