Miller / Coors Home Draft to regular or paintball CO2

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keithd

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Feb 2, 2008
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Location
Yokota AB, Japan
Hey all,

I've been following the threads on the Miller or Coors "Home Draft" system and how to use it for homebrew. It's cheaper than the Tap-A-Draft, but the problem is that it uses harder to find 16 gram cylinders, and the ones that are available aren't cheap (least not to me).

I also didn't see anyone that actually tore theirs apart to see what's inside. Well, I'm home on leave (stationed in Japan), and I bought three of them with the purpose of trying to get these connected to either a paintball CO2 type system or a regular CO2 system with a 5lb+ cylinder. Paintball CO2 regulators aren't cheap, but if you bought one (especially the Lowe's one), then this is a perfect way to use it.

I tore into the Miller Lite one as it has the flimsier draft handle. IMO, get the Coors version as its handle is a little more sturdy, but mine didn't break.

I credit lots of other people that have posted many threads about this - ya'll got my curiosity going!

Here's the first pic, showing the tap itself in case you weren't familiar:
100_0328800x600.jpg


And with the CO2 cylinder removed (use pliers to unscrew it, the cracking sound when you turn it is OK):
100_0330800x600.jpg


(on to the next post!)
 
OK, here's the part we're going to attack:
100_0331800x600.jpg


You will need either a small precision flathead screwdriver or a sharp pick to remove the piece in the center. It's held on by two fingers, and I couldn't just push them in from the sides, I had to attack it from the top. Just lever them out of the hole, and the piece should come right out.

Here's what it looks like with the "hat" and spring behind it removed:
100_0333800x600.jpg


What I found interesting is that if you wanted to continue to use the 16 gram cylinders, you *could* dig all the gunk out from the middle of that hat and use an allen wrench to increase/decrease the regulator pressure.
 
100_0339800x600.jpg

(Sorry for the not-great pics, my Dad is kinda lacking in the camera dept., and I didn't think to bring my big guns.)

So here is what we need to attack. There is a rubber grommet that surrounds the center plastic white piece - I removed it as you can see above, but it's probably not necessary. I guess that it would fall out when the center white piece is removed. The little white ring is where I tried to yank it out with pliers before drilling it out.

Use a ~3/16 drill bit to drill through the center piece. That's the size I used, but the size isn't important. What's important is to drill in about 1", just enough to drill through the plastic part that holds the pin that pierced the original 16 gram CO2 cylinder. That pin retainer prevents the center white plastic piece from being removed. Drill through it, and it should come out easy:
100_0340800x600.jpg
 
At this point, no further hacking on the tap is necessary. (*whew*)

I went to Home Depot (other DIY stores should be just as good, it was closest) and got parts to connect an air chuck from the above paintball regulator. Here's a pic of the completed assembly:
100_0341800x600.jpg


That pic is with the "keg" holding 20 psi - and I'm here 3 hours later, and it's lost no pressure.
Apparently, there is a check valve in the tap itself that prevents pressure from leaking backwards. It makes pressurizing the keg slow, but it will eventually reach the pressure your regulator is set at.

I suggest threading the 1-1/2" pipe into the hole a couple times to get a thread established, and to make it so that the teflon tape doesn't get as destroyed during final assembly. NOTE - the pipe from HD fits very snugly into the hole in the tap. If you source from elsewhere, it might be too tight (use sandpaper) or too lose (JB Weld).

For those that are curious, here's a pic of the Watts parts I used:
100_0344600x800.jpg


Basically, you will need:
Pliers (maybe two if your grip is like mine and not so great)
Precision flathead screwdriver(s) or picks
Drill + ~3/16" bit
Watts A-712 (1/8" MIP x 1/8" FIP street elbow), A-716 (1/8" MIP x 1-1/2" pipe), and A-738 (1/4" MIP to 1/8" FIP reducer)
Compressed air fitting (female 1/4" NPT IM Brass Plug)
Teflon pipe tape

Looking at my receipt, it cost me about $8.50 for the parts to make one. If you go to a DIY store that sells the parts not individually packaged, you could probably make it for a LOT less. I just wanted to see if I could make it before I have to go back overseas.

