Beer Box

[MarcoEscuandolas]

Hey guys I'm new to the forum...brewing for about a year now in Charleston, SC!

I've got a question, has anyone used the new Beer Box? I'm curious to the quality and performance as I live in an apt and a kegging system may be to cumbersome and I have plenty of fridge space.

My question is regarding the carbonation system, is it controllable like a keg or am I stuck with the same amount of carbonation charge regardless of what style I'm brewing?

I brew mostly ales anyway (I'm inpmpatient), so the level of carb so long as not too overpowering should be fine <10psi. Just curious if it's worth the purchase.

Thanks
Kevin


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[Homercidal]

I have not used one myself. I saw them at the NHC, but I have a kegging system and had no good use for them.

It *looks* like a decent way to keg beer if you are low on space and/or can't front the $$ for the traditional kegging system. The kit comes with 2 containers worth 5 gallons of beer, so you can do full batches right out of the gate, or two different 2.5 gallon batches (which is probably what I would do in an apartment and with my tendency to like different things.)

The only thing that I think would get me is the small canisters of CO2. My experience is they don't last that long, and the Beerbox site even recommends priming with sugar to help save CO2. One other thing is it's plastic, which is not nearly as nice as SS for cleaning and sanitizing.

That said, I think it's a small price to get the smaller kegging system. You could spend a bit more and get a 3 gallon keg and fit it with a tiny CO2 charger as well, but I doubt it would fit a fridge as nicely.

So, I think if I were in your position, I would consider trying it out. There are small quirks with any system, even the traditional corny keg system. You might find a few with that but I think over time the common things will come to light and people will learn how to use the system without problem.

 

[mmb]

I picked the BeerBox up at NHC this year and "kegged" my first batch in it this past Sunday. Everything seems to be going ok and I even hit the box with the co2 charger to purge o2 from the box.

It's a handy system. I could see doing 8G batches for one corney keg and one BeerBox keg.

 

[Homercidal]

Oh yeah, I never though of that! A good way to package some overflow, or to keg experimental batches!

 

[Krieger]

I currently use a similar system called Tap a Draft. I live in a small-ish townhouse, and dont have the space for a kegging system. It's been working out pretty well. My system uses 1.5 gal bottles, but it's easy to clean and maintain. The cartridges are a little crazy, but someone figured out how you can attach a standard C02 tank to it. I'm sure someone will do that same to the beer box, especially because if I remember correctly it uses fairly standard connections for the C02.

 

[mmb]

I currently use a similar system called Tap a Draft. I live in a small-ish townhouse, and dont have the space for a kegging system. It's been working out pretty well. My system uses 1.5 gal bottles, but it's easy to clean and maintain. The cartridges are a little crazy, but someone figured out how you can attach a standard C02 tank to it. I'm sure someone will do that same to the beer box, especially because if I remember correctly it uses fairly standard connections for the C02.

Yup, it uses a standard schrader valve.