Hate bottleing? Got ~$30?

Build one (or two) of these! http://home.swbell.net/bufkin/cheap_3_liter_kegs.htm

I've been talking about it for awhile now but I finaly got around to finishing it. It took a while finding a certain part, I finaly found it at this bad@ss little hardware store.

Sure you can't force carb and mine seems to foam A LOT but filling only 6 vessels compared to ~52 ROCKS!

I'm not even going to post pics of mine because I think the guy does a good job of explaining it. I will say this though, don't go crazy with the little bike CO2 thingy....I think I've been pressurizing mine too much causing it too foam too much.

Anyway, if anyone has any questions let me know. And for all of you who don't want to bottle anymore but can't keg this is a viable, cheap option.

Seems like something like that would be awesome to take to the beach. I'm definitely going to have to build one just for that purpose.

I assume you bottle conditioned in the 2 liters, and dispense with the tap...

I've been looking that web page over for some time now. I've got a batch that I'll be bottling this weekend. I plan on bottling half of it in regular bottles and half in 2 liters just to try it out.

oh yeah good call. I use 3 liters and it only takes 6. They're also like a buck each if you buy the offbrand. I don't know if it makes any sort of difference but I got the "limon lime" soda bc the green bottles.....figgured it might help a tiny tiny bit with skunking.

I also cut a hole in a 2gallon water cooler to use as a cooler. Like the guy did.

Hope that helps

Did you build 6 of these, or do you leave a standard lid on until ready to tap?

I've just got 1 lid that I'll switch between them when I finish a bottle. Otherwise the regular 3 liter cap is on it.

I would think if you plan to naturally carbonate in these, it might be a good idea to have a bunch of the "tap-lids" - otherwise when it was carbed up and you removed the normal lid to serve you would lose some of the carbonation. I guess this is not a problem if you plan to drink each 3L bottle in a sitting or within a few hours, but I don't think it would hold the proper level of carbonation and/or not oxidize for very long if you removed the lid after it was carbed. Or am I missing something here? Do you really want to drink your hard work brewing 5g of homebrew in just 6 sittings?

The guy from the website above is obviously not naturally carbing in these. He is filling the small kegs, for travel purposes, from his regular kegs. Forcing the already carbonated (forced/Co2) beer into the 3 liter keg with CO2 and never letting it hit much open air, I would assume this would keep for a bit.

Still, its only 3L so it should work either way, but just to clarify, the guy using the 3L keg as discussed on the website is not naturally carbing. In fact, I think if you did naturally carb the first 2-3 pints you pulled would be cloudy/yeasty b/c yeast would settle around the dip tube (same with naturally carbing in a corny) - however a few cloudy pints is a large proportion of the beer that would be held in a 3L keg.

I guess in short, I'm saying this works well for keggers to transport their beer to parties, etc. without taking all 5 gallons. It could be used by non-keggers who want to naturally carb and bottle less, but that wasn't this guys intention I don't think.

I say bottle your beer in brown glass bottles until you can afford to keg your beers in cornies. It'll keep much longer (the clear bottles aren't going to help your cause - nor the green, they do nothing to prevent skunking) than using this method with natural carbonation. And bottling is a 'hazing' of sorts for new homebrewers... everyone should have to go through it for a while.

Your right he's not naturally carbing...I am.

When I decide to "tap" one of them I put it in the fridge for at least a day. Chilling it down helps hold the carbonation in. Think about it...a 3 liter of coke doesn't go flat the first time you open it...

Also, I'm using the co2 bike pump thing to dispence, so there isn't any real worry about oxidation/going flat.

It's just like a tap-a-draft or party pig but a bit smaller and cheaper....

Alamo_Beer said:

Your right he's not naturally carbing...I am.

When I decide to "tap" one of them I put it in the fridge for at least a day. Chilling it down helps hold the carbonation in. Think about it...a 3 liter of coke doesn't go flat the first time you open it...

Also, I'm using the co2 bike pump thing to dispence, so there isn't any real worry about oxidation/going flat.

It's just like a tap-a-draft or party pig but a bit smaller and cheaper....

Click to expand...

Oh, like I said, it will definitely work for someone who hates bottling... I just think you would enjoy your beer more if you went the old bottling route or the true kegging route.

The major drawbacks I see with this for naturally carbing is:

1) the first couple pulls HAVE to be yeasty - there isn't much beer in 3L, and your splitting your batch into six 3L bottles - thus, if the first 2-3 pulls from each result in yeasty, cloudy beer, you are drinking 12-18 beers in less than optimal condition. as opposed to naturally carbing in a corny where you get a few of these yeasty pulls from 5g (since you don't split the 5g in 6 smaller units), then it starts running clear. or the best, force carbing with no yeasty beer...

2) light - as mentioned this will skunk unless you keep it in dark light at all times. this is not a huge problem if you are careful though.

3) the quickness you will finish a batch - this method you are employing will not hold carbonation forever, so in essence you will drink each 3L bottle in a day, maybe 2, to prevent oxidation, going flat, etc. Thus, you only get 6-12 individual days enjoyment out of your brews. If you bottled, you could enjoy for 52 days, you could age some for a year if its a big beer, etc. I have a keg in my kegerator thats been in there for probably 2+ months now. I pull from it every couple days and enjoy the fruits of my labor. you can't just let beer naturally carbed in these and tapped sit around for days, so you are going to rush through your beer, probably drinking a lot of it 'green'.

Ultimately, if you want, you can learn to deal with all 3 of these things, I'm just saying you would be enjoying much better beer if you just dealt with bottling and/or went the kegging route.

