Tap a draft vs diy 3/6L cap fitting vs ?

[adam01]

I want a small batch keg setup for experiments and tastings.
I was looking at the 3L/6L diy caps for carbonating/dispensing beer. These solutions
are almost the same cost (~10 less) than a tap a draft (head + bottle)

I can't seem to find 3L bottles these days so I'd be using the TAD 6L bottles.
The TAD would end up costing more due to the cartridges. But how reliable is
the head setup? Do the bottles have a usage limit, like the mini-kegs (6-8 times)?

Thanks.

 

[mlanoue]

I think the TAD is pretty good. It's certainly easy. But, you gotta make sure to use teflon tape on all the threads or it will leak. I dropped mine a few months ago, however, and it seems to have jacked-up the regulator in there, because now when i put a CO2 cartridge in, it keeps filling the bottle up with CO2 until the cart runs out. So, that's a pain.

 

[Mayday99]

I think the coors and miller lite "draft" bottles would be cheaper. There are a few threads here about folks who have successfully converted them for this purpose. I saw them in my area (CT) and they are about 20 bucks. Even if you dump the swill, that is still cheaper than the alternatives.

 

[adam01]

After thinking more about these, I'm looking at pet 16oz bottles instead.
I can't change the head from one bottle to another without loosing co2
which is what I want to be able to do.

We don't have the 'draft' BMC bottles yet so that's not an option down here.