I'm getting really tired of bottling. I want to start kegging but don't want to drop the money right now. I'm thinking of getting a tap a draft system for the meantime. I'll only have to fill 3 bottles and maybe 6 or 12 small bottles. Are this decent or just trash.
Tap a draft... Do I need one?
- Thread starter Rys06Tbss
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I purchased to bring some beer to a friends house for Super Bowl. I naturally carbed with normal amounts of priming sugar and it work very well... I purchase styrofoam coolers off eBay... All and all it's worth the cash.... Tonight I'm bottle my amber ale and I'm going to try to force carb one bottle... I'll try to post the results...
freebeertomorrow
Active Member
I bought one a while ago, before I kegged. When they worked, they weren't bad, but I ran into a few problems. I used the 5 liter minikegs, mostly because you can get them full of Spaten or Bitburger for the same price as an empty keg, more or less.
It is vitally important to make sure that the plastic parts of the bung are aligned properly before inserting into the keg, as they will leak otherwise and ruin your beer.
It is also vital to only prime with the recommended(I believe) 1 tablespoon of corn sugar per keg, else you will overcarbonate and end up with gallons of foam instead of beer when you tap. I learned this lesson trying to split a batch between minikegs and bottles, primed as per bottling, made a mess.
I also used to vent my CO2 manually from the top before tapping, rather than trying to dispense beer to equalize the pressure, lots less foam that way. If you pull the red tab off the bung assembly and then carefully press the inner cap down with say, a chopstick, you can slowly release the pressure. Careful, if you push it all the way in you get a beer geyser.
So, nowhere near as good as kegging, but a nice break from bottling. I really liked bringing them to parties.
I still have my tap and about 10 minikegs, I'd be willing to sell them fairly cheap, if anyone wants them, PM me.
It is vitally important to make sure that the plastic parts of the bung are aligned properly before inserting into the keg, as they will leak otherwise and ruin your beer.
It is also vital to only prime with the recommended(I believe) 1 tablespoon of corn sugar per keg, else you will overcarbonate and end up with gallons of foam instead of beer when you tap. I learned this lesson trying to split a batch between minikegs and bottles, primed as per bottling, made a mess.
I also used to vent my CO2 manually from the top before tapping, rather than trying to dispense beer to equalize the pressure, lots less foam that way. If you pull the red tab off the bung assembly and then carefully press the inner cap down with say, a chopstick, you can slowly release the pressure. Careful, if you push it all the way in you get a beer geyser.
So, nowhere near as good as kegging, but a nice break from bottling. I really liked bringing them to parties.
I still have my tap and about 10 minikegs, I'd be willing to sell them fairly cheap, if anyone wants them, PM me.
I force carbonate with mine, works good. 24 hours on first c02, then put in a new one and wait 24+ hours.
freebeertomorrow said:
Have been trying to find a simple way to keg without going the whole corny-kegerator thing, and was going to give TAD a try, but the above puzzles me. If one typically batch-primes for bottling, couldn't you rack to & batch prime to your preferred vols of co2 in the TAD vessel, then add some small amt co2 to charge the tap when serving?
OP
OP
Rys06Tbss
Well-Known Member
By the way, "corny-kegerator" auto corrects to "corny-keg reactor"
Should have left it. Would be funnier