RoaringBrewer said:

The major drawbacks I see with this for naturally carbing is:

1) the first couple pulls HAVE to be yeasty - there isn't much beer in 3L, and your splitting your batch into six 3L bottles - thus, if the first 2-3 pulls from each result in yeasty, cloudy beer, you are drinking 12-18 beers in less than optimal condition. as opposed to naturally carbing in a corny where you get a few of these yeasty pulls from 5g (since you don't split the 5g in 6 smaller units), then it starts running clear. or the best, force carbing with no yeasty beer...

2) light - as mentioned this will skunk unless you keep it in dark light at all times. this is not a huge problem if you are careful though.

3) the quickness you will finish a batch - this method you are employing will not hold carbonation forever, so in essence you will drink each 3L bottle in a day, maybe 2, to prevent oxidation, going flat, etc. Thus, you only get 6-12 individual days enjoyment out of your brews. If you bottled, you could enjoy for 52 days, you could age some for a year if its a big beer, etc. I have a keg in my kegerator thats been in there for probably 2+ months now. I pull from it every couple days and enjoy the fruits of my labor. you can't just let beer naturally carbed in these and tapped sit around for days, so you are going to rush through your beer, probably drinking a lot of it 'green'.

Ultimately, if you want, you can learn to deal with all 3 of these things, I'm just saying you would be enjoying much better beer if you just dealt with bottling and/or went the kegging route.

Click to expand...

1) I doubt you will get that much yeast. Plus I find it hard to tell with most of my beers.
2) Easily managed.
3) Not a problem. When you replace the standard cap with the tap a very small amount of carbonation is lost. Then if you use the CO2 bike pump that carbonation is replaced as beer is drawn off. It will only go flat if you use a standard air pump.

This is just a homemade version of Tap-A-Draft. Infact Tap-A-Draft can use 3L soda bottles.

Neat solution and a great idea for taking kegged brew with you.
Craig

It's a feasible solution - just trying to play devil's advocate. I know there are a lot more people bottling and or "true" kegging, than using the tap a draft, etc.

I'm just trying to express why I think that may be. If Alamo is happy, that's all that matters. I'm perfectly happy tapping from my cornies and bottling an occasional batch to age. If I'm taking beer to a party in such a small quantity, I just fill a couple growlers...

Question?? Any reason why you couldn't force carbonate with this? Hit it with a good shot of CO2, shake for a bit, hit it again, shake some more, etc, like quick force carbing a keg? I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. Probably kill a CO2 cartridge doing it, but if you don't want yeast...

I dunno.......thats a good idea that I've never tried.

I would be a little worried about the bottle or the connections giving. I think I heard that the 3 liter bottles are ok to like 150psi or something (I don't know this for sure though....) but I don't know about the cap you know?

Plus the co2 isn't regulated by any means so........i dunno.

What I do know is that if you put a bottle in the fridge on it's side for about a week or two you'll pour some mighty clear brews.........and mighty tastey!

Well, I'm going to be picking up the bits and bobs to make one of these in the next few days. Have a batch of juicy juice mango I threw some sugar and champaigne yeast in that's clearing at the moment.

Still a little yeasty tasting at the moment, only been a couple weeks. I'm going to use some gelatin to attempt to knock the rest of the yeast out of suspension and some sulfite to kill off whatever doesn't settle out and see if I can back sweeten and force carb it with this setup. I'd use lactose to back sweeten, but then I'd spend the next 24hrs in the bathroom everytime I have a glass (lactose intollerant )

I realize their is no pressure regulation with this. I'm thinking though that one of the paintball gun sized CO2 tanks and a regulator would solve that problem. Can't afford a regulator at the moment though. Anybody care to donate an old unused cheapy single gauge to a poor college student??

I figure it would be cheaper than the little CO2 cartridges and a tire inflator, and should be able to regulate the pressure that way.

Well, I'll report my findings when I get it done

I've thought about the paintball co2 and regulators and have found some very good DIY stuff online. It's still a bit pricy though, especially when you consider you're set up.

Honestly, the best thing to do with these (that I haven't done) would be to prime and bottle like usual but keep it standing up. Sure, you might not get every last drop but you'll be pulling beer from above the yeast.

I would do it that way but their's just not enough room in our fridge.

Good luck and don't blow anything up!

OK, I made one. I could not resist such a neat little device that I could build myself. YES it does force carb, yes you waste CO2 cart. but hey, it does work. The exact same as force carbing a keg. the bottles are rated over 100 psi so crank it up.

Sweet, I'm halfway through bulding mine as we speak (SWMBO won't let me use my drill while she's watching Numbers...). That and I still need the CO2 injector and cobra tap. Picking those up tomorrow. Going to try it out on a bottle of ginger ale.

* Edit*

Well, got it built. Three observations.

1: Make sure the brass washer is completely sealed to the compression fitting. Need to fix a leak on one side on mine...

2: Don't use a fiber reinforced washer, it will leak through the fiber.

3: Cobra taps can only handle so much pressure before they leak.

However - SCORE!!! My stepfather has an old oxygen regulator from an oxy-acetalene torch that he's going to let me have. Should be able to use it with CO2 with a change in fitting. Now to find a tank for free or REALLY cheap. That would cover some of the most expensive kegging parts...

Sweet deal,

I'll try the force carb on bottle of apfelwein or something.

byersj, you could use that oxygen regulator to oxygenate you're wort....might be a better use for it

Nah, more interested in getting into kegging first. Haven't had a problem with oxygenation yet. From what I can find, it's just a matter of changing out the fitting for the bottle, the regulators are otherwise pretty much the same for both. With QD's I could probably use it for both if I really wanted to.

Right now just waiting for the adhesive to cure. The only brass washer I could find was a little bit bigger than I would have liked and I was not able to get an air tight seal with just the plumbing solder. Had to seal it with the epoxy.

Should be cured and I can give it a try this evening.