Picnic vs Standard Metal Faucet

[chrisroarshack]

I want to get into kegging but I want a setup that could be easily broken down for cleaning and moving purposes. A lower startup cost would be nice too.

So instead of building a keezer or kegarator with standard metal taps drilled in, I had the idea of using a picnic tap that just stays inside of the refrigerator.

My question is then: Does anyone notice any sort of disadvantage that a plastic picnic tap has over your standard metal tap (oxidation, fragile, frustrating to disassemble, etc.)?

I intend on buying a chest freezer and a complete CO2 setup, I just don't want to drill holes, install shanks, and all the other logistics that come with standard taps.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I find picnic taps work very well, started using them years ago and still am

My keg fridge is in the basement, so appearance is secondary. Easy to clean and work well, another upside is that the tap stays cold so less nasty growth. Open the fridge tap a beer :

 

[Bobby_M]

Presentation is the primary downside. The other issue is energy use if you have many people opening and closing the fridge to pour beer. However, the cost of that energy is probably so low that it would take several years to justify the cost of shanks and faucets. Back to the presentation factor, it's just cool to pour yourself a beer like the barkeeps do.

 

[kh54s10]

I started out with the picnic taps. They work fine. My setup is in a refrigerator so I didn't like opening the door and letting all the cold air come out every time I poured a beer, so I went for Perlick taps in the door.

 

[phyllobeddo]

I started out with picnic taps a couple of years ago and I still use them. I have a beer fridge downstairs that can hold three kegs if I cram them in just right. Sure, I have to open the door to pour a beer, but it's not a big deal to me. I have yet to take the time or spend the money to install taps in the door. That would be nice, but it's just not a priority. The picnic taps are working just fine for me.

 

[SteveHeff]

There are advantages to each. But here is one that hasn't been pointed out, yet. I started off with shanks. They look good and function well. But there comes a problem with portability. This is where the picnic tap wins over the shanks.

If I have a BBQ, I want beer where people can access it. I bring my CO2 bottle upstairs, my keg(s) and connect my picnic tap. Don't forget a large tub full of ice. This way I'm not having to run up and down the stairs to get beer out of the stationary fridge. Everybody can pour their own and I can enjoy their company instead of running errands every 5 minutes.

 

[mongoose33]

I did that for a while until I built my keezer, for mostly the same reason--I could have kegged beer without the additional cost. One very small word of warning: get yourself a hook or otherwise a way to hold the picnic tap inside the refrigerator or be very careful when you set it down.

I'd just lay the picnic tap on top of the keg; once it slid off and fell down between the keg and refrigerator wall, activating the lever on the picnic tap. Beer commenced flowing. If I hadn't just lucked out and seen it do that as I was shutting the door, well, you know what would have happened.

This isn't a reason not to do it--it works, and it's inexpensive. Just have a way to hold it so the lever on the picnic tap isn't inadvertently depressed.

 

[Jonakr]

I did that for a while until I built my keezer, for mostly the same reason--I could have kegged beer without the additional cost. One very small word of warning: get yourself a hook or otherwise a way to hold the picnic tap inside the refrigerator or be very careful when you set it down.

I'd just lay the picnic tap on top of the keg; once it slid off and fell down between the keg and refrigerator wall, activating the lever on the picnic tap. Beer commenced flowing. If I hadn't just lucked out and seen it do that as I was shutting the door, well, you know what would have happened.

This isn't a reason not to do it--it works, and it's inexpensive. Just have a way to hold it so the lever on the picnic tap isn't inadvertently depressed.

I'll second this. Picnic taps work fine, just be careful about how you leave them. I'm still just using the worm clamp to hold mine on top of the kegs, but if I other people are going to share, you need a way to keep the lever clear.

Also, they sometimes drip a bit, so I leave a towel on the ground in front of my beer fridge, and swap it out periodically.

 

[Yooper]

I have a three faucet kegerator (fridge) at my home, and a mini-fridge kegerator at my cottage (one tap), and when I go to Texas in the winter, I go back to the good old fashioned picnic tap set up in the fridge there.

I can set it up in the bottom of the regular fridge, or outside on the deck with a cooler, and take it places with me like to a friend's party.

