Would this work

[SoCalBrewing]

So I just got a very last minute thing. One of my buddies who I had no idea was in town just called, and is going to be coming by in 2 to 3 hours with his new girlfriend. He hasnt been to my new house since I moved in, and now I have my wonderful kegerator. My wonderful; empty; kegerator. There is no beer ready to go into the kegs.

I heard someone ask the question about putting commercial beer into one of these kegs. As stupid as it sounds, Id actually really like to do that. I could get a keg sanitized in under 5 minutes, and a quick trip to the store would put beer in it.

The question is, Does this work? If I do do it, can I just dump in cold beer from the bottles, attach my CO2, and have beer on tap?

Will this work. I need an answer fast, because I want to leave for the store within 30 mins if Im gonna make this happen.

Thanks,
John

 

[EdWort]

Purge it with CO2, chill it, pour some beer in it, add more CO2 and see what happens.

 

[Bobby_M]

Why not just pick up a 1/4 keg? Well, I guess you'd need a gas capable sanke tap and they usually don't have them at the liquor store.

IMHO, pouring bottles of beer into a keg defeats the purpose of having draft brew and jeopardizes the freshness of the brew. You'll letting oxygen get to it.

 

[RichBrewer]

It will work. I would gently pour the beer into the keg as to not lose too much carbonation.
Also, if there is a brew pub near by maybe they would fill it with their brew. The one near me does that. I'm not sure how much it would cost though.

 

[SoCalBrewing]

Awesome, Thanks for the replies. If it wasnt so late, Id hit up the brew pubs. Thats a great idea for next time. Ill sanitize my keg, and then toss it in the fridge. Shouldnt take more than 30 mins to get the metal itself cold. Then Ill purge the CO2, and carefully pour the beer in. Then I guess Ill be telling my friends that I cloned something, bwah ha ha.

 

[BierMuncher]

Awesome, Thanks for the replies. If it wasnt so late, Id hit up the brew pubs. Thats a great idea for next time. Ill sanitize my keg, and then toss it in the fridge. Shouldnt take more than 30 mins to get the metal itself cold. Then Ill purge the CO2, and carefully pour the beer in. Then I guess Ill be telling my friends that I cloned something, bwah ha ha.

We'll be waiting for your results.

If you need any on-line testimony as to your brewing prowess, we'll be happy to lie and tell your friends you brew a great beer.

 

[SoCalBrewing]

Yeah, so I just kegged some "Huthmaker Bierhaus" aka Sam Adams-Summer Ale. Its about the best beer I could get quickly, and in large supply. We'll see how well it goes over.

 

[BlindLemonLars]

The great '07 beer deception caper...this plot could be a Seinfeld episode! Well, if Larry David knew anything about homebrewing...

Let us know if you pull it off.

Some time ago, I thought about rigging my kegerator with a sanke tap via quick disconnects...figured if my homebrewing couldn't keep up with demand, I could go buy a keg or two at Bev Mo. Now that I've got 30 gallons or so in the "pipeline," those thoughts have faded.

 

[Desert_Sky]

some breweries will fill a corny for about 50 bucks

 

[SoCalBrewing]

So it all worked out just fine. The beer was only at about 55 degrees though, once I got it into the keg. It cooled down though after about 1.5 hours, and it was still drinkable in the mean time. My main concern was foam, and there wasnt any off the taps.

So yes you can go from bottle to keg, and have it work out. I put my keg in the bathtub to fill. The last 2 twelve packs pushed a ton of foam out the top. If I had to estimate, out of the 48 beers I put in, I lost about 5 or 6 to foam while I was putting it in the keg. All in all, I was pleased with the results. Now I just need to find a brewery around here that will fill my cornys. Im gonna call that San Pedro brewery I heard about earlier in the week.

Now for the results. As I said before, no foam off the tap. I pushed out the sanitizer left in the line with the first cup of beer. I dumped that cup, and then served myself the next glass. It was perfect. It would have been nice if it was colder, but I didnt have much time to prep. The taste was fine. I dont think it changed the flavor by putting it in the keg. Last, I could have lied and said it was mine, but I let my friend guess for all of 5 minutes before I told him it was Sam Adams. I wasnt really gonna try to say it was a home brew. I just wanted to have some beer on tap.

 

[Brewsmith]

The Red Car Brewery on Torrance Blvd is another place that's closer. I'm pretty sure they would fill a keg.