portable keg charger

[puckjer]

i am thinking about getting this
http://stores.kegconnection.com/Detail.bok?no=16

does anyone have any experience with it? if my keg is already cold and carbed and i just drop it in an ice chest for a party at a friends house will it pour ok with the picnic tap on a short hose like that or should i have the guys at keg connection swap it for a picnic tap with a 5ft hose?

 

[AussieBrewerInColorado]

Haven't used one. Figured I would just take a 5# if need be.

 

[Hammy71]

I used those chargers with a 3' picnic tap. No problems. Just expect to go through a lot of CO2 cartridges. 5 or more per keg. Also be prepared to hang around the keg. You'll be hitting it with CO2 pretty often as people drink.

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

Let me give my standard death and destruction warning:

Make sure the gas disconnect is on the keg when you screw on the CO2 injector. If the disconnect is not on the keg, the injector is connected to the disconnect, and you pull the trigger, the disconnect will EXPLODE.

Trust me, it hurts.



Other than that, they work fine for serving. Just bump the trigger when you need a little extra pressure.

 

[puckjer]

i have never connected a gas disconnect to the post of a carbed keg without a hose or something on the disconnect. wont gas leak out of the threaded portion once you pop it on without the charger connected?

 

[puckjer]

so i tried this last night, hooking up the gas disconnect to the post of my pressurized keg and yes gas will come out of it if nothing is connected to the threaded portion. so my question is this for the portable charger...if i have a a half full keg that is pressurized and carbed, i guess i can just hook up the picnic tap and use the current pressure in the keg to push as much beer out as i can until the flow stops and then just hook up the portable charger and use it? i guess the only other way would be to pull the pin on the keg and depressurize, then hook up the portable charger. but if i do that it seems like i would have to inject a lot of gas in there to get it to start flowing out again and i dont want to burn through a bunch of cartridges doing that. has anyone else experienced this?