I find picnic taps very useful, but they do drip a bit so I just clean the bottom of the fridge as needed.

 

[Patrick87]

I've been doing picnic taps since I started kegging last year. Gotta open the door to pour a beer, but other than that, they're great. I'll echo what others have said: easy to clean, don't have to worry about the faucets getting warm, and really inexpensive. I've broke a couple of the cobra taps trying jam my "bottle/growler filler" in there, but they're only $4-5 to replace. (Amazon)

 

[spittybug]

I have both. 5 taps on the collar (1 nitro, 1 variable pressure, 3 CO2 Perlick) that have the everyday beers on tap. I keep a picnic tap available for sampling, portability and if I should have an extra keg (Keezer has room for 7).

 

[LBussy]

There is nothing wrong with starting out with picnic taps. It is a gateway drug however and sooner or later you will wish you had taps in the door. The good news is there's no sunk cost - all you have to do is drill a hole and install the shank and faucets. The only "wasted" equipment if you change over is the picnic tap itself at <$5.

You didn't ask about this but let me do you a solid and advise/remind/caution you to pay attention to pressures and line lengths. These must be balanced or you will be pouring yourself nice cold glasses of foam. Nothing more frustrating! If you have the hose sized properly you will get the pour you have always dreamed of.

I use this calculator and like it a lot:

http://www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/determining-proper-hose-length-for-your-kegerator/

For instance: Let's say you are keeping your favorite Ale at 42 deg F and you have already used a pressure chart to figure out that you need 12-13 PSI to maintain ~2.4 volumes of CO2 (that chart is also on that page as a nice handy one-stop shopping experience.) Additionally, you live at 1000' above sea level (Lexington shows to be ~978' ASL.)

If your beer line is 3/16" (0.1875") and you want to pour a pint in 10 seconds, you'll need about 11 feet of beer line to make sure you are not shooting a glass full of foam. It's all about pressure drop. You will need nowhere near that much to be able to use it so some people would never think to make the line that long. A little prior planning will make it a pleasant experience.

 

[IwanaBrich]

I also use picnic taps and have for years. I had planned to put in a two tap tower on my mini-frig, but I found the picnic taps so easy I didn't bother converting over. They are easy to clean and cheap to replace. All that said, taps do look a lot nicer.

 

[mongoose33]

I've been doing picnic taps since I started kegging last year. Gotta open the door to pour a beer, but other than that, they're great. I'll echo what others have said: easy to clean, don't have to worry about the faucets getting warm, and really inexpensive. I've broke a couple of the cobra taps trying jam my "bottle/growler filler" in there, but they're only $4-5 to replace. (Amazon)

I do the same bottle filler off a picnic tap thing, but instead of jamming inside the picnic tap spout, I added a piece of tubing that allows me to connect it on the outside of the tap instead of the inside. It fits snugly.

Might be worth a try. It sure fills the bottles fine. Here's what it looks like:

 

[bfish]

Does anybody use pluto beer gun? I just bought one to try out. Mainly for festival/charity events. My club of 5 people usually brings 8-10 beers and we set kegs in a trough filled with ice. Figuring out whose picnic tap is whose gets confusing towards the end of the night.

 

[brick_haus]

I have a 4 tap kegerator but still use picnic taps in a few circumstances. 1. I have 5 beers available. 2. I Want to check the carbonation of a new keg. 3. Well, when I go on a picnic... They work just as well as anything else.

 

[Logan1891]

I do the same bottle filler off a picnic tap thing, but instead of jamming inside the picnic tap spout, I added a piece of tubing that allows me to connect it on the outside of the tap instead of the inside. It fits snugly.

Might be worth a try. It sure fills the bottles fine. Here's what it looks like:

View attachment 365202

Whats the inner diameter of the hose section?

 

[ba-brewer]

I started with picnic taps too, still have one or two to take samples from lagering kegs. When I used them as the primary tap they seem to not last as long(toggles would break). Might want to have a spare or two for a quick fixes.

 

[IslandLizard]

Nothing wrong with using picnic taps, I still use them and they are great for taking kegs somewhere.

Agreed with having a wire or hook to hang them on between pours.

 

[TheGoatman]

I find the 1/2" silicone tubing fits really well over the faucet of the cobra taps. Great for filling growlers and easy to clean.

