Introduction to Kegging

About three months ago, I bought a second hand kegging system from Hauraki Homebrew.   (Basically it's two corny kegs inside a fridge.)

I had absolutely no idea what I was doing when I purchased it, but I found the following Youtube videos extremely helpful when trying to get it all going.  For someone with zero experience in the realm of kegging, these videos were indispensable.

• Introduction to Kegging P1 - Overview
• Introduction to Kegging P2 - Keg Cleaning
• Introduction to Kegging P3 - Sanitizing your Keg
• Introduction to Kegging Pt 4 - Carbonating Your Beer

I also found this kegging carbonation calculator useful:

• Keg Carbonation Calculator

Here's a picture of my kegging system, once I got everything set up:

The first two beers I made for kegging were ultra-budget extract brews. (I didn't want to waste any money if I stuffed up.)  The one on the right was pretty bland, but the brown porter on the left actually turned out somewhat awesome.  The fact it cost me around $25 made it taste all the sweeter.

Here is the recipe for a 19L batch:

• 1.7kg can Coopers dark ale hopped malt-extract
• 550g can Maltexo liquid malt extract
• 700g brown sugar 
• 250g chocolate malt (steeped)
• 8g black patent malt (steeped)
• 200g caramunich T1 (steeped)
• 1 packet SafAle US-05

It came out around 4.6%ABV.  Yes, it's cheap and cheerful, but it tasted delicious.  

I call it Squirrelbrau. 

New Zealand Ordinary Bitter

I'm looking at brewing a 'New Zealand Ordinary Bitter' soon.  That's a style I just made up - an ordinary bitter, but with New Zealand hops. (Basically an Emerson's Bookbinder clone.) According to the style guides, ordinary bitter should be a flavourful, low alcohol, pale ale made using herbal/floral English hops.  I'm looking to make something similar maltwise, but using citrus/floral New Zealand hops.

These are the references I've been looking at to design my recipe:

• The Highwayman (Bookbinder clone)
• Emersons bookbinder clone
• Spellbinder (Bookbinder clone)

• Ordinary Bitter: Style Profile
• The Jamil Show Archives: Ordinary Bitter

If it turns out tasty, I'll post the recipe.