3-liter kegs

I am trying to make a 3-liter keg and I am using a modified version of the following two websites.

http://home.chattanooga.net/~cdp/3lkeg/3lkeg.htm#hydro

http://home.swbell.net/bufkin/cheap_3_liter_kegs.htm

I have never kegged anything before so at this point I feel like I have gotten in a little over my head. I am trying to make a system so that I can use a 12 oz paintball co2 tank to force carbonate the beer I put in the 3-liter bottle and then use the tap out to the top to drink it.

I know that I will need an adapter to fit the paintball tank and gauges to regulate the pressures and conceptually I understand the general layout, but putting the pieces is where I am hitting a road block.

The main thing I am confused about is the connection between the tank and the bottle. Can I use just regular vinyl tubing and somehow connect that to the schrader valve?

Any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

I don't know dude seems like a ton of work unless you just like that building stuff which I do But this seems like reinventing the wheel to me.

here's a link for a paint ball regulator, tanks and o rings

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/REGULATORS_C02_BOTTLES_C148.cfm

here's a link to the carbonator $15 for plastic bottle carbonation

http://www.homebrewing.org/The-Carbonator-Draft-to-Go_p_25-108.html

Or at homebrewing.org you can get a real single handle kegs for $15 or double handle for $18

This is probably a little more expensive than the home-made route unless you consider you time worth less than $1/hr

just my $0.02

Hmmm ok...

What if I just used the CO2 injector. Would I let it carbonate naturally and then just use those 12g co2 cartridges to pump the beer out? I would at least like to give this setup a try but I think it is pretty pointless to pay >$80 for that paintball tank regulator...plus other odds and ends.

The real goal of this little project is to make a cheap small keg.

That's cool,
I'm not trying to discourage you just point out an alternative you might not have considered or help you find something(s) you could adapt to what you are trying to do. And hopefully help you avoid some to the mistakes I made building my own stuff.

Maybe I'm just dense but the web site just didn't make a lot of sense to me. Maybe if I sat down and really studied it and what they are trying to do I might see something I missed.

I am a little confused carbonate naturally implies that you'll add sugar and let the beer sit in the bottle for 3 or 4 weeks at least, In which case you would not need the CO2 except for dispensing. I thinking that's part of the object here using the co2 pressure for dispensing. Correct me if I wrong.

Force carbonante means you'll add co2 pressure for about a week. That's where the carbonator would come in.

If you are just trying to save money and want something larger than 12 oz. beer bottles you might consider going with 2 or 3 large growler bottles say about 1 or 2 liter(s) that way you could get something dark as opposed to clear to keep your beer from getting skunked. In which case the beer won't really be worth drinking not that I haven't drank plenty of skunky beer in my time. But one of the objects in home brewing is to make something better than you can buy.

How are you planning on using it? If it's for a party situation it seems like overkill as 2 or 3 liters of beer will be gone before it goes flat,especially if it's good. So you wouldn't need a co2 dispensing system.

Maybe this is not the most practical idea and maybe I just want a cool way of dispensing my homemade brew, but I think I will give it a go anyway. I agree that a 2-liter of beer does not go a long way but if this system worked than I could use it with a gallon jug or something. I am just not ready to go all out into a kegging system because of one, the money, and two, the ease of transporting my beer.

I think what I will do is use the plans from those websites, hope that it works, and get a co2 injector to pump my already carbonated beer out the top.
Thanks for the feedback

Be sure an post your experience. It is a neat looking gizmo

I have made this same setup in 1(good for early force carb sampling), 2 and 3 liter bottles, I still need to pickup a 6 liter bottle. I used a PSI gauge was because I would not be able to feel the pressure in the bottle in the cooler, but you can tell by the pour when you need a "SHORT" blast, they maybe small but they have all the pressure of the big boys and no regulator. I found the gauge is easily ruined by the pressure.

Discaimer 8^)
If you choose to use one of these injectors, be warned they are not a toy and could cause serious harm if someone was to over pressurize.

Here is another example for you, I finally got around to putting some pics accessible to post.