2.5 Gallon Mini Draft System from MWS

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kevinb

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I was thinking of getting one of these. How well do they work? Also, I realize that you need to use priming sugar to carbonate. My questions is once you "tap it" How long will the beer stay before it goes flat? Does the C02 maintain it?
 
I've got one from Midwest and another (not as good) from elsewhere. I've used each twice so far. I prime as I would for a bottle (actually, I like less carb so I cut back a bit) and leave at room temp for a minimum of 2 weeks. Then I put it in the fridge for a minimum of 1 week. I then add the CO2 and take a taste test.
Usually, it's fine at this point though I really suggest not touching it until after 2 weeks in the fridge.

I've had my stout in the keg for 6 weeks and my black ipa for 5. Both kegs went thru 2 of the 16 gram cartridges. I'm pleased with everything but the price but convenience has a cost.

I'm hoping to build or buy a kegerator in the next few months.
 
I currently bottle, and am thinking about getting one of these too. It would be useful for when you plan on downing quite a bit of beer in a short time period, like when you have a party or something.
 
Yeah, if the link is correct, all you'd have to worry about is the co2 charger. Since they don't inject a set amount of CO2, I've heard you have to play around a little to make sure that you don't inject too much and overpower the short beer line. Otherwise, if you carb with priming sugar and make sure you use small amounts of co2 to push the beer, it should last a while.

Just having co2 in the keg should keep the co2 levels fairly accurate, at least at the beginning (less headspace to worry about). What you'll have to watch is that your beer will be carbed at a certain equivalent psi (ie 10psi), while the headspace might be different since you can't control it. If anything, I'd be worried about overcarbing the beer with a headspace co2 higher than the absorbed co2. Towards the end of the keg I could see a high co2 headspace concentration (ie 30psi) overcarbing a beer as it equilibriated with the liquid, but a little practice should let you maintain lower headspace levels and keep the carb roughly the same.

The nice thing about this is if you ever decide to upgrade to a bigger system, everything but the co2 charger works the same. All you'd have to do is find a co2 tank and regulator (and a little gas line), and you'd be able to go from there. Plus you can save the co2 charger to take along on trips in case you decide you want to take a keg somewhere.
 
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