26 Kegs of Homebrew at picnic

This year's Austin Zealot's picnic was hit in spite of 100+ temps. Fortunately it was held on the bank of Lake Austin for those quick cool offs.






We had 26 kegs of beer plus loads of growlers and 2 liter PET bottles.

The new portable 5 gallon system with the KEGlove worked flawlessly and garnered lots of looks.




I slapped together this base from scrap wood from the brewhaus and it did a great job of keeping the system from tipping when bumped by a beer drinker.



I did not when any awards for my beers, but I did manage to take home an "Empty Keg" award. Folks were really enjoy it too.

In this 100+ heat, I had one guy who told me that my beer was the coldest he had tried. I'm guessing it's because I don't have 5 ft. of beer line baking in the sun.



Overall, I've very pleased with the system. The ice blanket worked great in this heat and the keg blew in just over 3 hours. I do need to shorten my gas line.

Now that looks like a party I would enjoy participating in.
Betcha had a great time.

100+........ how would you like 60ish like we have here?

Looks great! We can't have kegs at our picnics because of the idiots at the OLCC. You can bring a semi full of cans or wine by the pallet, but no kegs. People might drink too much.

Looks like a really good time. I'd love to sip on a good glass of homebrew with any of you guys.

Ed,

The beer looks great and your Keg Glove looks awesome. How about the Barbecue? Did you cook up a brisket? Man I miss my frequent trips to Austin, the Iron Works, Stubbs and the County Line on the lake. Up here in Canada Barbecue is mostly unknown and I have to go to the butcher weeks in advance if I want a whole brisket for the smoker.

Paul

I recognized your keg right of the bat. Ed I clicked your link for the glove and I have a question for you. The ice blanket claims to freeze at 23 and thaw at 41. What is it using so it can defeat the laws of thermal dynamics. Maybe I just misread the ad, but if I read it correctly that is one heck of a ice blanket.

We had BBQ brisket, chicken, sausage & hot dogs. Everyone brought a side dish. Tasty food to go with tasty beer.

No glass allowed, thus loads of kegs.

Really was a blast despite the heat. There were several barleywines on the tap board, I'm guessing those kegs didn't get emptied.

For the record, Ed's Hefe is awesome. I did my part to help empty the keg.

ssshh don't tell, I snuck in a few bottles of my wit, everything in kegs is still conditioning...

How fun!! Your Hefe sounds like a hit! I'm kinda surprised nobody brought floatie toys or inner tubes for the lake - I would have stayed in the water with that heat

Wow! That's nice. Looks like fun

Man that's a lot of beer!

beerthirty said:

I recognized your keg right of the bat. Ed I clicked your link for the glove and I have a question for you. The ice blanket claims to freeze at 23 and thaw at 41. What is it using so it can defeat the laws of thermal dynamics. Maybe I just misread the ad, but if I read it correctly that is one heck of a ice blanket.

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Good question. I have no idea. I'm just happy how it works. I'll ping the guy who makes them and ask though. He's a homebrewer.

Hey that's pretty cool. We can't even have alcoholic beverages in any state run park or lands here in PA.

Im thinking about getting a keg love and ice blanket...good investment Ed?

fat x nub said:

Im thinking about getting a keg love and ice blanket...good investment Ed?

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I'm a happy camper with with it. It solved the problem of a cooler big enough for a 5 gallon corny while at the same time saving money on ice.

If you take your beer to parties or picnics it's going come in handy.

Looks like a great picnic. That viking ship with 10 taps on it is totally :rockin:

mysteryberto said:

Looks like a great picnic. That viking ship with 10 taps on it is totally :rockin:

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It's is pretty sweet.

Hey Ed, I can't seem to locate your setup thread. Wherebout's was it posted again?

zoebisch01 said:

Hey Ed, I can't seem to locate your setup thread. Wherebout's was it posted again?

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Here you go.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=72105

Is that Emma Long park?

Man that looks awesome! I REALLY REALLY hope we move back to Austin next year....

thx Ed.

Alamo_Beer said:

Is that Emma Long park?

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Yep. The Zealot's have it there every year. Lots of folks make a weekend out of it and camp out. The shade trees and Lake Austin make for a great venue. Loads of beer, loads of brewers & loads of beer talk. Makes for a great beer day!

