portable keg charger

I'm thinking about buying one of the portable keg chargers that use the small co2 canisters(pellet gun size) and was wondering if anyone has used one and if it is worth the money. I was also wondering how many of the co2 chargers it takes to dispense the whole keg.

I would only use these for portable dispensing, if you want to use it in a kegorator, you will likly end up with flat beer after a few days.. if you are using them for portable dispencing, they are great.

4-5 12g chargers to push a 5gal keg.

i was going to use it for a picnic. thanks a lot for the info.

When i am using my party tap. the tap conected directly to the corny keg. no line. I need to blow off almost all the head pressure to get a good non foamy pour. With these chargers how do you prevent it from foaming like crazy?

Elfmaze said:

When i am using my party tap. the tap conected directly to the corny keg. no line. I need to blow off almost all the head pressure to get a good non foamy pour. With these chargers how do you prevent it from foaming like crazy?

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It's the same when using the charges. Exactly the same! You will need to release most of the pressure to get a good pour. Without some beer line length to create back pressure, you will get foam at anything above just a very small amount of gas pressure. A very brief squirt from the injector is all you need. Don't let the general public pull the trigger or they will over do it for sure. I remove the injector when using around non home brewers.

We have one of the CO2 chargers and we've used it several times while RVing. I didn't want to take a 20# CO2 tank camping. It worked fairly well, I used two cartridges, and a small part of a third to dispense one 5 gallon corny. If you get one, all you have to do is "blip" the charger, don't dump the whole cartridge into the keg in one pull. Also, I suggest not leaving the charger attached to the keg as it's too tempting for "friends" to yank the trigger.

Frankly, if I were doing it again I would get a paintball canister with a regulator. But the CO2 injector does what it's supposed to do. Good Luck...

I have one and my buddy has one too. I keg his beer and carb it with my tank then once it's full carbed he takes the keg home and uses his charger thing to serve it. Works just fine for him.
I use mine to serve my rootbeer so that I don't have to keep changing my psi back and forth.

+ 1,000 on not leaving it attached for drunken friends to pull the trigger.

I like mine, it works well, and is extremely portable.

I like the idea of using it for root beer. I never thought of that.

Elfmaze said:

When i am using my party tap. the tap conected directly to the corny keg. no line. I need to blow off almost all the head pressure to get a good non foamy pour. With these chargers how do you prevent it from foaming like crazy?

Click to expand...

Catt22 said:

It's the same when using the charges. Exactly the same! You will need to release most of the pressure to get a good pour. Without some beer line length to create back pressure, you will get foam at anything above just a very small amount of gas pressure. A very brief squirt from the injector is all you need. Don't let the general public pull the trigger or they will over do it for sure. I remove the injector when using around non home brewers.

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See https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/cure-your-short-hose-troubles-100151/ about adding resistance to the corny dip tube to reduce foaming.

Make sure the gas connector is on the keg BEFORE you screw the charger onto the connector.

If you connect the charger to the connector, and the connector is not on the keg, and pull the trigger, IT WILL EXPLODE.

The cap on top of the gas connector will fly out with great force, enough to put out an eye. I just got a severely bruised fingernail and a scrape on my leg, I got lucky.

Follow the directions and the little charger works fine.

Cpt_Kirks said:

Make sure the gas connector is on the keg BEFORE you screw the charger onto the connector.

If you connect the charger to the connector, and the connector is not on the keg, and pull the trigger, IT WILL EXPLODE.

The cap on top of the gas connector will fly out with great force, enough to put out an eye. I just got a severely bruised fingernail and a scrape on my leg, I got lucky.

Follow the directions and the little charger works fine.

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Ahh i see, i read that when i was looking on the website and didn't quite understand that they meant it will make shrapnel of the plastic ball-lock quick disconnects if they aren't attached to the keg. Very Important!!!

I want to keg my batch of beer for the first time, always bottled in the past, could the portable C02 charger be used to carbonate the beer? or should i only use it for parties and tailgates?

evansbrew said:

I want to keg my batch of beer for the first time, always bottled in the past, could the portable C02 charger be used to carbonate the beer? or should i only use it for parties and tailgates?

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It would take a LOT of cartridges. Get a regulator and a CO2 tank for carbing.