Party Pig? Thoughts?

I've been reading up on kegging and came across this Party Pig thing. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with it, because it sounds like just what I'm looking for.

I am hesitant to start kegging because this is a pretty large investment and I don't have the space for kegs and a kegerator anyway. I also want my beer to be semi-portable. So kegging doesn't seem like the best choice for me.

Up until now I've been bottling, which I'm sure many of you know, is a huge pain in the ass. Also, I don't always feel like committing to drinking all 22 oz if I'm just having a bit after dinner.

This has led me to the Party Pig. From what I can tell, it has the advantage of holding almost half my 5 gal. batch in one container. It's portable enough. And it can be simply placed in my refrigerator without installing anything.

The drawbacks, however, are that it lasts for only 3 months (which isn't a big problem for me). It does not maintain carbonation nearly as well as bottles or kegs (which could be a problem). It's made of PET plastic, which I'm told is a bit of a chore to clean properly, without scratching and whatnot. And they pour slowly, sometimes making it very difficult to form a decent head (which definitely could be a problem).

I would buy the starter kit, which is 52 bucks, and it comes with the pump required to prime the pressure pouch.

So does anyone have any experience with this system? I'm very curious to find out more!

Lots of links to HBT threads on the subject here. This is not intended as a "SEARCH NOOB" response.

I am a search noob. Ha ha many thanks!

I used to think search here was useless until I discovered the Google search under the search bar. It works extremely well and is all I use now.

I purchased two years ago (before jumping into kegging) for the same reasons you give. The two major cons are that:
1) Two pigs do NOT = 5gal
2) priming them is somewhat difficult and downright frustrating

The thing to keep in mind, though, is that they carb LIKE bottles, but due to carbing in bulk require slightly less sugar per volume than if you were bottling. I never had problems keeping them carbed properly (when i didn't miscalculate). Also keep in mind that the inner workings don't contribute to the carbonation, just the physical movement of the beer out of the pig itself.

One good thing is that due to the pigs being smaller, it facilitates the production of smaller, experimental batches. The portable-ness of them was also high on my "likes" list.

My neighbor uses these, but he has some kind of one-time use thing to prime them. He swears by them.

Used a couple of pigs for a number of years.
Advantages were portability, ability to fit in a refrigerator, convenience vs bottling.
Disadvantages were different priming vs bottles so splitting a 5 gal batch to a pig and bottles a bit more involved, a couple of failures (either the pressure pack wouldn't inflate or the restrictor popped out during pressurization leading to all foam) that resulted in losing the beer, inability to rack an entire 5 gal batch to a single unit.

Switched to kegging this year (doing two batches this weekend that will bring me to capacity, 10 kegs either on tap in the keezer or aging) - haven't looked back.

You could also look into the Tap-A-Draft System. I have kegs now, but still use my TAD quite a bit.

Wow, this Tap-A-Draft system seems even better than the Party Pig...

I like that I'd actually be using CO2 and not just a big inflated bag. Plus the CO2 is much cheaper than the one time use bags for the Pig.

I think I've found my solution! Many thanks!

DraperyFalls said:

Wow, this Tap-A-Draft system seems even better than the Party Pig...

I like that I'd actually be using CO2 and not just a big inflated bag. Plus the CO2 is much cheaper than the one time use bags for the Pig.

I think I've found my solution! Many thanks!

Click to expand...

I like it. It's not the perfect solution, but it does seem to work fairly well. One of the employees at the LHBS scoffed at the idea of using one, even though they sell them. If you do go for the TAD a few things that seem to help or to keep in mind:

1. Buy the metal caps if you can find them.

2. A couple wraps of teflon thread tape before capping the bottles seems to help.

3. Don't try to use the CO2 cartridges to carbonate, just carb naturally with corn sugar.

4. Chill the bottle 24-48 hours before tapping.

I've used my Party Pig for several batches but am getting into full blown kegging now. Just kegged my first beer today actually Woot!

But anyway, the Party Pig was awesome for me. Only downsides are that you can overcarb the beer pretty easy and that its not a full 5 gallon size. You could always get two Pigs and do 4.5gal batches.

Oh also, it was a pain (and expensive) to keep buying the inflator pouch things. You have to buy them online and the shipping isn't cheap.

Overall, I rate the Pig very highly. It was very cool to be able to get a "mini keg" setup going for less than $70, using my regular fridge. Very cool if you want something in between bottling and full blown kegging.

