DIY 20 oz CO2 Keg System?

[bellmtbbq]

Say I couldn't build a kegerator. That's an absolute definite. I know it's by far the best but it's not possible.

Could I build a keg system using a 20 oz paintball CO2 tank? I'm not even sure that would fit but I'm guessing it's a lot cheaper then 16 gram cartridges. I'd probably be using 5 liter mini kegs or 6 liter tap-a-draft bottles.

I'm guessing it'd be similar to a kegerator, you need the paintball tank, a regulator, and then a faucet? If I was using 5 L kegs then I can't forcecarb, that's alright.

EDIT: Ideally I'd like to run two 5 L mini-kegs.

Please help me out. No 5 gallon corny kegs, and 2.5 gallon cornies are too rich for me.


thanks-

 

[brigham73]

I'm in the same boat as you. Still don't even have a mini fridge for my homebrew, so I have to be able to fit whatever I use in the fridge in the kitchen and like you said, the little cornys are too expensive.

I'm planning on giving the 5L mini kegs a try on my next batch with the little CO2 cartridges. I found this idea in another forum that I think will make it very easy to use those kegs.

Here's someone else's build of something similar using these mini kegs:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/po...r-5l-mini-kegs-186961/index2.html#post2254456

 

[bellmtbbq]

Bam, I'm doing that this fall. Thanks a million for the link and let me know how it turns out.

 

[brycelarson]

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/the-adapter-co-2-go.html

 

[Koffie]

I don't know if tey sell it in tjhe USA, but the 5 liter kegs are quite populair amongst brewers in The Netherlands.
You can buy simple taps for about 30 euro to convert the keg into a tap.
They all use the 16 gram cartridges, but with a few modifications you could easily hook up any CO2 gas line.
Since 5 liter kegs (with refermanatatiob) don't need a lot of CO2, you could first tap on the CO2 that is allready in the keg and then start puting CO2 in it when the flow gets to low.

If you look in the kegerator thread, you can see some pics of my tap, which is capable of handling cornys and 5 liter minikegs as well.

 

[IFMracin]

KegConnection has parts for the 20oz bottles.

 

[bellmtbbq]

Thanks for all the info. I still am not at the point of wanting to keg but I'll get there quick, and for one gallon brewing, it doesn't make sense to have a corny system. Plus I can add some commercial brews to the system.