My Experience With The Coors Lite Home Draft (Video)

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ThreeRatBastards

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I'm interested in seeing how this turns out... I'd heard that when using natural carbonation in a keg setup that you use slightly less priming sugar though?
 
Tomorrow I plan on picking up a couple co2 canisters and seeing if I can force carbonate some tap water and dispense. Would you mind if I posted my videos here? No need to create yet another forum imo.
 
I'm interested in seeing how this turns out... I'd heard that when using natural carbonation in a keg setup that you use slightly less priming sugar though?

I guess time will tell. The bottle has definitely filled with co2 and now has little to no give. I'm happy no co2 is leaking out.

CodyRay said:
Tomorrow I plan on picking up a couple co2 canisters and seeing if I can force carbonate some tap water and dispense. Would you mind if I posted my videos here? No need to create yet another forum imo.

Please feel free to post here. I'm interested to see what others do with it. In one of the threads I linked I believe someone was able to successfully force carb some water (or maybe it was Apfelwein).
 
Just a quick fyi for anyone trying this. Be careful how much liquid you put into the bottle. I only left like an inch of headspace so when I screwed in the co2 canister it almost immediately activated the relief valve and shot cold co2 in my face. Its fine now but it takes a few minutes to recover thinking you just created a bomb and it went off!

Anyway, the water is currently carbonating in the fridge, cross your fingers.
 
Those were good how to videos, I might get one of those for the club meetings, fill with carbed beer from the tap, and charge with a fresh co2 cartrage.. I have seen them in the store, but I never gave them much thought for homebrew.
 
I guess time will tell. The bottle has definitely filled with co2 and now has little to no give. I'm happy no co2 is leaking out.



Please feel free to post here. I'm interested to see what others do with it. In one of the threads I linked I believe someone was able to successfully force carb some water (or maybe it was Apfelwein).

How is this working out for you so far?
 
So far so good, but I still have another week and a half before I tap the thing. It's still naturally carbing up, no leaks of either beer or CO2. I went to my LHBS and bought a 16g CO2 cartridge, so I'm just waiting for the beer to mature now. Once it does I will toss it in the fridge for at least 24 hours, take it out and add the new CO2 to it and pour my first beer from it on video. I'll post it on here when it's done.
 
I'd love to make a stout, carb naturally, then get some of the nitogen cartridges and try that out for dispensing.
 
I suggest getting a camera stand.

Great videos... close to unwatchable. Like Blair Witch of How To.
 
This is awesome! As someone who is ready to go to kegging but can't afford it yet, this is perfect. And even though it's not the best beer in the world, I could pretty much knock one of those Coors Light jobs out in about a day. It was 107 actual temp here yesterday and I need to mow the yard!!! Thanks for the video. Keep them coming.
 
Are you going to release the pressure before adding the co2 cartridge or just screw it in? the tap-a-draft says to release pressure from natural carbonation first... I'm not sure why this is necessary... I guess they don't want the pressure in the bottle to be higher than that of the cartridge...

but... I filled mine with starsan water tonight (room temperature) and added a cartridge and the pressure feels pretty tight... I would say maybe even tighter than my plastic 16oz bottles have felt after natural carbonation... hmmm...

I don't detect any leakage despite the fact that the neck size of my cartridge is slightly smaller than the factory cartridge...

If this works well, I might buy a tap a draft system cause they have those insulated cooler carriers with handles which look pretty cool...
 
Since I don't know much about kegging, this may be a stupid question...why wouldn't or couldn't you force card it with the co2, instead of adding priming sugar and waiting 2 weeks?
 
Since I don't know much about kegging, this may be a stupid question...why wouldn't or couldn't you force card it with the co2, instead of adding priming sugar and waiting 2 weeks?

You can force carb it, and it has been done by others. It takes a couple of cartridges to do so if I recall correctly. I chose to naturally carb it because I was waiting on the beer to age a bit anyway. I don't like 'green' beer.

*Edit* After reading the Tap-A-Draft instructions it is clear that you will need 2 16g cartridges, plus another week anyway:
2 x 8gm co2 cartridges are required to force carbonate a beverage followed by 2 x C02 cartridges to provide dispens ing pressure (after a week)


knotquiteawake said:
is it cheaper than buying a tap-a-draft?

This cost $20 and came with crappy free beer, Tap-a-draft is over $50.
 
Are you going to release the pressure before adding the co2 cartridge or just screw it in? the tap-a-draft says to release pressure from natural carbonation first... I'm not sure why this is necessary... I guess they don't want the pressure in the bottle to be higher than that of the cartridge...

Here is a link to the TAD instructions. The instructions go into pretty good detail about what to do once it has been naturally carbed. Basically stick it in the fridge for a day or so, then yes, release the pressure, then screw in the CO2.
 
I think I've got to find some chumps to help me down one of these so I can put my "Not So Strong Ale" (1.050 OG instead of 1.065, this is what happens when you wait 9-10 months between brews) in it.
 
Dude, nice job on the vids. I can't wait to see the results. My BIL is a devout Coors Light drinker. He'll love it if I buy him the beer and I'll get to keep the container :D .
 
Excellent stuff. I've been thinking about snagging a T-A-D for bringing brew on the road (working on a mobile kegerator as well, but concerned about the volume of sediment kicked up for trips when there's not enough time to let the beer settle back out) so this might be just what the doctor ordered. I'm assuming that there'd be no issue in transferring already carbed beer via a BMBF or similar, then charging with CO2 to dispense?
 
