Small soda keg in big refrigerator

[zcv7853]

I am rather inexperienced in the concept of kegerators and could use some advice.

My wife and I drink genuine CocaCola. I would like to be able to mix up a batch of BIB CocaCola syrup from Sams club or make my own root beer and have it dispensable into a cup, however I dont want a mini-fridge in my kitchen.

Ideally I would like a 1 or 2 gallon "keg" of some sort to sit in the top of my regular refrigerator. Something like this Keg style growler.

How do I go from a container like that and attach a valve and co2 tank? I can drill holes if necessary.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[zcv7853]

After much research, this might be a better option.

1.75gal ball lock keg

Pin Valve reg for my 2 24oz Paintball CO2 tanks

CO2 Line from tank to keg

Party faucet to hang inside my fridge

I have also seen this HB post about the little line inserts for a slower pour without foam

Anyone see any issues with this setup?

Thanks!

 

[schwiz]

After much research, this might be a better option.

1.75gal ball lock keg

Pin Valve reg for my 2 24oz Paintball CO2 tanks

CO2 Line from tank to keg

Party faucet to hang inside my fridge

I have also seen this HB post about the little line inserts for a slower pour without foam

Anyone see any issues with this setup?

Thanks!

Looks like a good set up to me! The price on that party faucet is double what I've seen it for at my local shop (which is also very over priced). Prices on everything else look decent.

The one thing, you aren't going to be able to carbonate a soda with a paintball canister. You will need to get a tank of c02 to carbonate, then once its carbonated you likely won't need to add pressure to server it, but in the case it stops pouring you could then use the paintball canister.

Edit: Those actually look like some strong paintball tanks. So long as you can get the psi between 35-60 should be fine.

 

[zcv7853]

Went to my LHBS shop yesterday and got most of the little stuff.

Gas hose 5/8 3 feet red
Liquid line 3/8 6 feet clear
gas and liquid barbed quick disconnects
hose clamps
Picnic tap

Total was $28

I am curious if I have to put a hose clamp on the picnic tap. It is going to sit right near the opening to my fridge, I would prefer it to look somewhat nice.

Tap was a beast to get inside the hose even with hot water......

Now for the Keg and my regulator.

Oh, and I think I need to get some sanitizer... any good suggestions?

 

[JayDubWill]

Starsan on the sanitizer. It's no rinse, only needs a minute of contact time and won't affect the flavor of your soda.

 

[schwiz]

Went to my LHBS shop yesterday and got most of the little stuff.

Gas hose 5/8 3 feet red
Liquid line 3/8 6 feet clear
gas and liquid barbed quick disconnects
hose clamps
Picnic tap

Total was $28

I am curious if I have to put a hose clamp on the picnic tap. It is going to sit right near the opening to my fridge, I would prefer it to look somewhat nice.

Tap was a beast to get inside the hose even with hot water......

Now for the Keg and my regulator.

Oh, and I think I need to get some sanitizer... any good suggestions?

If you want it to look nice try this instead! http://www.kegoutlet.com/beer-fauce...iyj6UxyTiFNjiW9FfJLA-R_Sbx8jADG9E2RoCOFzw_wcB

I went for a long time without a clamp on my picnic tap, just the other day there was so much pressure in my keg it pushed the tap off the tube and cider sprayed EVERYWHERE! So I put a clamp on mine and recommend you do the same

 

[JayDubWill]

Schwiz is spot on. Picnic taps and soda don't play nice together. At least not at ~30-40psi.

 

[AnOldUR]

If I were only doing one gallon at a time, two 64oz PET bottles, a couple of carbonator caps and a 22oz paint ball cylinder would be my choice.

 

[zcv7853]

Purchased my 1.75gal keg and pin regulator yesterday, should be here sometime next week. Still need to go up to my local granger and get my mixing nozzles Linky.

I am also looking at opening up my CO2 bottles to install a draw tube. I need them to lay down due to the height of my top shelf in my fridge. I saw a post on how to do it in a 5# tank, anyone know if the inside of a 24oz tank has the valves threaded?

Thanks everyone for the replies. It really helps having a resource like experience. =)

 

[zcv7853]

SO FRUSTRATING!!!!

