Hand pump taps?

I want to start kegging my beer now that i've been bottling for a year. Do I need the co2 systems or will a hand pump tap + corny keg work?

Also is there a quality difference aside from the variation that comes with pumping vs regulated pressure?

Unless you're going to consume the beer with in a day, two at most I would recommend against hand pumping. You're pushing in air to the keg. Air is the devil.

Yeah, air aint gunna werk unless you are havin a kegger.

To elaborate just a bit on the above posts, using air to push your beer out of the keg will cause oxidation of your beer pretty quickly and it will start to taste like wet cardboard unless you drink up the whole keg within a couple of days - it will also lose it's carbonation and go flat. I've taken hand pumped kegs home from parties and the beer generally goes south by the third day if there's any left. If you use CO2 it will last months.

ifishsum said:

If you use CO2 it will last months.

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At least........................

Letting your beer be exposed to air is a central part of the Real Ale experience. This works fine in a Pub where the cask only lasts a few days, but not good for a homebrewer.

If you don't want to buy a complete CO2 setup, you can prime your kegs, let them naturally carbonate, then use a small CO2 charger to dispense. You can carbonate using a charger, but it take a bunch of cartridges.

ifishsum said:

If you use CO2 it will last months.

Click to expand...

BarleyWater said:

At least........................

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Really? for some reason mine haven't ever lasted that long... : ?

That is becuase you are drinking them! ha ha

In another thread it was mentioned for a cheap alternative to having a CO2 system is priming the keg with priming sugar and then using one of the little CO2 charger guns to dispense beer as needed.

That definitely works; Just expect your first pint or two to have a lot of sediment.

MoRoToRiUm said:

Really? for some reason mine haven't ever lasted that long... : ?

Click to expand...

you should be able to carb and dispense 8-10 kegs on a 5lb CO2 tank.

malkore said:

you should be able to carb and dispense 8-10 kegs on a 5lb CO2 tank.

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Yes - though YMMV depending on whether you do things like "force carb/vent the keg" or store at one pressure and serve at another (because your system is unbalanced).

OK.. not to steal a thread.. but since some may find this and not mine..

I would like to mention going here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/mini-mini-keg-keg-pump-384036/index2.html

Its about my hand pump system for 2L and 5L kegs.. which most WILL drink in a single night