Picnic tap--or go all out? serving kegs

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Baja_Brewer

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Hi there. I recently came up with a fridge I should be able to get for free/cheap which is excellent since Im trying to operate on a student budget and build a kegerator at the same time. I know sever people here have mentioned that they have picnic taps and have those on their kegs before they do the entire constructions and drilling of holes etc.

I was wondering if anyone had experience with this tap from keg connection
Portable Cornelius CO2 System Deluxe Kit (with out keg)

and could tell me how well it worked (foamyness, to close to keg for pouring, etc.)

I think this set up would work well for me since I dont have the money for a big tank, regulators, and stuff at this point. Not to mention that I may from time to time stick a keg in a bucket of ice and use it for parties not at my place. But if someone has a suggestion of a better tap for use with a small charger, by all means let me know.

Or should I just go all out and get the tank, regulator, taps, and lines? Thanks
 
Well, first of all, building a kegerator is one of the best things I've done. But i understand it can be a bit expensive, so i see where ure coming from.

Im kinda curious about that CO2 charger. I wonder how many of those little canisters it would take to empty a 5 gal keg. The faucet assembly however i might be a bit leary of. I would assume that it would foam a lot. Personally i would just make myself a picnic tap assembly for dispensing. You can put about 6 feet of hose on it and im pretty sure it would help reduce the foaming you would get. Also u can probably get one from a friend, or make it yourself for $10 from parts at your LHBS.

Anybody else know how well those little canisters would work? I wanna bring my corney keg to a friends place and that might be a good way to keep it pressurized.
 
It's my understanding that those little co2 chargers are fine for dispensing, but that you'd not be able to use them for actually carbonating the beer. Those things (including the little tap) are generally used when you want to take an already carbed keg to a party or something.

If you really want to keg, get a true co2 bottle/regulator setup. You can use picnic taps if you wish to save money or don't want to go to the bother of constructing a kegorater.
 
I think it takes up to 5 of the CO2 cartridges just to dispense a 5 gallon keg, so it's pretty unreasonable to use them for carbing. The cobra taps are a decent cheap solution to dispensing beer, I know of people who use the cobra taps permanently for a variety of reasons.
 
I think it takes up to 5 of the CO2 cartridges just to dispense a 5 gallon keg, so it's pretty unreasonable to use them for carbing. The cobra taps are a decent cheap solution to dispensing beer, I know of people who use the cobra taps permanently for a variety of reasons.

the guy at my local shop told me about 1 cartridge per gallon as well, for dispensing purposes, I dont think they were designed to actually force carbonate the beer, who knows what PSI the CO2 comes out of those things, but he did say they worked well for dispensing.

I've seen 5lb tanks, full, with regulator and lines go for 99$

Check on craigslist, around me CO2 setups are the brewing equipment I see listed the most.
 
i just use cobra tabs and my beer tastes fine. It's cheap and there's not alot of fuss. It doesnt look as impressive but I let the brew do the talking. :mug:
 
You can carbonate using priming sugar, just use half of the amount.

EdWort uses the same faucet for his portable keg system and doesn't seem to have a problem with foaming.

I think the deal with those is that you can only use them under very low pressure, which is fine for dispensing at a picnic or party but wouldn't work well as a long term solution because you couldn't maintain carbonation in the keg at such pressures for long periods. Dispensing at normal carbing pressure of 10 psi or so would be a giant glass of foam.

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong. ;)
 
I'm very happy with my system that StunnedMonkey mentioned above. Like he said, it's for parties. An exposed picnic line is OK for cool weather, but here in Austin we get into 100s all the time in the summer, and having the faucet right off the beer out post made a difference in beer temp big time.
 
Wow, alright. All your information has been very helpful. From somewhere i read online (keg connection or another site that sells them) the little keg chargers should empty one keg... but thats if you get the 16oz ones. I guess I could always just throw together a picnic tap myself if I wanted to bring one to a party, and just lug the 5# tank.

After getting the fridge today (vintage bada$s fridge for free) Ive found that I can fit 3 kegs in there...with a 5# tank even (probably) but I think to begin with I want to go with just two taps. That way my friends cant drink my beer to fast...

I already have 4 kegs and at this time Im not looking to buy anymore, any suggestions on kits that I could get (CO2 tank and all, they're expensive here) without kegs? About how much should that run me? Im looking to run 2 kegs at once so Ill need some kind of splitter for the gas as well
 
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