Having said that, I also know guys with TAD systems that like them too. The only thing is that it seems that everyone moves to full kegging in time anyway,

if you look at the previous threads theres ppl who have hooked co2 into a party pig to avoid buyinhg inflator packs with some success.

I went with the TAD system and really enjoy it. I usually don't put a whole batch in it. I brew 5 gallons, fill one TAD bottle and then bottle the rest. Best of both worlds that way.

Most folks who get party pigs or TAD move up to kegging, so if you can go with regular kegging systems then you should just go for that. I was in the same place as your though. No room for a kegerator so the TAD worked great.

Hey everyone. I've found another pretty neat mini-kegging solution in my travels. Now I know I'll get a lot of responses like "why not just keg it for real" so again, I'm really short on space. I simply don't have the room for a kegerator or anything that size.

That being said, here's what I've found...

This site has the Tap-A-Draft along with these nifty 5 liter mini kegs, which seems neat but it's almost $120 for the whole setup.

Instead...

This site has a tiny, tiny kegerator type thing that accommodates those 5 liter mini-kegs. It's $80 and to buy (4) 5 liter mini kegs would cost me about $60. So for $20 more than that tap a draft with mini kegs, I'd have this little coffee machine sized kegerator.

Does anyone know if these little kegerator things still require the CO2 cartridges? Otherwise, I don't see how they'd keep the beer under pressure and dispensing.

Also, does anyone have any experience with these things?

Thanks again for all of your feedback!

Oooh! Found the kegs even cheaper here!

DraperyFalls said:

Hey everyone. I've found another pretty neat mini-kegging solution in my travels. Now I know I'll get a lot of responses like "why not just keg it for real" so again, I'm really short on space. I simply don't have the room for a kegerator or anything that size.

That being said, here's what I've found...

This site has the Tap-A-Draft along with these nifty 5 liter mini kegs, which seems neat but it's almost $120 for the whole setup.

Instead...

This site has a tiny, tiny kegerator type thing that accommodates those 5 liter mini-kegs. It's $80 and to buy (4) 5 liter mini kegs would cost me about $60. So for $20 more than that tap a draft with mini kegs, I'd have this little coffee machine sized kegerator.

Does anyone know if these little kegerator things still require the CO2 cartridges? Otherwise, I don't see how they'd keep the beer under pressure and dispensing.

Also, does anyone have any experience with these things?

Thanks again for all of your feedback!

Click to expand...

I haven't used the five liter metal kegs with the TAD. It's an interesting idea. My understanding is that the lining inside of them wears out over time. So, they do need to be replaced every once in a while, just like the TAD plastic bottles. I suppose it's a matter of cost versus length of use.

I think that second item might just be a pretty shell that you put the pre-charged kegs into. I'm not sure it if has any mechanism to dispense the beer other than using the built-in CO2 on the keg, but it's hard to say.

The main issue I have with the TAD is it's use of the little CO2 carts. I usually use about three CO2 carts per bottle with the regular setup. I would like to find a system to use a little paintball tank and single regulator. Someone on here worked up a system to adapt them. I'm going to continue to look further into it. A lot of people claim the TAD is only an intermediary step on the way to kegging. I don't know if that's necessarily the case. Like I said, I still make some smaller two gallon batches for the TAD. That way I can have my kegerator upstairs in the studio and the TAD in the refrigerator down near the TV. It's really the best of both worlds.

Aaah I see. I guess that price was too good to be true after all.

Some of the other ones I'm finding start at $150.

I went with the mini kegs and the tap a draft. I'll let everyone know how it works out for me!

Just a heads up to anyone who's still following this thread, the system I bought with the TAD and the mini kegs just went on sale for the next 2 days (apparently). $99.99 for the whole thing. Of course I already ordered mine, but the folks were nice enough to give me store credit for the difference!

http://www.beer-wine.com/products/brew-king-5l-keg-complete-system

Mmkay, last time I'll probably add anything to this thread. Been using the tap-a-draft for a bit now and I'm pretty pleased with it. As I was warned earlier, the slow pour makes it tough to form a decent head, but I've found that if you open the spigot just a teency bit, this produces a good amount of pressure on your brew which will help get the head started. All-in-all, a good purchase. Has kept the beer fresh tasting for about 3 weeks so far. Not sure if this mini-keg will last much longer... Mmmmm....strawberry wheat beer....

what's that?

you want me to drink you?!

RIGHT NOW?!?!

Yeah, that's a handy trick. You pour like normal, then when you close the tap you pause with it closed about half way and it squirts a nice head on the beer. It's like magic.