I hope someone gets some use out of this post, this is my first "How-To" here on homebrewtalk.com. :mug:
 
wow.. nice work!! i have been looking at this project for some time. i was actually going to try to tap into a co2 cartridge, this might be easier.

my question is how does it hold pressure once you disconnect it from painball tank?
 
It holds pressure quite well as there's apparently a check valve somewhere beyond the tap's original regulator. I'd guess there's a valve similar to a football/basketball inflation valve.

I didn't want to chop the tap apart, and I believe that you'd have to completely destroy one to really find out.
 
Just to add my two cents, I can't prove it but I believe these bottles and taps are made by Tap-A Draft. The bottles at least are identical to my TAD bottles.

Alan
 
dang, beat me to it. i did pretty much the same thing with mine. i was waiting to get some pics of the thing in action.

they say great minds think alike, nice job.
 
Nice, thanks for the write up! I've got one of these I was going to figure out but you did it for me!
 
Glad to help! Let me know if there's anything unclear/confusing.

This is just something I've been wanting to do ever since these threads about the Home Draft started showing up here. Unfortunately, I'm stationed in Japan and apparently AAFES doesn't ship any pressurized plastic bottles bigger than 1 liter. But I came back to the US for a training class and took leave to see my folks. I just built a MAME arcade cabinet, and needed a "tinkering" project to keep me busy.

BTW - I went to another DIY store called O'Day's, and I got the parts for $5.91 total after tax. I'm sure you could source it online for even cheaper - especially if you can find a 1/8" FPT to 1/4" MPT street elbow (here's one I found), removing the need for the 1/8"x1/4" adapter.

Oh, and does anyone know of a cheap paintball regulator for HB use? The cheapest I found recently was taking a normal regulator and using one of those adapters, but the cheapest would be about $55 total, and then the gauges would be oriented wrong. I bought one of the Lowe's regulators for about $49 a couple years ago when they had them on some kind of a crazy sale, but those are best for really high air tool pressures.
 
I beg to differ, 16g cylinders are probably too long. 8g cylinders will fit properly. You will not be able to reattach the bottom with a 16g cylinder.

Alan

Do a search. There are many threads on here about this. All of them say 16 gram cartridges for the Coors Light/Miller light kegs. The Tap a Draft system uses 8 gram but they are set up for 2.
 
Glad to help! Let me know if there's anything unclear/confusing.

So to be clear, you are just threading the 1/8" pipe nipple straight into the plastic, letting the pipe threads cut the threads into the plastic? After that, what ever hardware a guy wants to adapt to his existing system should work.

Would be neat to put a corny "in" post on there with the right adapters.
 
Glad to help! Let me know if there's anything unclear/confusing.

This is just something I've been wanting to do ever since these threads about the Home Draft started showing up here. Unfortunately, I'm stationed in Japan and apparently AAFES doesn't ship any pressurized plastic bottles bigger than 1 liter. But I came back to the US for a training class and took leave to see my folks. I just built a MAME arcade cabinet, and needed a "tinkering" project to keep me busy.

BTW - I went to another DIY store called O'Day's, and I got the parts for $5.91 total after tax. I'm sure you could source it online for even cheaper - especially if you can find a 1/8" FPT to 1/4" MPT street elbow (here's one I found), removing the need for the 1/8"x1/4" adapter.

Oh, and does anyone know of a cheap paintball regulator for HB use? The cheapest I found recently was taking a normal regulator and using one of those adapters, but the cheapest would be about $55 total, and then the gauges would be oriented wrong. I bought one of the Lowe's regulators for about $49 a couple years ago when they had them on some kind of a crazy sale, but those are best for really high air tool pressures.

THANKS for the thread.

I have an old paintball "marker" with a regulator and 20oz CO2 tank that I couldn't sell. Now I'm going to put that thing to use. :D

btw - $55 sounds about right for the cheapest paintball regulator. I would caution anyone regarding the ones at hardware stores because regulators are made differently to support CO2 or air.


So, what pressure would it need to be set at?

Thanks
E
 
Sorry for the slow response - I've been out. :eek:

Yes, I just use the pipe nipple threads to use as it's own thread tap. One thing I learned last night when building my second one - don't force it if it's really close to bottom. I sort of "stripped" the threads more than I was comfortable with. It did not leak, but more plastic was cut out from it than the first one I built.

