Coke Bag in Box to Kegs

Has anyone tried mixing the Coke bag-in-box concentrates into a keg? Does it work?

should work, Make sure you use filtered water and have the proper mixture. Also make sure that you have it mixed well.

I was thinking it should work too, I wouldn't see why. I would think coke used the concentrate to fill their kegs, when they did use kegs.

Anyone know the ratio, is it 5 parts water to 1 part concentrate?

4 parts water to one part concentrate. I used to test the ratios when I worked at Wendy's then drink the syrup part straight.

I recommend pre-carbing your water before mixing in syrup.

Thanks,

30 lbs?

It won't taste exactly like coke though. Coke syrup is meant to be post-mix (So mixed right before it is poured out the spout). I'd also worry about all that sugar water sitting there waiting to get infected.

I bought a wunder-bar system (found it for $30) and have the syrup and soda water hooked up to that (you'll need a syrup pump, I got the 110 AC one) and that way you just push a button and it mixes the soda water and syrup and pours right into your glass, I don't even use ice since the soda water is at fairly low temp already.

I do use 30 lbs of pressure on the soda water.

That ratio should be used as a guideline. I used to work at a movie theater back in highschool and we had to use different ratios for different types. They were all coke products but we used 3 different ratios, 1 for juices and 2 for sodas. I do not remember what the ratios were but all 3 were close to the 4:1 ratio off at most by 0.5. I would make a small test batch to get it right then go big. hope that helps

If I could pick up a Wunder Bar for $30, I'd go with that. From what I've seen, over $200. I just don't see why the taste would be any different.

As far as infection, wouldn't adding syrup be the same as mixing extract and kegging?

Well this is the first one I found on e-bay, ~$40 with shipping, but I waited and got one at around $30.

Wunder Bar 11 button post mix bar dispenser - eBay (item 110326190103 end time Dec-20-08 16:32:21 PST)

As for infection... I don't know, I never chanced it, but always seemed like having a keg of sugar-water was just asking for it, I've got infection issues in the house though so I'm paranoid now.

Conpewter,

Do you use a keg of carbonated water then or do you have a carbonator?

I didn't want to spend money for a carbonator so I just used a corny keg set at 30 psi in the kegorator, I have a hole for Co2 lines to go in and beer/water to come out. I have the soda line connected to the wunder-bar and the syrup pump (these also will be 30-50 on ebay) connected to the diet coke connector on the wunder-bar. I have two pumps so my next experiment is to make my own cream soda syrup and pump that through the system as well.

Without the carbonator I have a couple disadvantages, I have to take up 1 keg space in my fridge (but I can hold 6) and I always have to make sure I have another one ready. I keep a keg sitting outside the fridge carbing up (at 30 as well, I'd go higher if I could) and then when I swap it in for the soda keg in the fridge it takes a couple hours to cool down (during which I just add ice to my coke..)

This whole setup was a bit of a game to get my wife's blessing on the kegorator, she loves diet soda.

FWIW....Our super market has big sales on coke 2 ltr bottles for usually $0.89 or $0.99 each. I buy a bunch then....dump it in a keg...and it's considerably cheaper than a Bag in the Box. Keep the keg at 35 psi....great coke on tap!

BK I agree that can be a good approach, I like my wunder-bar system since I only need one keg of soda water and can have several different types of soda, you don't need the syrup pumps for your own syrups since you can just measure in (I use a squeeze bottle) however much you want and stir.

I figure the cost of 2 liters of soda from the BIB system costs about 1.10 or so. I'd hoped to get some of the generic brand syrups (half the price) but I've not found a non-shipping source yet.

conpewter said:

BK I agree that can be a good approach, I like my wunder-bar system since I only need one keg of soda water and can have several different types of soda,

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OH MAN! I'd drink so much pop! I can't wait to find a C-Store going out of business with a coke system I can salvage!

I actually picked up a cornelius soda system off craigslist a couple weeks ago. Has 4 dispensers, came with 4 corny kegs. I need to hook it up to water and make sure it carbonates well (It has a small corny keg inside the machine wrapped in cooling coils with a Co2 line running to it to carbonate in). It came with instructions and is in nice shape.

If you wanted it BK we could work something out, but shipping would be a bear, weighs 150lb or so. I just have too many projects already, sweet 50's look to it.

You do want to be careful about getting a "Coke" system from a store. You may end up paying for it, then find out Coke owns it. They'll take it back. Contact Coke before purchasing, just to make sure they don't own it.

I came across a guy that had a lot of coke products for sale. Contacted him, he stated he had 5 20# CO2 tanks for sale. They were Cokes', so I'm sure the rest of his stuff was leased. I stayed away from that stuff.

Conpewter,

Your Wunder Bar system sounds like the way to go.

Hey thanks I'll put up a thread/pics if anyone is interested in a similar system. Total probably did end up costing me around $80 since I had to buy the syrup pumps, wunder-bar and hose/clamps.

I'd be interested in how you have it set up.