Better picinic tap

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

RandyAB

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2010
Messages
152
Reaction score
1
Location
Foothills of Alberta
Has anyone come out with a better picnic tap than the cheap plastic under $10 tap that can't hold any pressure? The concept is great but this thing sprays beer everywhere and is built like it came out of a Cracker Jack box. Does anyone make a stainless one? If no, why not?
 
You must have a faulty tap.

By "can't hold any pressure" do you mean that beer is constantly leaking out even when the tap is closed?

And no, nobody makes a stainless version. I'm assuming because there is little to no market for one.
 
Check you pluto taps. They are big in AU apparently and I have always thought it would be cool to have one. I would suggest searching eBay as well as more standard AU homebrew shops to find the cheapest shipping.

51tqt6qV63L._SL500_AA300_.jpg


EDIT: BOOOOOOM: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/chrome-plated-hand-dispensing-gun.html
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0064ON1NY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


There are also other picnic tap options that are nicer than the standard cheapo.

Here is one option I have and love:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/faucet-to-disc-adapter.html
That little piece allows you to directly couple a standard tap to you keg ball lock disconnect. Like this:
331_1.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Boerderij_Kabouter, the bottom picture is the toure I'm considering going with my new kegorator. It's going to be in my kitchen, so with little hands running around my house now, I need to keep the taps inside.

Two questions: when attached to the keg, does the angle of the tap have any negative effect you can think of? Do you have a picture of this tap attached to your keg that you can post?
 
The angle of the tap is not an issue at all, but as mentioned above it isn't really a full time tap option because you have no resistance as normally offered by the lines. I used to serve at 4 psi out of that tap attachment.

Randy, the link I sent was to Midwest supplies in Minnesota (!) they were the only place I found them stateside.
 
If you don't like the angled setup use the SS disconnect:

DSC00731c.JPG


And then get a package of Epoxy mixer nozzles and cut the mix matrix out of them. Drop 2 or 3 mix matrix down in the keg out dip tube and the beer flow will be dramatically controlled.

XL-2KVB2n.jpg


It's also great for Beer On The Go

Just saying...
 
So I got my beergun today and I am thrilled with it. I can't believe people use the cheap cobra tap over this one. One observation I have is that it comes much quicker out of the beergun than a regular faucet at 12 psi. As a result, the foam copious. I have 10ft of line on it and the supplier I got the gun from suggested it was too long and that it should be 5ft or so. I don't think that is correct. For those of you with this handy little device, what length of beerline are you finding as optimal for your pour?
 
RandyAB said:
So I got my beergun today and I am thrilled with it. I can't believe people use the cheap cobra tap over this one. One observation I have is that it comes much quicker out of the beergun than a regular faucet at 12 psi. As a result, the foam copious. I have 10ft of line on it and the supplier I got the gun from suggested it was too long and that it should be 5ft or so. I don't think that is correct. For those of you with this handy little device, what length of beerline are you finding as optimal for your pour?

Is it a faster pour than a cobra tap?
 
Randy where did you end up getting your gun from.In an earlier post you said mid west wouldn't ship to us?Lylo
 
Hey lylo.....Adventures in Homebrewing at www.homebrewing.org were terrific to deal with. Prices are good and shipping was reasonable. I also got Kegloves and a stout faucet from them.

Kehaar. I'd say that beer comes out faster from the beergun than from the cobra tap. I'm not surprised that the beer comes out faster from the gun than a regular faucet which has a substantial increase in diameter of the channel at the shank to slow it down. I think the problem is that if it takes 10 ft of beer line to get balance out of a faucet then it will take more to get balance on the beergun. The question I have is how much more?
 
Too bad on the need for longer lines. I have 10' lines for my cobra taps. The restriction is good but the loops of line in the fridge are cumbersome.
 
I have two of the cheap plastic ones and they always seem to work fine for me...

You must have a faulty tap.

By "can't hold any pressure" do you mean that beer is constantly leaking out even when the tap is closed?

And no, nobody makes a stainless version. I'm assuming because there is little to no market for one.


I'm with these guys above...my picnic / cobra taps work so well I have never bothered upgrading, granted the keezer is in the basement so appearance is of litttle value. Is there another problem here that will only reappear with new taps? Beer line??? pressure regulator??? Lastly, one needs to occasionally clean the picnic taps, or they leak or foam.
 
With the direct tap you need to bleed off some presure in the keg and lower the PSI to around 2-3 to avoid the foam. I use mine all the time and have never had a problem doing it this way. The beer gun would probably work better if you lowered the pressure to 5-6 PSI, if it doesn't work you could always just change the pressure.
 
It works well with the PSI turned down. Personally I like to keep the PSI at carbonation pressure and have a properly balanced system.
 
With the beer gun I use just use the factory line it comes with but drop the pressure in the keg to under 5 psi. If your picnic taps are leaking you can try tightening them. The top of the nozzle screws on and off and if it is loose it will leak.
 
Back
Top