force carbonating the new tap-a-draft

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goodsuds

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I've searched for posts from tap-a-draft owners who successfully force carbonate but I've only found them from owners of the old version, and I've heard the new version has issues with it. Are there any owners of the new version who can confirm force carbonating works?
 
I just filled my first tap-a-draft this morning. I'm carbing two naturally and one I've got in the fridge force-carbing, so I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm planning (maybe hoping) to serve on Saturday so I've got my fingers crossed.
 
Hi

If it will hold pressure, and it must to carb at all, you can force carb in it. The real question is how much pressure? I'd vote for keep it nice and cold so you don't need much pressure.....

Bob
 
I find that connecting the TAD to a paintball tank and regulator makes it easier for me to force carbonate. Here is a good calculator: http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/carbonation.html

That is my goal. I bought a regulator and I'm picking up a 9oz co2 cylinder on Saturday. I also order the "TAD Adapter" since I priced all of the parts I would need to modify 2 co2 cartridges and it came to about $20, so for $30 I don't have to mess with it and I get a proven system.

When you force carb do you leave your regulator on without worrying about the TAD venting your co2? At what pressure do you leave your regulator set to while force carbing, and for how long?

Thanks.
 
I use taps from the Miller/Coors system and do not have a problem with it venting.

When I first received the TAD Adapter, I had trouble with leaking (my own fault). Once I solved it, all was well. First I will chill the TAD keg in my fridge, then apply between 10-15 psi (depending on the level of carbonation I want) for about two weeks. I'm more of a set and forget type of person, and I'm also afraid what it will do if I apply too much pressure. This doesn't save a ton of time over priming with sugar, so I don't do it that often. I don't know if this is needed, but I will turn down/off my regulator before my first pour, then set it and leave it at 7 psi. I am curious to what others do.

I hope this helps and I hope it's clear. Can others comment if they've applied more pressure or tried shaking the TAD keg to see if that improves the speed of carbonation? I'm also curious to hear others experience with force carbing a TAD keg.
 
@jcdouglas - are you able to force carb using the Miller/Coors taps without any modifications?
 
I needed to make some modifications. Rick, a fellow homebrewer, sold me an adapter on ebay that I was able to hook up to my regulator and paintball tank. The same adapter can be used on the taps that you can purchase directly from the company.
 
It's no different than a growler in that respect. With no pressure you will need to drink fast before it all goes flat.

Well, with a $35 dispenser and $8.50 bottle, it better be different than a $5 growler.

My plan was to transfer kegged and carbonated beer into one and then give it to a friend, who could use it to serve from his fridge (with the TAD regulator and co2 cartridges). From the stuff I read, it says that the dispenser keeps it at 15 psi so I didn't think it would go flat.
 
I have been using the new TAD for a month now and have force carbonated twice. Both times it came out great but the beer was a little green. I ended up using one cartridge to force carbonate and other to dispense. The trick is to ensure that you have the beer in TAD cold before adding the cartridge.
 
Well, with a $35 dispenser and $8.50 bottle, it better be different than a $5 growler.

My plan was to transfer kegged and carbonated beer into one and then give it to a friend, who could use it to serve from his fridge (with the TAD regulator and co2 cartridges). From the stuff I read, it says that the dispenser keeps it at 15 psi so I didn't think it would go flat.

Hi

The original question didn't mention using the CO2, so I assumed the idea was to eliminate it...

Bob
 
I have been using the new TAD for a month now and have force carbonated twice. Both times it came out great but the beer was a little green. I ended up using one cartridge to force carbonate and other to dispense. The trick is to ensure that you have the beer in TAD cold before adding the cartridge.

So does that mean the CO2 won't go into solution if you add the cart when the beer is warm and then get it cold? I assumed it would work that way since people often put 12-15lbs of CO2 on their kegged beer and let it sit for a week or two at room temp before chilling it.
 
Hi

At room temperature and normal pressures (12 psi), very little CO2 will go into the beer. You either need high(er) pressure at room temp or low temp and normal pressure. Either way it will take weeks. High pressure at low temp will speed things up.

Bob
 
The original question didn't mention using the CO2, so I assumed the idea was to eliminate it...

Sorry if I wasn't clear. The issue I'm seeing is that I'd need to modify a cap somehow to fit a ball lock post. I think the TAD bottles use the big caps, so a simple carbonator cap wouldn't work to transfer.

I would prefer to do a pressurized transfer and not just pour beer into the TAD.
 
Hi

At room temperature and normal pressures (12 psi), very little CO2 will go into the beer. You either need high(er) pressure at room temp or low temp and normal pressure. Either way it will take weeks. High pressure at low temp will speed things up.

Bob

I can't seem to get this to carb up, even when it was really cold and I kept shaking the heck out of it over several days. Should I leave it at room temp and bleed off the pressure and prime it with sugar instead? I'm guessing I need to use less sugar but I have no idea how much to compensate since there is some CO2 in the beer.
 
