Looking at buying kegs for cider...questions

[chevalcider]

I'm tired of bottling cider and am finding that I am leaving cider in secondary (and even primary) far too long as a result! I would like to by some kegs but due to the seasonal nature of cider I would need quite a few for a year's production. I don't want to spend a great deal of money at one time and am looking at a number of options.

One option is to buy the kegs, a picnic tap, and one of those CO2 chargers that uses 16 gram canisters. With this method I would try to carb naturally in the keg and use the charger to serve the cider. I normally consume most of my cider at home and have a basement fridge that could hold a keg. My research has shown that if I plan to hold the carbonating pressure in the keg I will have to hit it with 30 psi of CO2 right after filling and priming. I also find that I should be cutting back my priming to 50-60% of bottling due to less headspace collectively in the keg. This method would take me through a year with minimal expenditures on CO2 equipment and some expenditures on CO2 cartridges. The tank and regulator could be left to Christmas lists and such.

Th other option is to drop money on kegs, tank, and regulator and then try to make peace with the family CFO...

Are there any other options you can see and what do you think of the first option?

 

[Maylar]

Keg, tank & regulator. You won't regret it. You'll have so many new options for sweetening without worrying about priming and such. You can still get the mini tank for serving out on your patio at a summer picnic.

I have a 1-1/2 gallon mini keg that's perfect for my needs. I keep it in a dorm sized fridge and serve from a picnic tap.

 

[leesmith]

Keg, tank & regulator. You won't regret it. You'll have so many new options for sweetening without worrying about priming and such. You can still get the mini tank for serving out on your patio at a summer picnic.

I have a 1-1/2 gallon mini keg that's perfect for my needs. I keep it in a dorm sized fridge and serve from a picnic tap.

View attachment 551728

Where did you get that keg?

 

[Maylar]

Where did you get that keg?

It's called the Cannonball Keg, from Northern Brewer. https://www.northernbrewer.com/draft-brewer-mini-keg-system

Very high quality, highly recommended.

 

[MarkKF]

I have the 2.5 gal. Torpedo Keg which I like a lot. They make a 1.5 gal. as well. Not as shiny as the Cannonball!

https://www.morebeer.com/products/torpedo-ball-lock-kegs.html

I have the small CO2 thingy, too but only use it to serve on the go. I'd love to get a small chest freezer and modify it for 38 deg. F.

 

[Silver79]

Go all out with whatever you can get away with. I went from garage beer fridge to garage beer kegorator to garage 3 tap kegorator slowly over 10 years so the wife barely noticed.View media item 68713

 

[chevalcider]

So I came across 5 ball lock kegs and a 20lb co2 tank for an attractive price last week. Now to find someone to fill the tank. The only local source I could find wants $98 for a 20lb fill.

 

[Silver79]

Is there an airgas or welders supply store or even a beer distributor near you? My local airgas does a 20 lb exchange for like $25. And the old Miller distributor did it for $39. Call around to anywhere you can think of. Paintball places, scuba places, welding shops, beer distributors, home brew stores.

 

[chevalcider]

I live in a town of 9000, 7 miles from a town of 13,000. The larger surrounding region has 52,000. We are an hour and a bit away from a city of 750,000. Most of everything you mention is not here but in the city. There's a good amount of manufacturing going on but most of the gas needs will be serviced by a distributor from the city. I'm tempted to see if some of the shops running laser cutters would have a way of filling from the large bulk tanks of co2 they have beside their shops.

 

[chevalcider]

Just got off the phone with someone associated with one of the laser cutting shops. The gas company that they deal with gives them an attractive price on beverage gas refills on account of the amount of business they bring the gas company. Thankful for friends in the business!

 

[bmd2k1]

So I came across 5 ball lock kegs and a 20lb co2 tank for an attractive price last week. Now to find someone to fill the tank. The only local source I could find wants $98 for a 20lb fill.

Cool...keep us posted! Doing my research now on kegs/regulators yadda yadda...

 

[bmd2k1]

It's called the Cannonball Keg, from Northern Brewer. https://www.northernbrewer.com/draft-brewer-mini-keg-system

Very high quality, highly recommended.

View attachment 551823

So can ya pressurize this and then take it on the road and use it?

 

[Maylar]

So can ya pressurize this and then take it on the road and use it?

Well, yes but.. once the CO2 runs out it won't pour any more. Same with any keg. You need constant CO2 pressure to get the cider out. There are "mini" regulators that take a paintball sized CO2 cylinder that you can use at a picnic or whatever instead of hauling a big CO2 tank around.