First time build - PortaBeer, a portable beer dispenser (pics)

[brewd00d]

Like so many other people out there i, decided to make a portable beer dispneser out of a 5 gallon drinking cooler. The biggest purchase by far is the new 2.5 gallong keg. That was 100 bucks from rebel brewing. That so far is the best price i found.

Here is what i got and their prices:

Blue Coleman cooler - Walmart $20
2.5 Gallon Keg - Rebel Brewing $99
Faucet with 3 inch shank - Amazon $19
Quick Disconnect Male nipple - Lowes $2
Quick Disconnect Female - Lowes $2
16 ounce CO2 paintball tank - Free from my pops
Adapter for putting regulator on tank - Rebel Brewing $12
2" brass nipple - lowes $3
Two barbed hose adapters one with threads on outside, other with threads on inside. - lowes $3

The items i need are not quite all here yet, so i am anxiously waiting for the arrival of the rest. A couple things i plan on doing differently than what i have seen on others is im making a quick disconnect for the CO2 hook up. I plan on drilling a hole through the cooler, near the top, then inserting a 2 inch nipple with male threads on both side. im putting a 1/4 inch barbed end on the end of the nipple inside the cooler, and on the outside im using the quick disconnect similar to that of air compressor tools.

If anyone is interested in wanting to make one also, please join me as i will be throwing up some detailed pics for the duration of the project.

here is most of the equipment, but more pics of my progress will soon follow!

 

[ChandlerBang]

This seems pretty awesome. It should probably be in the DIY forum, but sweet nonetheless.

 

[brewd00d]

I had it in the DIY section, but i wanted to expose this to as much of the new/beginner brewers in case they wanted to follow along, since this will be my first build too.

Im wasnt sure how many of the beginners venture off into the other sections.

 

[brewd00d]

On another note, i have come to the conclusion that a 5 gallon cooler will not work due to space issues. With the connections im using for the inside is prevent the keg from going in. I am now moving to a 10 gallon will should accomdate everything.

 

[Dogphish]

i'm curious what the price difference is between this and one of those keg gloves with the freezable ice pack that fits over the whole 5 gallon keg.

 

[ChandlerBang]

On another note, i have come to the conclusion that a 5 gallon cooler will not work due to space issues. With the connections im using for the inside is prevent the keg from going in. I am now moving to a 10 gallon will should accomdate everything.

Can you affix the hoses/connectors through the wall of the 5 gallon cooler in such a manner that makes them easily removable? (having a hard time getting my point across) Where you would set the keg in, then pop in your faucet and gas lines after? Would that allow you to still use the 5 gallon? I think the 10 gallon will make it less manageable?

 

[brewd00d]

Can you affix the hoses/connectors through the wall of the 5 gallon cooler in such a manner that makes them easily removable? (having a hard time getting my point across) Where you would set the keg in, then pop in your faucet and gas lines after? Would that allow you to still use the 5 gallon? I think the 10 gallon will make it less manageable?

there really is no easy way to remove the faucet aside from unscrewing it everytime i want to remove the keg. the other spot where the keg would hit is where the CO2 comes in. there just isnt enough room in the five gallon cooler EVEN with the just keg in it, with no connection installed. the only options that might work, is intalling the hose through lid using quick disconnects. but im not sure that will entirely for out since i dont have the 3 inch shank to test the clearance.

i checked on a bunch of otherplaces everyone seems to use the 10 gallon kegs. they give you more sidewall room for ice and stuff AND i have plenty of room for the connections.

 

[brewd00d]

After realizing that a 5 gallon cooler wouldnt work because of space issues, i picked up a 10 gallon cooler for 40 bucks at home depot here is a side by side comparison:

5 gallon cooler

10 gallon cooler

As you can see the 10 gallon not only gives more side space but provides more head room so that i could even throw in a couple cans of beer or whatever i want.

 

[wheels4]

What about just getting a tap a draft? This is what I have and it works great. Cheap and simple...just put it in the cooler and away you go.

 

[brewd00d]

i thought about it, but it wasnt my kinda thing. i wanted a project i could do myself.

 

[brewd00d]

So here is the front:

Inside shot of the front:

Outside shot of the back where the CO2 tank gets hung and the CO2 quick disconnect:

And a shot of the inside of the CO2 barbed end:

 

[wheels4]

Gonna be pretty cool when done. Keep us posted....... Happy 4th.

