Party Pig kegs

[Weiz-Ass]

Ok, so I decided to buy a couple Party Pigs. In case you aren't familiar with the product, a Party Pig is a self contained beer packaging /dispensing system. It's approximately 2.25 gallons. It uses a pressure pouch which inflates to a constant 15-20 pounds per square inch of pressure and keeps the beer fresh and carbonated.

I made a Mac-n-Jack clone and used my pigs for the bottling phase. So far everything seems to be going well, except for 1 thing. After 2 weeks, I tried the brew and it was quite flat. We had really cold weather during the carbonating time, so I moved the pigs to a part of the house that stays a little warmer (mid 60s). This weekend will be the end of 2 more weeks.

So, being new to brewing, I'm asking for a few things:

1) What do I do if the beer doesn't carbonate?

2) Does anyone else have any experience with Party Pigs? (they seem to work fine, aside from this one issue)

3) Did I do something wrong? I put 1/4 cup of corn sugar in each pig (which is what the directions called for). Filled it with beer. Inserted the pressure pouch. Activated the pressure pouch. Expelled the excess air. Put the pigs in a quiet place to sleep. (their pig pen was my pantry, which may have been seeing temps in the low 60s or even in the upper or mid 50s).

4) I'm really not fond of reading reviews from people that completely trash products, but I am interested in reviews from people who have used the Party Pig. If you have some experience with them, please post your thoughts. Be sure to be specific about what it is you liked or didn't like about them. Comments like, "Party Pigs suck" isn't really helpful to anyone.

 

[twistr25]

I haven't used them or anything, but just some general notes. Thinking of it like bottling, they need ~3 weeks at 70 degrees to properly carbonate. If you were under that temp window it may need longer. I'm not really sure how those seal, but is it possible you have a leak somewhere that the CO2 is escaping?

 

[Weiz-Ass]

The seal is great... I don't see a problem there... Getting up to 70 degrees might be difficult. Hmmmm. Have to put my thinking cap on...

 

[slapnutz]

I love my party pigs. Much more transportable than an actual keg and a lot faster to fill than bottles. Did you happen too fill some bottles too? If so are they carbed?

I ignore the directions usually and just use priming sugar like I would if I were bottling and I've had no issues.

You would know if the seal was bad since the pressure of the pouch is pretty high. I'd say give it a bit more time at room temp and see what happens

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[Weiz-Ass]

I moved them to a room that seemed pretty warm. We have a large 1/2 bath downstairs that seemed to be getting extra heat last night. Hopefully it'll be consistent. But, I doubt it'll get any colder than the rest of the house if people leave the door open.. Anything is possible with a 6 year old in the house, lol.

Unfortunately, no. I didn't bottle any. I just drank the left overs, hehe

 

[slapnutz]

On a semi-unrelated note, when you do upgrade to kegging (if you end up kegging), you can easily fill party pigs from a keg especially if you have a beer gun. This greatly reduces the "risk" of not carbing since your beer is already carbed.

 

[Weiz-Ass]

So... I could carb in a keg, and then add to the pig? This is sounding brilliant to me! So, what's a beer gun?

 

[slapnutz]

There is actually a way to force carb in a pig it you want to make your own lid but it's a pain. Beer gun basically makes filling without foam easy. Blichman makes it. If you look on these forums there is a stickied thread on how to make your own kind of. I've done the day way for bottles and it,works but I'm getting a gun for Christmas so growlers and pigs should be more reasonable.

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