I also have a pluto gun. They are more flash than function though. There's a lot more inner working parts and I find that my pour is a bit foamier for it, on top of being more difficult to clean. I'll be damned if it ain't shiny though!

 

[mongoose33]

Whats the inner diameter of the hose section?

Inner diameter is 3/8". It's a 3/8 ID x 1/2 OD piece of tubing.

The "cane" is a bottle filler like you'd use with a bottling bucket. I cut off the little valve on the bottom and beveled the end at 45 degrees.

 

[Physicsbrewer]

I'm going to make a completely different recommendation. I hate cobra taps, hate them, hate them, hate them. I'm always spilling beer when using them in a crowded fridge or chest freezer. I recently switched to Perlick flow control faucets in my chest freezer that I use for aging kegs...I only have room in my kegerators for 8 kegs and have room in one of my chest freezers for six more. Using these, I can get away from cobra taps, pull samples from beers when I want a taste, and the flow control helps with foaming, albeit with a longer pour time. The upside is I can take the taps with me if I need portability (as you can with cobra taps, but did I mention how much I hate cobra taps?). I should mention also that I can't have the black handles on them when in the chest freezer without a collar, but that's no big deal. Here are the parts:

Perlick 650ss:

https://www.morebeer.com/products/perlick-beer-faucet-650ss-flow-control.html

QD Adaptor for Flow Control Faucets:

http://www.chicompany.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3343

Quick Disconnect - Liquid - MFL end:

http://www.chicompany.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=376_1_3_7&products_id=11


Yes, it's a little more upfront cost, but the faucet and quick disconnect can be used if you ever decide to build a kegerator or keezer with shanks. Also, when not fermenting in a conical, I use 10 or 15 gallon corny kegs as fermentors. I'll pop one of these on the keg when I want to take a hydrometer sample, works great, many uses!

 

[LBussy]

I'm going to make a completely different recommendation. [...] Perlick 650ss

Do you get good pulls without lines? I love my 650's but I would be hesitant to go all crazy and drop one right on top of the keg.

 

[Jawbox0]

Picnic taps work fine as a starter, especially when you consider that good taps can double the initial cost of the system. I'd much rather start out with picnic taps than with cheap faucets.

I made that mistake. When I first setup I ran lines through the collar with
Picnics at the end. I upgraded to cheap faucets and had constant problems with sticking and they needed constant cleaning. Last year I switched to forward sealing Intertaps (Awesome!) and now I finally feel like I have a good setup.

I wish I'd just stuck with the picnics until I could budget for better faucets.

 

[Patrick87]

I do the same bottle filler off a picnic tap thing, but instead of jamming inside the picnic tap spout, I added a piece of tubing that allows me to connect it on the outside of the tap instead of the inside. It fits snugly.

Might be worth a try. It sure fills the bottles fine. Here's what it looks like:

I've been thinking about the same thing, so since it's working well for you, I'm gonna give it a shot.

 

[dmcman73]

Just and FYI, the more times you open a keezer, the more moisture gets into the keezer especially during the summer time when humidity is high. If you use a picnic tap, you'll be opening that keezer each time you want to pour.

 

[dmcman73]

I've been thinking about the same thing, so since it's working well for you, I'm gonna give it a shot.

I use the same setup for bottle fills (old racking cane jammed into the spout though) and it works great. I did a little experiment, I bottled some beer I had into 4 bottles with the homemade bottle filler, left them in a fridge for about a year (totally forgot about them). When I opened them, it had that nice pop sound from fresh beer and the beer was still carbonated.

 

[Physicsbrewer]

Do you get good pulls without lines? I love my 650's but I would be hesitant to go all crazy and drop one right on top of the keg.

I get good enough pulls when I dial the flow back. Much better than the foamy pours with a cobra faucet at full pressure.

 

[chrisroarshack]

Wow thanks everyone! Sorry to not search the forum for all the other instances of 'picnic vs standard tap's', but it seems a good amount of discussion/sharing is going on here.

LBussy, thanks for the calc, I was wondering at work if there was a calculator out there for us lazy people who want to balance the restriction of draft lines.

 

[Justintoxicated]

My biggest problem with them was that they kept breaking.