"Home Draft" Mini Kegerator

[Dr_Jeff]

I bought the Cooper beer kits with the carbonation drops.

How may drops per mini-keg to carbonate naturally?

Thx

 

[snaps10]

I've got the lowes regulator mentioned above. I also jbwelded a quick disconnect and have been force carbonating by setting my reg to 17 and leaving it. After 3 or so days I drop the pressure to 14 and it's good to go. I have a few 9 oz paintball tanks and a 12 oz. A 9oz has lasted me through 3 bottles already, and I'm assuming will last for a bit longer. I don't know that it makes a difference, but I hook an air gun up to the co2 and purge the bottle before filling with beer. Whether I am carbonating or not in it.

 

[raf1919]

After wasting yet another CO2 cartridge in one of these home draft kegs filled with my homebrew, I think I'm going to have to make a modification like this.

A quick question, couldn't I just put a 1/4" barb on the end and avoid the disconnects altogether? Such as this:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100616562/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

I am wanting to do this as well.. did this home depot fitting just fit in place of co2 cartridge? did it seal fine?

 

[Dr_Jeff]

I ended up putting a ball lock connector on.

If you flip the rubber co2 seal that comes with the bottle they will seal better with aftermarket co2 cartridges.

There is a slight difference in the length of the neck of the co2 cartridges.

 

[raf1919]

how did you put that connector on it. i was trying to find an adapter that would screw in in place of the co2 cartridge.

 

[ben229]

Do you mean flipping the seal that is in the regulator thingie on the home draft bottles? Does it still stay seated in there well? I'm always a little worried about losing that thing.....seems like it might be tough to replace. That would be great, though, to get a more reliable seal with the after market carts.

 

[Dahoov]

how did you put that connector on it. i was trying to find an adapter that would screw in in place of the co2 cartridge.

You can put any adapter into a spent cartridge. I have used barbed, 1/4 MFL as well as the quick disconnect. I started using 1/8 NPT on the cartridge side so I don't have to modify the plastic cartridge holder and/or glue the cartridge in place.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

as for the seal, the black one that the co2 cartridge seals to.
one side is deeper than the other, think of a capital H, it is deeper on one side that the other, the cartridges that are sent have a bit longer neck.

As for the ball lock connector, I simply removed said seal, and used and adapter, screwed it into the valve body, then sealed all around it with hot glue.

You might want to seal the overpressure vent as well.

 

[Dahoov]

as for the seal, the black one that the co2 cartridge seals to.
one side is deeper than the other, think of a capital H, it is deeper on one side that the other, the cartridges that are sent have a bit longer neck.

As for the ball lock connector, I simply removed said seal, and used and adapter, screwed it into the valve body, then sealed all around it with hot glue.

You might want to seal the overpressure vent as well.

I didn't catch your addition of a ball lock connector until I read this post. Would you mind posting a picture or two?

 

[limulus]

Very interesting. I have 12 Tap-A-Draft bottles and two of the dual 8-gram TAD regulators. I'll never let those go since they can mix CO2 and N. I'm adding a bar in my basement with taps, but this could really expand my horizon.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Sure


Also added a serving hose and cobra tap.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

The Tap-A-Draft system is a unique system that allows one to transport, store and dispense from a 6 liter bottle. Additionally the tap fits 3 liter soda bottles as well. The bottle utilizes a 38mm screw neck top. I found that the polyseal caps work much better and are a higher quality. Coors Light and Miller Lite are sold in these bottles as well, allowing one to get a complete unit for ~$21.00 and a gallon and a half of megaswill. The CL/ML system is designed to be a single use, but if one uses a little force, the CO2 container can be unscrewed, breaking 2 little clips allowing it to be reused more easily. Now I found out that if one simply uses an off the shelf CO2 cartridge, it will not seal properly due to a smaller neck on the CO2 bottle, and you will loose a large portion of the 16 gram CO2 cartridge, if one now pulls the little black rubber seal and flips it over and re-installs it, the other side is smaller and will work with off the shelf 16 gram CO2 cartridges.

OK, now we know how to reuse the system as is.

I wanted to put it on my 20 lb CO2 bottle and put it on-tap in my keezer, as it will fit on the compressor hump.
I wanted to be able to serve on tap.
I wanted to have quick disconnects to be able to easily swap bottles. Additionally I already have an investment in the TAD system and (15+) bottles and would like to continue to be able to utilize them. This will allow for trying different dry hopping combinations, cizer, scotch and water, etc., on tap in smaller batches.