Alright, so I got my keg in the mail. Horray! Cleaned/scrubbed/sanitized and filled with 1 part BIB coke syrup and 5 parts h2o

Hoked up my c02 at 35 psi and pshhhh keg starts carbing up like its supposed to. Yay!

Rock/roll/shake till the tank stops making noise. Should be carbed up now right? ... nope! half flat soda. (or in this case foam.)

The keg says not to be pressurized over 60psi and my picnic tap starts leaking at anything over 45psi.

At 35psi I have 3 and a half of those mixing nozzles from this post and the coke screams through the line like a bat out of he!!

I am worried that if I disconnect the tap, and carb up to 55psi, when I lower the psi down to around 15 for pouring, the contents will go flat because of equalizing pressure.

Please help!

EDIT: So I tried the shake and bake decarb approach to flatten my soda. (yes I am desperate to figure this out) If I have flat soda it pours fine - go figure
If I have the soda carbed up to say 30-40psi I cannot get a smooth pour even at 2psi!!! No matter what I do when there is carbonation it will not pour at any pressure or with any amount of "flow gates" linked above. What gives? All the co2 releases inside the tubing and it spits at me mocking my futile attempts to pour it.

='(

 

[MrFoodScientist]

How long are you shaking? Are you giving the keg adequate time to really carb? You can shake for quite a while at 35psi and still not have a very good carb, especially something so sugary as actual BIB Coke with only a small amount of headspace. More headspace makes the shaking more effective in my opinion.

What temperature are you carbing/serving? Serving soda at 60°F at 30psi is a lot different than serving soda at 34°F at 30psi.

When you say you can't get a smooth pour at 2psi, are you releasing pressure from the keg, or just turning the regulator down? When you turn down your regulator, there's still 30-40psi of pressure in the keg unless you vent it. Best way to turn down pressure and know for sure what your serving pressure is would be to first turn down your regulator, then turn your CO2 off, then pull the ring slightly to SLOWLY release pressure until you don't hear hissing (this takes some patience to avoid it bubbling out of the pressure release valve). Finally turn your CO2 back on and then serve.

This of course doesn't solve your problem in the long run, you don't want to always turn up and down your regulator, but doing this will at least let you know if you've adequately carbonated it and are just losing carbonation due to the pour. If that's the case, you'll likely need longer serving line.

 

[schwiz]

Try to slow carb it, set it at 60 psi for a few days then turn it down to 10 psi to serve.

 

[zcv7853]

Alright, so I let it carb for about 3 days at 50psi in my fridge. (dont know exact temp, but its a fridge... about 35-40 degrees F)

Then turned off gas and bled off all head pressure slowly. then turned gas on to 10psi. LOTS of foam. The gas and coke is foaming in the line. before it ever gets to my tap. The tubing at my quick disconnect has more gas bubbles in it then soda. It does not flow out like its supposed to.

I vented the head pressure again, and it pours fairly okay at about 2psi...

Thank you all

 

[zcv7853]

Just found these 2 handy references

Carb Table

Tubing length selector - either about 25 feet of 3/16 ID tubing OR 4 feet of 1/8 ID tubing..... might give 1/8" tubing a try if I can find barbed connectors for my quick disconnects.


I am guessing the extreme pressure difference from when it was carbed to the low pressure in the hose is causing all the bubbles. Thoughts?

 

[MrFoodScientist]

Yeah, I'd say 50 psi in the fridge is probably too high. Sometimes with soda using short lines it's better to err on the side of too little carbonation than too much.

If you got it to pour ok at 2psi after venting a couple of times and the carbonation was good. Your line length is the likely culprit.

Here's the fittings from CHI that I think you'll need, assuming that your disconnects are 1/4" MFL threaded. CHI doesn't have 1/8" tubing, though.

 

[zcv7853]

Wow! Thank you MrFoodScientist. I looked for those fittings for about an hour the other day and was about to give up on finding them.

1/4 MFL to 1/8 ID barb yay!

Found 1/8 ID beverage tubing here

Orders placed, should get them in a week. CHI closed for t-giving week. Good for them.

 

[jimmer]

Chill the soda. Plenty of carbonation charts out there will show you— try 38° at 12-15 psi, that should get you in the right range.

After the shake & bake, let it sit under pressure for a day. It helps the carbonation settle in.

You may still need to balance the lines, building in enough friction to equalize the pressure so it doesn't all leave the soda when it's dispensed.