I brought it out to my buddy's pond last night and it worked perfectly! The 16g co2 fits perfect, no leak whatsoever. First pint a little foamy but worked great after that, this is awesome!
 
did you notice any o-rings when you disassembled? I just kicked my MLHD, and didn't notice a single o-ring when I unscrewed it...I'd hate to fill with beer and then have a co2 leakage problem.
fwiw, I filled with water, attached the tap, shook and squeezed the bottled and did not detect any leaks, but I thought I would ask anyway!
 
There's not a removable o-ring... I think the seal is similar to the way a soda cap seals with a molded softer plastic...

I noticed that after 1 day and 1 16 gram cartridge I could taste and feel slight carbonation in plain water... I think what happens is that the pressure gets real tight and then slowly the liquid absorbs the co2... When I tried it with water, I noticed no escape from my relief valve...

However I just put 1.5 gallons of my IPA in it tonight (with no priming sugar) and am trying to force carbonate... my relief valve was indeed releasing pressure... I guess its better than letting the thing blow up and get beer everywhere :)
I think its possible that I left *less* headspace in the container when I filled it with beer. I hooked the co2 cartridge up with the liquid at room temperature and stuck the thing in the fridge... maybe it would have been better to chill the liquid before applying the first cartridge... don't know...

I am now 3 hours in to this process and the container is still very tight and chilling in my garage fridge... I'll probably come home from work tomorrow to find the pressure is down (cart exhausted), and then add another one... this is what happened when I did a test run on water...

I thought the whole point of force carbing was to get the job done faster... I bet after 3 days and maybe 2-3 carts it will be carbonated and drinkable... I left this particular batch for 5 weeks in primary so it should be good to go..
The sample tasted good with no carbonation, so I'm pumped to see what happens...
 
from what I understood you need to have it very well chilled before you can force carb it, it wouldn't have absorbed any of the C02 if it was at room temp.
 
You are correct... my beer is still pretty much flat... The pressure was gone when I returned from work, so I withdrew about 4 oz from the tap (for more headspace) and then inserted a new cart... It is now fully pressurized and bubbling again... we will see what it looks like tomorrow... this time it is cold... I didn't notice escape from the relief valve this time... on a positive note, this IPA tastes very hoppy and flavorful still...
 
Ok... First of all thanks to ThreeRatBastards for starting a new thread on an actual experience with playing around with these disposable mini-kegs... I hope its ok if I continue on to this with my "force-carb" experience...

I just withdrew a couple more ounces as a test... I can tell that there is a little bit of carbonation now, but not enough to produce a head in the glass... but you can definitely feel it on the tongue when drinking... I put in cart #3 now...

There is definitely some sort of issue with getting the cartridge to pierce... you have to work it back and forth and not just line up the Green Arrows... To get #3 to work I had to screw it in and then work it a couple of times and then leave it a few millimeters short of matching "green arrow to green arrow" for the bubbling action to occur in the keg...

Always feel the pressure in the vessel before you unscrew the cart.. you should be able to make an indention with your finger in the vessel to realize the pressure is gone before you take the old one out... I don't know what would happen if you took one out while the pressure is tight, but it may not be good...
 
So far it seems we've learned:
You can take it apart and put your beer in it and it won't spill all over the place.
Force carbing is iffy right now.
and we are waiting to hear back on the Natural carbing still correct?
 
Skidaddytn, feel free to post anything you want in this thread.

knotquiteawake, that sounds like a decent synopsis. So far the natural carbing seems to have worked well. I put the system in the fridge last night and will be shooting the final video tonight or tomorrow. Stay tuned :mug:
 
Ok... I took out a 6oz beer tonight and it is well on its way to perfection... There is a small amount of head... it tastes good, and after realizing that the pressure was going down in the vessel once again, I put in cart #4... this may be the final cart that is needed... keep in mind the first cart I installed when the beer was at room temp (this is not optimal for co2 absorption--it should be chilled first to get the most absorption out of it)

I bet tomorrow it will be almost perfect... 4 days after loading it with no priming sugar...

I will add that using 4 16g mini-carts to force carb 1.5g of beer is not really cost effective.. but it was fun and it does work... and I have friends coming into town this weekend who I am sure will enjoy this beer!

I think that to really get the best value out of the system the following process should be followed:

1) Fill with beer and add priming sugar same as you would bottling (leave some head room... only fill the thing maybe 93% full) basically fill it from your bottling bucket...
2) Screw the entire tap assembly back on the 1.5 gallon container (with no co2 cart) and let sit for bottling condition period... ~2 weeks...
3) Chill the vessel, then unscrew the tap assembly slowly to release pressure from bottling conditioning, then re-tighten
4) Add 1 16g cartridge (you may not even need to do this if you plan to drink the entire 1.5 gallons in a few days time) but if you don't release at least *some* of the pressure first you may end up with a glass full of foam...

It would be cool if we could retrofit these things to feed from a larger co2 canister...
 
I am liking your thought process on the steps to follow, and I am going to go with some natural carbonation myself. I have a witbier still fermenting away, but my MLHD is empty, clean, and ready to be filled...so I will be able to update its progress in a few weeks.
I found that the cap from a 3L soda bottle fits, so I might carb with that on for 2 weeks, chill in fridge for a couple days, and then have the pressure release occur when I switch the cap for the tap assembly, add the co2 cart, back into the fridge for another day and check the bottle's pressure...

if all is well, the bottle should be rock hard, minimal co2 release, and maximum witbier enjoyment from the tap :)
 
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