Picnic taps

[lyacovett]

Hey,
I am about to get in to kegging, but my wife is not too keen on me putting holes in the fridge door. So that leaves me with 2 options as I see it, a picnic tap, or mounting the faucet right on the keg. The picnic tap would be the much cheaper way to go ... are there any drawback to a picnic tap??
Thanks for the input.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I have used picnic taps inside a chest freezer for a few years....I like em and think they work great...no bling...but the keexer is in the basement and all about function.

 

[ChshreCat]

One plus of a picnic tap is that you basically don't have to worry about the length of your beer lines.

 

[shortyjacobs]

One plus of a picnic tap is that you basically don't have to worry about the length of your beer lines.

How do you figure?

I had 5' lines on my picnic taps....just upped them to 10' lines, and the improvement is awesome...no more foamy pours! (at 12 psi)...

Don't mount the faucet on the keg...you want the 5-10 feet of beer line (3/16" inch), to soak up pressure and give you a nice, foam free pour.

Only downside to picnic taps is I tend to pull a pint from one and then toss it back on top of the keg....whereupon it leaks out the few mL of beer that was still in the tap all over the place....only a few drips, but that adds up to a sticky mess after a while.

 

[jds]

I had 5' lines on my picnic taps....just upped them to 10' lines, and the improvement is awesome...no more foamy pours! (at 12 psi)...

This. I've been dispensing from picnic taps for a couple of years now, and you really do want around 10' of 3/16 ID beer line to get a decent pour. Otherwise, they're a decent low-bling alternative to mounting taps on the fridge.

 

[Fingers]

One plus of a picnic tap is that you basically don't have to worry about the length of your beer lines.

Yeah, I'm not following you here either, cat. I balanced my picnic taps with ten feet of line. It gives me a nice pour with little foaming. I'm sure a one foot line wouldn't give the same results.

 

[ChshreCat]

Hmmm... I was going off of what I've heard reported on here numerous times, so I will have to bow to direct experience on the subject. I'd just always heard that with picnic taps, the way they work, you don't have to worry about the balancing.

I concede.

 

[bendavanza]

how about making a panel to mount your faucets on a shelf in the fridge, this way you still can use quality faucets yet you drill no holes, the fridge looks normal from the inside but open it up and bingo you have a draft beer setup. Yes you still need about 8' or more 3/16" ID beer line. What you have seen with short lines and picnic taps was already carbed beer bled down to 3-4 psi for dispensing. It will go flat if left that way for long, but not oxidize like a party pump tap. Or search the thread "cure for your short hose troubles" where there has been experimenting with using hose inside the keg and/or plastic epoxy mixing things in the pickup tubes.

 

[winstonofbeer]

I have been useing picnic or "cobra" taps for awhile now.
They are about 3ft long. They pour fast, and have a little foam but work slick.
Usally you can pick them up for $2.00 or so. Lot cheaper than faucet/shank setup.

Downside i have seen is like shorty said, After you pour a glass it drips a bit if your not carefull.

If i was going to stick with a party tap, I would have something inside the fridge to hold the tap up above the keg, So it doesnt sit on the floor or if you have multiple kegs you dont get lines mixed up.

 

[ChshreCat]

Someone on here posted a pic of their setup using cobra taps that was pretty ingenious. They got some of those little key keep things with the string that comes out and then automatically reels your keys back in. They attached them in the keezer they were using and then hooked the other end to the tap. So when they were done, it brought the taps back where they belong and had something there to catch any drips.

So his taps didn't fall down in the bottom of the keezer and he didn't have to worry about them falling down and pressing the lever and wasting beer and whatnot.

 

[ChuckinWA]

How about find a garage sale fridge to put in the basement/garage as a kegorator? That's what I did after I got married and my kitchen fridge went from 1 shelf food and the rest beer to the other way around. 20 bucks.

 

[lyacovett]

Ok, after reading this, I think I will go with the picnic taps ... at least for now. I am looking at a 2 keg setup from kegconnection, and that includes two picnic taps. I will try this for awhile, and figure out a way to upgrade to faucets if I decide to.

Cat .. do you have a link to the post with the retractable cobra taps .... that idea sounds great, but I have been unable to find the post.

Thanks for all the input guys.