I spoke with the manufacturer of the system and found the bottles are rated to 130 psi. I found a pressure relief valve on the bottom of the valve assembly, a little bit of hot glue seals this shut. Put the hot glue on the outside of the valve, actuated the valve several times from the inside with a small tool while the glue was still hot, trying to get some glue into the valve, then let cool. Now some modifications involved utilizing the CO2 cartridge and adding some way either a ball lock connector or a tire valve or a airline connector. They either remove the existing regulator and come straight in to the check valve or come in thru the regulator. I tried both and found the former to be unsightly. I utilized self closing connectors from Kent Systems I chose the Catagory 3 connectors. Now I took a 1/4 inch NPT threaded male connector, I removed the CO2 gasket, threaded the plastic with a brass connector of the same thread, screwed in the self closing male connector into the base of the tap, ran the line thru the previously CO2 cartridge holder, attaching the self closing female connector to the hose allowing for the entire QD system to be hidden and giving the system a handle. So now I have the overpressure system eliminated, and the bottle plumbed in to my CO2. Next, product delivery, I could now simply put the bottle on a table and it would dispense. But I want it in my keezer and dispense from a tap. I put a free flow female connector on the mouth of the dispensing valve and a self closing male on a line going to a party tap, (a real tap later). By having a free flow female connector, one can use the system as is or in tap dispensing mode. Additionally this can be made portable easily as well allowing for 6 liters of your favorite beverage on tap. The pickup tube in the bottle has a weight allowing it to touch the bottom of the vessel and completely drain it.

Now I can use my TAD bottles on tap or tote & go. I made a filler from a stopper and a bottling wand. Other ideas were to brew and ferment a batch of beer and dry hop each bottle different varying either amounts or types of hops or both. Brew a batch and fill & save one bottle for "long term evaluation". Possibly when I get to that level to have mead on tap, I currently have two functional prototypes, one of each design.


I finally went with a ball lock connector for conformity.

 

[clengman]

Thanks for the nice description of all the parts.

I got 3 of the miller home draft mini kegs recently and I've been experimenting with them.

Can you tell me if the Miller system and the Tap a Draft system use identical CO2 cartridges?

I took a spent cartridge out of one of the miller taps and measured with calipers. Neck: 0.364", Length: 3.437", Diameter: 0.887". It's an exact match for Leland part number 42105 here. Leland sells these cartridges on ebay for a very reasonable price: ebay link

I believe that the Miller Home Draft kegs have been discontinued, but if the Tap a Draft and Miller taps use the same cartridges, I might buy a couple more TAD taps and many more bottles. If anyone can give me measurements for the TAD cartridges I'd sure appreciate it.

I'd like to work on an adapter to connect a few taps to a bigger CO2 supply as well.

 

[bluehrs]

I did mine with 3/4" threaded pvc reducers, to 1/2" threaded to 3/8 quick connects. To get it leak free I just siliconed the threads of the 3/4" reducer and teflon taped the 1/2" threads in addition to silicone in the pressure relief valve.

The tank is a 20oz and the regulator is the $35 model from Harbor Freight. I'm attempting to force carb 2 bottles now; Ill update how it worked.

 

[clengman]

Nice. I like your labels, too.

Is that the TAD system that you have? You wouldn't happen to have a CO2 cartridge and some calipers would you? I'd like to know if the neck diameter and length of the TAD cartridges matches that of the Miller home draft system.

I noticed there's a pressure relief hole in the top of the gas side fitting. How did you plug that up?

 

[bluehrs]

Yeah those are the Tap a Draft (16g) taps. I have the cartridges but no calipers; sorry.

For the pressure relief hole I just used a dab of silicone worked into the hole.

Thanks, I like the labels much better than the Tap a Draft logo. Since I'm a printer/signmaker when I'm not drinking beer I printed and cut some extra sets and put them up on eBay.

 

[clengman]

Are you able to revert to using cartridges after using those fittings or does threading in the 3/4" fitting ruin the cartridge housing?

 

[bluehrs]

You would have to clean some silicone from the threads but you could definitely replace the new fitting with the original cartridge holder. I debated using pvc glue but that would have been permanent and I wanted to leave the option to use the cartridges.

 

[bluehrs]

Force carbonating with this setup using the TAP (vs a carbonator cab) worked great. I didn't really shake them, just rocked them back and force a few times and set the regulator at about 20psi. About 3 days later they were nicely carbed and I turned down to about 8psi for serving.

 

[scott-ayling]

this looks cool but my tap a draft taps uses the 8g catridges 2 in each tap anyone done something similar with that ?