Beer Engine

[jaymonaghan1]

Greetings,

I am a new user, and this is my first post.

I have an old freezer, with a micromatic temp control that stops/starts the compressor, and this is supported by a glycol ice-cube that cools the 30ft of beer line (trunk line) to my taps. I have about 6 different sankys to support a variety of kegs and of course both Co2 and No2 with a mixer incase I want to run European brew. System runs great.

Recently my uncle bequethed me some antique beer engines.
I would like to put them to use in parallel to my existing system as I have 6 product lines but currently only running 1 product to 3 taps (estetics vs function). I am however concerned that the product will not last very long compared to one driven by C02 as it would be my conjecture (best guess) that when drawing beer out of a keg with a beer engine it is being replaced by air.

I remember my early party days when we would have a kegger with a hand pump. Day 2/3 beer taste was kind of off.

Can anyone comment on what I should expect with a beer engine ?

[PSUHomebrewer]

There is a way to use CO2 and not air with beer engines to prevent oxidation. You can buy a cask breather wich keeps the keg under atmospheric pressure using co2 or in december's issue of Brew your own there are instructions to build basically the same thing. Both options will allow the keg to be filled with co2 and not air as you pull the beer from them.

[DCBC]

You can also use an LPG regulator as a cask breather for a lot less money. It lets in about 1/2 psi of CO2. The trick will be keeping that keg at cellar temps while the rest are a bit cooler.