And yes, I had originally planned to go with a Corny gas-in post, but even going with Chi Company, it would have added at least $17 or so for both the gas-in post and the post to 1/4" MPT adapter. The compressed air fitting was cheap as chips in comparison, and the idea is to undercut the Tap-A-Draft in cost while being able to use non-disposable cylinders. If you already have the gas-in posts or have a Corny keg that's irreparably damaged, I think that might be better for most people. I just happened to have a setup where I used a lot of compressed air fittings in my regular draft system.

---

As far as the pressure? I'd only assume since I haven't yet been able to dispense homebrew with it yet that regular serving pressure should be fine for constantly-connected CO2. You need to crank the pressure up more than you normally would when initially pressurizing as it seems the "check valve" creates a lot of resistance.
 
I beg to differ, 16g cylinders are probably too long. 8g cylinders will fit properly. You will not be able to reattach the bottom with a 16g cylinder.

Alan

100% 16g. I actually used threaded ones too they are closer to the oem size in thinkness. have gone throught about 6 or 7 w/ no problems.

I also own a tap a draft which uses 8g. no chance of fitting a 8g into the miller/coors. you can maybe fit 12g if you put a dime into the plastic case.
 
SO I was looking for caps to cap off these bottles while carbonating, and found that this tap will fit on a standard Growler, or 64oz bottle that you can get from most local breweries!

Time to stock up, I’m in the process of designing a small personal Kegorator out of a small wine cooler!!
 
I just found this post yesterday and I'm trying to hack the coors light version. I had to cut a little bit off to try and get the street elbow in. My question is that after I removed the pin and all the plastics from inside there is a visible gap where I'm pretty sure CO2 will leak. How did you compensate for this? Do you put the cartridge back in?

Thanks
 
I'm getting ready to hook mine up to CO2 as well, this is definitely a different approach than the ones I've seen so far.
 
I have a coors lite home draft system as well that needs hacking. Im looking forward to hearing what kind of luck you guys have with this. :) I dumped the coors lite, sterilized it, and filled it with my brew so the co2 is still functional. I will need to figure out what approach to go with after I drink it though. I know, I dumped the coors lite but I hate that crap and I still came out ahead with the tap system ;)
 
I hooked up co2 today and filled the bottle with water. Water is leaking back out right by the old co2 cartridge. I think i drilled out too much or didnt put something back in. Can the OP post a picture of a coors light hack? I think the coors one is different than the miller


Heres what mine looks like:



image-3085509152.jpg



image-2270857796.jpg
 
I don't own one of these so I'm not sure if it can be done, but to me the simplest option is to drill a hole in a empty co2 cartridge and weld on a pipe thread fitting to connect a standard barb and line. Any reason that can't be done ?
 
Here is my solution. There is a Grainger close to my house so I go there, but you can probably find the same connectors at McMaster Carr. I choose the 1/8 NMPT thread so that I don't have to alter the black plastic cartridge holder. I drill and tap the end of a spent cartridge then use some 5 minute epoxy when threading in a coupler to create a seal. Since the wall of the cartridge is so thin plumbers tape won't make a good seal. I like the epoxy rather than a weld because I can still take it apart should I choose to change ends.

1/4 air chuck (air tool) end.
P1010980.JPG


1/4 MFL fitting end (same thing as the fitting for my cornie disconnects).
P1010982.JPG


1/4 Poly barb. I also have a 1/4 brass barb but no pic handy.
P1010983.JPG
 
I hooked up co2 today and filled the bottle with water. Water is leaking back out right by the old co2 cartridge. I think i drilled out too much or didnt put something back in. Can the OP post a picture of a coors light hack? I think the coors one is different than the miller


Heres what mine looks like:



View attachment 38496



View attachment 38497

I used the OP's instructions and it works fine. From you second picture I can see you have not screwed the 1/4"MIP pipe in far enough. You might have to go another 1/4" to 3/8". You will have to got past the hole where the input from the original cartridge is located.

After I did this the first time I had a small leak from around the pipe. To resolve this I unscrewed the pipe and applied 5 minute epoxy to the threads then reinstalled it. I tested it underwater an hour later and no leaks! It works great.
 
