So crazy, will it work. (Keg transfer)

[akegs]

Hey guys so I have a problem. I just got a new kegerator for christmas! The problem is I don't have any homebrew to put in it. So what I was thinking of doing was trying to fill it with commercial beer. I would love to have it set up for the college football playoffs (go bucks) and new years eve. I don't have the equipment to hook up a sanke tap to my stuff so what I was thinking of doing was renting a commercial keg and tap, tapping the beer to my ball lock keg and then serving it in the kegerator from there. This is my first time playing with force carbing so I was wondering if anyone has tried anything like this before or knows if I will run into some major problems. I just don't wanna go for it and waste 5 gallons of beer. Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

No, you'd oxidize the beer by dispensing it into the corney keg. But you could easily get a sanke set up that you can use with commercial kegs, and switch back and forth from corney kegs to sankes. I think I paid $20 for one a while back, and my friend 'borrowed it' and I no longer have it. Hopefully I can borrow it back sometime, when I want to use a commercial keg.

Otherwise, you'd need something like this to dispense commercial kegs in your homebrew set up: http://www.kegconnection.com/d-sanke-tap-with-mfl-tailpieces-ss-probe-all-stainless/

 

[dyqik]

I don't think you'd oxidize the beer if you flush the corny with CO2 first, and rent a CO2 pressurized Sanke fitting with the keg, and pressure transfer to the corny through the diptube. You will oxidize it if you use one of the handpumped taps though.

But for the rental cost of the Sanke fitting and CO2 system to drive it, plus the adapting hardware, you could probably buy a Sanke fitting online (or craigslist) to use with your kegerator anytime you wanted to serve from a Sanke keg.

 

[augiedoggy]

Just my opinion but I agree with the sentiment above. The fittings are cheap and easy to find.... The alternative using cornies is more work than its worth.

 

[jbb3]

Yes, this IS crazy...

Either convert your kegerator to accept sanke fittings or find a local HB buddy who has some HB in the pipeline and likes to watch football!

Of course I say this as I'm designing my own keezer. Once I'm done, I hope I don't find myself in the same predicament...

 

[purplehaze]

For $30 these would work.

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/SANKE-BALL-LOCK-GAS-SIDE-CONVERTER-P3337.aspx

 

[Psylocide]

Transfer from a keg, to drink out of a different keg?

I'd just drink it out of the first keg... trash can and ice.

 

[acidrain]

Local breweries fill corny's in my area. Kind of expensive though... about $100.

 

[jimyson]

transfer from a keg, to drink out of a different keg?

I'd just drink it out of the first keg... Trash can and ice.

qft

 

[dyqik]

The only gain I can see from transferring is that you can free up the deposit on the keg sooner, and possibly lower the rental cost of the Sanke adaptor if you don't buy one. I'd say just buy the adaptor (then you'll be set for future commercial kegs if your pipeline falls short), start drinking from the Sanke keg, and then transfer it if you really want to try that later, or if there's a time limit on the keg deposit.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Depending on how handy you are, this is really not all that difficult IMO. Certainly not worth doing except for the wow factor or using your own kegerator....

Easiest option is to purchase a sanke coupler, install and serve out of the sanke keg.
http://rapidswholesale.com/american...biOkWSC9939Wei5QyQ3WhOXFL3GBQy4p3ThoC89fw_wcB

Another slightly more convoluted approach is to get a sanke keg and rent the hand pump like this one linked below....disconnect the gas line on the hand pump and feed CO2 into the sanke and pressure transfer to your corny. You will need to couple or connect the beverage lines b/w the kegs, purge the empty sanke w/ CO2 and then reduce pressure in the corny to be lower than the sanke and the beer will flow out of the sanke and into the corny.


http://rapidswholesale.com/short-le...dr_oS3p9qSJOKgFK_6OtHRLhmOXgvX0gnsxoCNw_w_wcB

 

[dyqik]

pssst, there's a guy selling two sanke couplers (Euro and US) and two taps on the For Sale forum for $30, if you haven't ordered anything yet. That's probably the cheapest and easiest option for getting a commercial keg on tap.

 

[SharonaZamboni]

My Nostalgia kegerator came with a sanke coupler, which I never used.

My husband brought home a sixtel of my favorite beer and then we realized that the sanke coupler was too tall for the kegerator. Eventually, I ended up using a racking cane to transfer to a corny keg. I plan to buy a low profile sanke coupler to solve the problem. Don't know what kind of kegerator you have, but you might want to consider the low profile if buying a coupler.