If you use sugar, you need it at room temp (ale yeast won't operate at fridge temp). If you force carb it, you need it at fridge temp (otherwise, you need more psi to carbonate to same volumes at higher temp)...you will probably need multiple cartridges too. As I haven't owned one of these, you might want to check other threads...but I believe people have said that it takes multiple carts to full carb a bottle.
 
If you use sugar, you need it at room temp (ale yeast won't operate at fridge temp). If you force carb it, you need it at fridge temp (otherwise, you need more psi to carbonate to same volumes at higher temp)...you will probably need multiple cartridges too. As I haven't owned one of these, you might want to check other threads...but I believe people have said that it takes multiple carts to full carb a bottle.

When I racked into the bottles I put the tap on one of them and put a cartridge in it, then put it in the fridge. It was in there for about a week and I tried it but the beer tasted flat, although there was a ton of foam and a lot of pressure. The cartridge was empty so I put a new one in while it was still in the fridge. A few days later it was still flat.

I have since pulled that bottle out and left it at room temp hoping the yeast would condition the beer a bit more (it tasted a little green), but I have 2 other bottles that I primed and have been at room temp. I'm just trying to figure out if I should throw the force carbed bottle back in the fridge and hope it will carb up or figure out a way to prime it (leaving it at room temp of course) without making a bomb and tap one of the primed bottles.

Thanks.
 
Hi

I suspect part of the problem here is that there is no pressure gauge on the system. Without knowing the pressure, it's very hard to force carbonate properly. The "until the bottle is firm" in the instructions leaves a lot to the imagination. You don't *have* to have a regulator, but a $9 gauge sounds like a good thing to get.


Bob
 
I suspect part of the problem here is that there is no pressure gauge on the system. Without knowing the pressure, it's very hard to force carbonate properly.

I thought the regulator was set to 15psi? That was part of the reason I'm considering this.
 
I've successfully force carbed 2 TAD bottles using the 16 gram cartridges. After bottling I put the bottle in the fridge for a couple days, then added the tap and a cartridge. I thought the beer was drinkable and some carbonation was noticeable after a few days. It takes about a couple of weeks for the carb level to even out and be really good though.

I get just a couple pints dispensed with the first cartridge, then have to add another. I recently purchased the TAD adapter from the Ebay dude and will be using the paintball tank/regulator setup going forward because I thought the cartridges resulted in just a bit of over-carbonation.
 
I thought the regulator was set to 15psi? That was part of the reason I'm considering this.

Hi

Like any regulator, it only works up to a point. It needs a specific pressure difference to operate. Without a gauge you have no easy way to know if you need to put in a new cartridge. Since this is a "weeks" sort of thing with the right pressure, you don't want to sit there for that period of time doing nothing because the pressure is a bit low...

Of course you could just swap out cartridges like crazy :D, but that sounds like more money than a gauge.

Bob
 
It has been 3 weeks and the beer is barely carbonated and I'm on my 3rd cartridge. I called SturmanBG and told them about my problem and they explained that it will take between 4 and 6 cartridges to properly carbonate. They advised me to pull the tap and prime the bottle instead so I can tap one of the already primed bottles. HTH anyone else who might encounter this.
 
Hi

I suspect you should be switching out the cartridges more often. Three weeks should be long enough to carb the beer (if you are keeping it cold). If it's not cold then you need >=30 psi rather than 15 to carb.

Bob
 
If you are using 16 gram cartridges then something is wrong.

1. When you screw in the cart, do you hear CO2 entering into the bottle? You should. You shouldn't hear it being released from the tap release valve. I generally have a bit of head space in my bottles and can see/hear the gas bubbling into the bottle.
2. The bottle should become quite hard to the touch.
3. Is the tap dispensing with any amount of pressure? If the bottle is hard to the touch, beer should dispense with a fair amount of force. As the bottle looses pressure and becomes softer to the touch it will dispense much slower.

I just went through an entire tap a draft bottle with no priming sugar (completely force carbed by carts) and only needed 2 total carts. Took one to carb, and another to dispense every last drop.
 
@Hitokiri - yes, the first 2 carts went into the beer. I could see and hear it going in and the bottle was very firm. When I opened the tap the beer came out with considerable force. Cart #3 felt like it was going into the beer but I didn't really pay attention to it. Cart #4 leaked within a few minutes of me putting it in so I turned the tap over and noticed the O ring around the piercing needle wasn't seated. I popped it back into place but there was a little tear in it. Unfortunately popping it back into place didn't help since carts 5 & 6 both just immediately leaked after trying several things to get it to seal.

I bought the "TAD Adapter" so I wouldn't have to use the 16 gram carts, so I'm just going to use that now instead. I figured I would try the 16 gram carts it came with first before using the TAD adapter. Since it doesn't need to make a seal against the O ring I'm not worried about it. Kind of sucks that I wasted those carts and that the O ring broke on my first use, but oh well.

Thanks for the reply.
 
Midwest is sending me a new tap and box of cartridges. Hopefully tap #2 performs betters. I'm hoping I just had a dud. The good thing from all of this is I have been forced to let my beer age longer than it would have otherwise. Hopefully the wait will be worth it!
 
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