I used the OP's instructions and it works fine. From you second picture I can see you have not screwed the 1/4"MIP pipe in far enough. You might have to go another 1/4" to 3/8". You will have to got past the hole where the input from the original cartridge is located.

After I did this the first time I had a small leak from around the pipe. To resolve this I unscrewed the pipe and applied 5 minute epoxy to the threads then reinstalled it. I tested it underwater an hour later and no leaks! It works great.

Did you have to cut down the cartridge housing at all to screw in the 1/4" pipe because I did on the Coors one. Thanks I will see if I can screw it in further.

Also, I forgot to ask some of you who have done this. Can you force carb with the methods you've tried?
 
Did you have to cut down the cartridge housing at all to screw in the 1/4" pipe because I did on the Coors one. Thanks I will see if I can screw it in further.

Also, I forgot to ask some of you who have done this. Can you force carb with the methods you've tried?

I did not have to cut down the cartridge housing at all. I did screw the street elbow onto the pipe first then used a wrench on that to screw the pipe into the tap.

I'll take some pics of the finished product.
 
i'm not sure that i clearly see what we are doing here. the air chuck hack is simply so you can charge the keg with CO2 without having to use the 16g cylinders?

can i just buy one of these and fill it with homebrew and charge it a 16g cylinders and have a "mini-keg" for my beer?
 
i'm not sure that i clearly see what we are doing here. the air chuck hack is simply so you can charge the keg with CO2 without having to use the 16g cylinders?

can i just buy one of these and fill it with homebrew and charge it a 16g cylinders and have a "mini-keg" for my beer?

Yes, lots aof videos on youtube that show you how. I think the hack here is just to bypass the 16gram cartridges. They can add up in $ and can be hard to find for some. I have also seen videos of someone who cut the 16 gram cart. to be a sleeve for an 8 gram cart. So the 8 gram cart. can fit. They are cheeper and easier to find for some.
 
Thanks for that clarity. I guess it could be an easy way to begin a keg operation. So you've definitely got my attention. Thanks for sharing the knowledge!
 
Here is a picture of my solution.

Using the original part of this thread with the 1/8" MIP x 1 1/2" pipe and the 1/8" MIP street elbow is the key for me. From there my CO2 charger connects right up.

Nice and easy.

DSC06491.jpg


DSC06492.jpg


DSC06493.jpg
 
Thanks for the pics. I know exactly what I did wrong and will correct it.

So are you able to force carbonate with this method?
 
Thanks for the pics. I know exactly what I did wrong and will correct it.

So are you able to force carbonate with this method?

I believe I could force carbonate if I wanted. In my case I fill from my keg and go from there.
 
I couldn't help myself and I threw together two video's on youtube for those whom may not be mechanically inclined on how to tear down and rebuild the Coors/Miller home brew system. It was a first go at it and after drilling - i found a small plastic plunger that likely is a check valve to limit potential liquid leaching to the air cylinders. That said, there was no leaking when removed... Also, just want to point out that the Watts copper/brass connectors have lead (Pb) at 0.25% or greater... it's an assumption that simple air flow through the pipes will not transfer Pd (likely a decent assumption), however if they get any back-wash particularly if your brew is acidic - won't kill you but over long term contact... not good for ya!

Part 1 shows how to break down the device, the parts needed, and how to remove the side cap and drill it out. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibdSq7bhy5Y]Coors (R) Home Draft Modification - Part 1 - dissassembly of CO2 cartridge - YouTube[/ame]

Part 2 is the step by step rebuild to link to a quick valve... let's not forget to purge any O2 which is also discussed. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2080DlBRs-0]Coors (R) Home Draft Modification Part 2 - Building CO2 Bypass - YouTube[/ame]

I hope they are helpful to anyone looking to do a tear-down more than just the CO2 cartridge replacement... (oh - saw some chatter regarding non-food grade vs. food grade... they usually put a silicon oil in the airsoft/paintball systems - you'll probably get a foul taste and an oil slick - which will kill head retention.)
 
Great vid!

I have a couple of these that I was planning on hooking up to co2 by modding a spent cart, but after just 3 carts in one the seal was already starting to fail, so I think this method is going to be a lot more reliable.

That regulator you got there is one of a few that I can get locally. What size fitting does that screw on to? It doesn't look like it'd fit on my 2.5lb co2 tank without some sort of conversion.
 
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