Build Your Own: Randall, Part 2

By far the most viewed article on this site is Build Your Own Beer Filter/Randall.  But I never got around to finishing it.  Until now.

Its just a household water filter with some fittings to make it connect to a keg on one end and a faucet on the other.

In this case, a cobra/picnic faucet, but you could also attach it to the tailpiece on a regular kegerator faucet.

Randall’s Parts:

There’s a full list of parts on the previous post.

Just find a suitably sized water filter (this one is 10″) and a pair of bungs to adapt the water filter inlet/outlet – probably 3/4″ – to 1/4″ threaded fittings.

The rest of the parts should be at your homebrew store:

- 2x 1/4″ male threaded to barbed fittings

- 10′ of 3/16″ Beer line (5′ on each side)

- 4 hose clamps

- 1 faucet, you pick the style

- 1 liquid keg quick disconnect.

The only piece you’ll need to “make” is the center “filter” that holds back the hops while allowing the beer to flow through.  The one I made is a piece of stainless steel tube cut to the same dimensions as the filter media that goes inside the housing.  Then I drilled a few holes around the bottom to let the beer pass.

The hops will float to the top of the housing – leaving about 2 inches of beer at the bottom – so you only need holes at the bottom of the tube.

There are probably a few different ways to make this piece, maybe one that doesn’t require any tools, but this way seemed most obvious to me.  You could probably improvise something with some stainless steel screen, or silicon tubing – but it would need to be reinforced so it doesn’t collapse under pressure.

When its magic time:

- Open the filter housing and insert the center tube.

- Add about 2 oz. of whole leaf hops around the outside of the tube.  Don’t let any fall into the center or it will clog.

- Put the lid on – don’t forget the o-ring.  If its not well sealed it makes a giant mess.

- Attach the side labelled “In” to the keg and “Out” to the faucet.

- Open the faucet and the housing wil fill with beery goodness.  Dispense.

- Drink!

More Tips:

- Its going to foam.  Try lowering the serving pressure a bit.  And try to keep everything cold if you’re not pouring the beer very fast.

- If you need to open the housing, or when you’re done serving.  Vent the pressure from the keg, not the Randall.  The excess beer will run back into the keg and then you can open the Randall without toom much spillage.

So what’s the effect like?  Awesome.  A face full of hops in your glass – huge aroma and added flavor.  Creamy, foamy head too!

Tagged as: build, hop infuser, how-to, make, randall