Convenience Keg Concept

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Owly055

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Since I bought the Tap-A-Draft system, I've given a lot of thought to what the ideal kegging system for a small brewer would look like:

1: 8" diameter, 16" long ............ lays down in the fridge on a lower shelf.

2: Provision to lay down...... dip tube and some sort of "legs" to keep it from rolling

3: Corny style lid, modified with a provision for a small refillable CO2 bottle which would
attach to the inside of the lid, with the "business end" sticking out through a seal. ThisCO2 bottle would be stainless steel, and would be submerged right in the beer. A small regulator would screw right to the top of the bottle, and have a short hose that would reach the gas port.

This is a small kegging system....... 2 kegs for a typical brew. The kegs designed to anybody could put one in the fridge without having a bottle, regulator, and hose from outside the fridge..... The CO2 bottles would be designed to be filled at Walmart.... or wherever they fill paintball gun CO2 bottles. Bottle capacity would be sufficient to carbonate and dispense a number of 2.5 gallon kegs of beer. You would dispense using a tap that snaps onto the standard beer out port, and your CO2 would be injected using the standard gas in port....... both ball lock. This allows the option of hooking up to any CO2 source if need be.


H.W.
 
At least the dispensing thing is done. There are taps that connect directly to the ball lock connector on the liquid out post. For example: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...hardware/draft-brewer-snap-tap-ball-lock.html

There are also kegs in a reasonable size range...... 8.5" diameter 14.5" tall......... they would lay down in my fridge. It would not be unrealistic to install drop tubes, and lay two of these down side by side on a single shelf in the fridge with a paintball gun bottle and regulator between them............ A nice compact slide in assembly designed to cradle the bottles. Perhaps someone should market this as a complete system. A molded plastic base, the modified kegs, a CO2 bottle, regulator, hoses, and taps. The drip tray built in. Those small bottles are only about $25 at Walmart..... for one bottle, and less for multiples. It would be a good "turn key" small kegging system. There's also an ultra compact regulator for about $65 built in a solid aluminum block without gauges sticking out. The problem is finding a paintball fill station.


H.W.
 
There are also kegs in a reasonable size range...... 8.5" diameter 14.5" tall......... they would lay down in my fridge. It would not be unrealistic to install drop tubes, and lay two of these down side by side on a single shelf in the fridge with a paintball gun bottle and regulator between them............ A nice compact slide in assembly designed to cradle the bottles. Perhaps someone should market this as a complete system. A molded plastic base, the modified kegs, a CO2 bottle, regulator, hoses, and taps. The drip tray built in. Those small bottles are only about $25 at Walmart..... for one bottle, and less for multiples. It would be a good "turn key" small kegging system. There's also an ultra compact regulator for about $65 built in a solid aluminum block without gauges sticking out. The problem is finding a paintball fill station.
H.W.

Nahh. Just find a paintball store. :) They should be able to fix you up. :)
 
Nahh. Just find a paintball store. :) They should be able to fix you up. :)

paintball stores are not exactly plentiful in Montana......... Here we use real bullets...... (not on each other though).

H.W.
 
Not sure where you are in Montana, but most sporting goods stores fill paintball tanks also. There are about 10 places in billings that do.
 
Not sure where you are in Montana, but most sporting goods stores fill paintball tanks also. There are about 10 places in billings that do.

I'm about 100 miles from Billings, 80 from Bozeman......... I usually go to Bozeman to shop, and plan to research the subject a bit.

I can sit here and visualize the two kegs nestled together in their cradles with a tap on each one. The liquid port would be on top with a tap snapped to each one. The paint ball tank with it's mini regulator would rest nestled in the V between the tanks (under), with it's mini regulator projecting out just enough so you could read the gauge and adjust, and two short lines would extend outward...... one to each keg's gas port....... perhaps the paint ball tank should be above to prevent beer from finding it's way into the regulator.

I'm going to do it............... Probably this summer.

H.W.
 
Couple of years back, coors and bud had what I think they called party balls. Was basically a mini keg that sat in the fridge. Had all the workings of what you are describing only was a little more compact. You would screw in the "tap" and it would puncture the C02 bottle and charge the system. Then you walked up, opened your refrigerator, pulled the handle and out poured the beer. I remember my friend telling me about it a couple of years back. Was bragging on how he got "good" coors light on tap in his fridge for the price of 12 pack. Your idea is great, but I think you may be trying to reinvent the wheel (unless I am seeing it differently from what you are describing).

I cant rip a man for drinking BMC. If that is what you like, its what you like. Truth be told, when I switched to home brew, the lead brewer from Bud Light called me...
 
Why round? To me the perfect keg is one that takes up the least amount of space and stack/nests efficiently.
I already have round kegs... just wish there was something better shaped.
 
I liked the stackable kegs that AiH and a few others had. The pair I have let you stack with the disconnects on. Now you can only get the kind that can stack when stored. That or nothing, as most places have them out of stock.
 
Probably don't want the CO2 tank lying on it's side... that can cause liquid CO2 to exit the tank instead of gas.

I was mulling over the same issue today while I was working.......... The fact is that with propane for example, there are regulators that regulate the liquid and work very well.......... All automotive propane regulators regulate liquid, and the liquid / gas conversion takes place in the regulator. They run hot water through the regulator to help the conversion from liquid to gas. CO2 is much like Propane in terms of being stored as a liquid and transitioning to a gas. Current tank pressure on my big propane tank.... 100 pound I think.... is 600 PSIG.... about triple what propane would be at this temp. .

I'm thinking that as long as the regulator shuts off the flow in response to pressure.... as it is supposed to do, it shouldn't make much difference.