 

[Moose777]

Nice. I've been pondering how to get my bew mobile too. I have a great 4 tap keezer at home but more and more struggle with how to get my beer to party's and events if I do not want to bring the entire 5 gallon keg and jockey box set up.
Thanks for posting this.

 

[ozzy1038]

That's what I call a portable party. I'm anxious to see how this turns out.

 

[CayugaBrewer]

This is a really cool project!

One concern though... While researching small CO2 cartridges in an attempt to reuse a Miller Home Draft, I found out that unless the cartridge is food grade, oil is left behind during the manufacturing process. Off flavors didn't appear to be a problem, but I was concerned with the potential health issues of ingesting the stuff.

I'm not sure if a tank, as opposed to a cartridge, has this issue, but I just wanted to put this out there.

Happy 4th.

 

[brewd00d]

Im not using one of those CO2 cartridges, im using a 16oz CO2 paintball tank. Rebel brewer sells an adapter that fits the threads on the co2 thank and the other end fits on the regulators.

 

[CayugaBrewer]

Yeah, I mentioned that. Though it's still something I'd look into :/

 

[birvine]

Cool gadget.

B

 

[brewd00d]

Here is the CO2 hook up.

Holding the tank on is actually a fire extinguisher mount, which I attached to the cooler with two stainless steel screws going all the way through with nuts holding them. I cut off the excess threads to keep from scratching up the keg.

 

[PortaBeer]

Hey Brewd00d! My team (PortaBeer) is actually developing a new portable beer system. I'll keep you posted on development. However, we are a little protective of the name

 

[PortaBeer]

Also, to address the "oil in CO2 debate", in our extensive research we've found that it simply isn't the case. The smaller single-use air cartridges are made of stainless steel and filled with 99.7% pure CO2. The same is true for paintball tanks ... the tanks are stainless steel and do not have any contaminates. Almost every CO2 canister is safe unless it specifically says that it contains oils.

 

[brewd00d]

A 16oz tank doesnt last very long. i finally got a change to use the portabeer for the first time at a party and the CO2 ran out at the last half gallon of beer.

i called about 4 places to see if they filed tanks up, no one was open or they didnt fill them up. so what i did was took my bike pump hooked it up to the co2 hose and pumped to force out the beer as my one of my buddies kept the tap open and the beer poured right into the glass.

 

[birvine]

I use the bike pump method when I'm cleaning my cornies. And use the same adapter with a CO2 cartridge as needed.

B

 

[PortaBeer]

A 16oz tank doesnt last very long. i finally got a change to use the portabeer for the first time at a party and the CO2 ran out at the last half gallon of beer.

i called about 4 places to see if they filed tanks up, no one was open or they didnt fill them up. so what i did was took my bike pump hooked it up to the co2 hose and pumped to force out the beer as my one of my buddies kept the tap open and the beer poured right into the glass.

What kind of regulator are you using? 8oz of CO2 should push a full half barrel. Try checking all of your air lines again as well as the way the bottle fits to your regulator. You could have a bad o-ring or some other problem that is resulting in a leak.

Bike pump is a good short-term solution, but obviously will have all the standard problems with introducing air to the keg.

 

[brewd00d]

Here is my debut at my buddies house. I had it sitting out for everyone but then i got greedy and plopped it down right beside me so i didnt have to get up for my home brew.

It was definitely a crowd pleaser.

 

[brewd00d]

A couple things to add:

For one, the reason behind the tank not lasting long is my buddy didnt tell me till a few days ago that he accidentally pulled the hose off so for a split second a generous amount of CO2 was released.

And second, when in fact you run out of beer (yes, you will!) i poured about 15 cans of coors light into the keg just to have some beer on draft.

Yes, i know opening up 15 cans and the time it takes to pour them in the keg wouldnt be worth it, but i was, how do they call it, umm...drunk.

so sum up the night, everyone had a great time with my home made beer in the portable kegerator AND a 5 foot tall Jenga set i made out of some 2x4's.

 

[Jayman931]

Sounds like fun! Nice job on the build

 

[Shawnylocks]

nice work thats friggin awesome. winter project maybe haha