Looks like you guys had a blast!

Seawolfe said:

I'm kinda surprised nobody brought floatie toys or inner tubes for the lake

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I'm thinking.....BierMunchers Trash Can Keg Cooler with Pontoons!

BigKahuna said:

I'm thinking.....BierMunchers Trash Can Keg Cooler with Pontoons!

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Swim up bar FTW!

Ed is that a paint ball tank or one of those Kobalt Rhino tanks that thay have at Lowes? I was just wondering if the threads were the same. Can you get 2 kegs out of a 20 oz tank?
thanks.

beerthirty said:

Ed is that a paint ball tank or one of those Kobalt Rhino tanks that they have at Lowe's? I was just wondering if the threads were the same. Can you get 2 kegs out of a 20 oz tank?
thanks.

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That is a 12 oz tank from Academy and so far I have pushed 2 kegs and there is still gas to go before I take it back for a fill up. I'm betting on getting 5 kegs out of a 12 ounce tank. My reasoning is that you can push a keg with about 4 to 5 of the 12 gram cartridges. A 12 oz. tank should have 336 grams of CO2 (if it is filled to capacity). If it take 5 cartridges to push a keg, that's 60 grams of CO2, so in theory, a 12 oz. tank should push 5 kegs. A 20 oz. paint ball tank should push 9 kegs. That's just dispensing, no carbing though.

I have been holding off on picking up a Lowe's swap tank as Dick's Sporting Goods is coming to Bee Cave and will fill it for me. They will be less than 2 miles away and open on Sunday's too (across the street from Lowe's).

I was doing a bit of paintball research(never played). It seems that you can get a "paintball refill station" pretty cheap on ebay that would allow you to fill your own from your home tanks. Just tip you home tank so the valve is down and you get a liquid fill. It seems a bit unorthodox, but I also found hangers that would hold a 5-10 lb tank inverted just for the fill process. It seems that filling a 20 oz is just as much as a 5 lb. The refill station would pay for itself in 5 fills. You could go bulk and save money if you take your kegs out very much.(I'm a cheap bastard)

beerthirty said:

I was doing a bit of paintball research(never played). It seems that you can get a "paintball refill station" pretty cheap on ebay that would allow you to fill your own from your home tanks. Just tip you home tank so the valve is down and you get a liquid fill. It seems a bit unorthodox, but I also found hangers that would hold a 5-10 lb tank inverted just for the fill process. It seems that filling a 20 oz is just as much as a 5 lb. The refill station would pay for itself in 5 fills. You could go bulk and save money if you take your kegs out very much.(I'm a cheap bastard)

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Exactly what I do. Cost me $12 for 2 regulator stems and a Brass Union. Now I fill my 5# tank from my 50# tank. The buy in was a *****, but the 50# costs $32 to fill, the 5# costs 18....Even with my Math Skillz that's pretty easy to figure out.

Alamo_Beer said:

Man that looks awesome! I REALLY REALLY hope we move back to Austin next year....

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Zealots meetings are getting big but there's always room for one more. :rockin:

beerthirty said:

Ed is that a paint ball tank or one of those Kobalt Rhino tanks that thay have at Lowes? I was just wondering if the threads were the same. Can you get 2 kegs out of a 20 oz tank?
thanks.

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I pushed three kegs with my 9 ounce can...with gas to spare.

Yes...the kobalt threads from Lowe's are the same as those at Dicks sporting goods. I had mine refilled for $2.49 the day before our party after doing some trial and error setup runs on my rig.

Ed...looks like a bomb of a good time.

BigKahuna said:

Exactly what I do. Cost me $12 for 2 regulator stems and a Brass Union. Now I fill my 5# tank from my 50# tank. The buy in was a *****, but the 50# costs $32 to fill, the 5# costs 18....Even with my Math Skillz that's pretty easy to figure out.

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Any pics of that setup?

EdWort said:

Any pics of that setup?

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Coming Soon!....I'll take a few tonight.


***EDIT.

Posted:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=75951

The first couple if pictures I was thinking this was Ed's backyard and he just opened up his private stash for some friends. I'm just glad there is a small ocean between me and all that good beer and great company, my liver can't handle that kind of reality.