Tap and Serve from Unitank

[Brooothru]

Kind of a silly question. I've heard of it before, and some on this forum have also mentioned it, but I never gave much thought about how to do it.

So for those of you who do: "How do you dispense finished beer from a unitank?"

It seems like there'd be a straightforward way (maybe many different ways) so maybe the answer is so obvious that no one ever mentions it. If I may ask, how do YOU do it? A pony tap on a beverage line to the TC fitting on the transfer port butterfly valve? A tap faucet mounted directly on a TC? A simple pour from the sampling valve? What have any of you tried?

Color me curious (and somewhat bored).

 

[duncan.brown]

Assuming you're carbonating and chilling to serving temperature in the unitank, get a pig tail for your sampling valve so that the beer doesn't just come out as foam:

https://www.ssbrewtech.com/products/pig-tail
Then you can call the sampling valve a zwickel and tell your friends that you're serving fresh kellerbier. And drink it fast so it doesn't lose the carbonation!

 

[Brooothru]

Assuming you're carbonating and chilling to serving temperature in the unitank, get a pig tail for your sampling valve so that the beer doesn't just come out as foam:

https://www.ssbrewtech.com/products/pig-tail
Then you can call the sampling valve a zwickel and tell your friends that you're serving fresh kellerbier. And drink it fast so it doesn't lose the carbonation!

I LIKE it!

 

[heartofgold]

Hey Brooo,
I use the Spike CF10 unitank and sometimes serve from it. You've mentioned the key ways to serve already, so I'll outline my primary use cases in order of frequency of use.

1. Pour from the sampling valve. What a wonderful thing! Since I spund the beer in the unitank, I'm already at ~14 PSI by the time it's done fermenting. After cold-crashing the beer (I use a stand-up freezer as my fermentation chamber), I'm able to serve at 11-12 psi, with CO2 gas attached to the gas manifold. The only downside is that the sampling valve takes quite a few turns to open and close.
2. Using the racking port with a TC to 1/4" flare fitting to run a simple party tap. I suppose I could mount a shank for a tap faucet on the freezer door, but I rarely stay in this configuration very long. I use it mostly to ensure that the racking cane is properly set before filling kegs, but I'll keep it that way if my kegerator is already full of cornys!

Of course, the main use case is transferring the beer under pressure to a corny keg that previously has been completely filled with Starsan water and then purged with CO2.

Cheers!

 

[Tom R]

I LIKE it!

Here's a less expensive alternative:
1"/1.5" Tri Clover Compatible X Sample Valve with Pig Tail from Brewers Hardware

 

[Qhrumphf]

Pigtail to the sampling port, or a length of serving line to the bottom port (or racking arm) going to a shank and tap. Nothing complicated.

 

[Brooothru]

Thanks to all. Gonna' go rummage through my box of parts and rig something up[.

 

[Vale71]

I use this:

https://gastro-brennecke.de/de/kompensatorzapfhahn-nc-pepsi-steckkupplung.html
Just turn the QC adapter 180 degrees and it will attach to the transfer port via a TC to QC adapter. The faucet will be at a comfortable 45 degrees angle to the vertical which is perfect for serving. Thanks to the leg extensions I don't even have to kneel in front of the Unitank like I'm praying to some beer god anymore.
With a flow control faucet it works flawlessly. It just pours a bit slowly.

 

[Brooothru]

I use this:

https://gastro-brennecke.de/de/kompensatorzapfhahn-nc-pepsi-steckkupplung.html
Just turn the QC adapter 180 degrees and it will attach to the transfer port via a TC to QC adapter. The faucet will be at a comfortable 45 degrees angle to the vertical which is perfect for serving. Thanks to the leg extensions I don't even have to kneel in front of the Unitank like I'm praying to some beer god anymore.
With a flow control faucet it works flawlessly. It just pours a bit slowly.

Perfect! Just the solution I was looking for. Thanks.

 

[emerinohdz]

Resurrecting an old thread, I'm thinking on serving directly from my SSBT Unitank, I've heard the right way to do this is to connect the co2 tank to the blow-off valve port instead of the carbonation stone port.

Is this the right way to go? What would be the problem with using the carbonation stone port for keeping the desired pressure?