I was actually going to start a thread on this topic...... I think it's worth examining in terms of real world experience. Let's take this there.


H.W.
 
I'm bettin', that you could mount the tank @ about 70 degrees, and not get any liquid out of it.

Probably @ 90 degrees, as there's a lot of surface area for the liquid to spread out, over the length of the cylinder, before the liquid reaches the center of the crown where the valve is mounted.

Got a full cylinder sitting around?

Lay it on it's side and crack the valve open.

You'll know straightaway if you are in the "liquid zone".
 
I'm bettin', that you could mount the tank @ about 70 degrees, and not get any liquid out of it.

Probably @ 90 degrees, as there's a lot of surface area for the liquid to spread out, over the length of the cylinder, before the liquid reaches the center of the crown where the valve is mounted.

Got a full cylinder sitting around?

Lay it on it's side and crack the valve open.

You'll know straightaway if you are in the "liquid zone".

Unfortunately the only bottle I have "laying around" weighs about 200 lbs ..... I'm about as far as it gets from a limp wristed *****..... but I do NOT handle this anymore than I have to!!


H.W.
 
Since I bought the Tap-A-Draft system...

Did you ever move on this one? I'm in a situation where, for the next two years, I have room in the garage for a fridge that I can work as a kegerator or a fermentation vessel, but absolutely do NOT have room for both. SO, a kegging system that I could fit into the (smallish) kitchen fridge would be life-changing, homebrew-wise.

Also, I'm a bit of a noob. SO, anyone who understands kegging and can get the idea down the road from inception to reality, well... let's just say I'd be willing to take you to my local LHBS/microbrew distribution joint for a couple cold ones if you ever find yourself in Boise, ID!

Later!

Ike
 
Did you ever move on this one? I'm in a situation where, for the next two years, I have room in the garage for a fridge that I can work as a kegerator or a fermentation vessel, but absolutely do NOT have room for both. SO, a kegging system that I could fit into the (smallish) kitchen fridge would be life-changing, homebrew-wise.

Also, I'm a bit of a noob. SO, anyone who understands kegging and can get the idea down the road from inception to reality, well... let's just say I'd be willing to take you to my local LHBS/microbrew distribution joint for a couple cold ones if you ever find yourself in Boise, ID!

Later!

Ike

I'm extremely happy with the system. The taps work very well, The 1.5 gallon plastic jugs handle pressure well, they are small and light enough to be easy to handle. They don't match up with the 2.5 gallon typical yield I have to badly. I either use two of them, or leave a gallon in cold crash and top off later, or bottle the remaining gallon....... I usually bottle the remaing gallon. A few bottles to give away isn't a bad thing to have, and they end up well aged. I have 3 systems........ 3 taps and 9 jugs. Jugs are $10 each. They work for bottle conditioning or force carbonating. A friend who does catering uses one of the systems to serve at home when he has part of a 5 gallon keg left after a job. I also use them for mixing up shandy from light bodied beer and lemonaid, Sometimes using my own beer for the purpose, sometimes using some of his left over. It's popular at summer barbeques. 2 of them went to a wedding with my hibiscus wedding brew. They are far more versatile than normal kegs in many ways. The lay down configuration and small dimensions are a real asset...... anybody can put them in a fridge. The low cost is also an asset. I often visit friends, bringing a couple of well (force) carbonated tap-a-draft jugs and simply pour out of them to avoid having to use the CO2 cartridges to serve or bringing one of my paint ball bottles. I have a brew cold crashing in one at the moment, and two taps, all in my kitchen fridge. I've also blended beers in them.

I may in fact be in your area sometime in August or early September, I live in South Central Montana, but Idaho is a state I spend a lot of time in. Usually I duck south at Mountain Home or Glenn's Ferry, and run down through Bruno, Grand View, Murphy, Marsing, Homedale just to avoid the Boise, Nampa, Caldwell area. It's also not uncommon for me to be on Hwy 95 anywhere from Bonner's Ferry to Jordan Valley. I wander a lot when I travel. Last summer I went through Dillon and Wisdom, Mt, crossed over on a dirt trail to the Salmon River, went down the Salmon and over thought Ketchum, Banks, Garden Valley and Lowman, up to McCall (for a beer at McCall Brewing..... McCall is a mecca for microbrewing), down through Meadows, Council and Cambridge, over across Brownlee dam, and the back way down to Imnaha, Or, up to Hat Point, then to Joseph and Enterprise, out to Union and Baker, and across Eastern, Oregon along the John Day river through Mt Vernon, John Day, Mitchell, and Prineville, from Madras down to Crescent, across Willamette Pass, and up on the back roads and small towns to Portland, and spent some time with my mother who lives there. The trail back was not nearly so convoluted... I went over Mt Hood, dropped down to Hood River, crossed over and went on the Washington side, up the Kilckitat River over the top to Goldendale, on down to Maryhill, crossed back over at Maryhill, on down to Wasco, Condon, down to Spray via Hardman, and on up the John Day and down through Vale, and on the back trails down to Owyhee, crossed over at Homedale, followed 78 along the south side of the Snake, took Wilson Grade rd on the south side of the snake and Sailor creek road, crossed the bridge west of Glenns Ferry..... Took US 30 (frontage) to Bliss, and when up through Richfield, camping out in the Minnedoka along the Little Wood River.... and on up through Dubois where I picked up the interstate as far as Dillon....... the entire trip, I only drove a few miles on the interstate. I also took a "side trip" up the Columbia to Astoria and down the coast to Newport. I camped, hiked, explored and rock hounded all the way....... and I stopped at as many micro breweries as I could. My favorite was a "nano brewery" / homebrew supply in Astoria where the owner was brewing for his taps using ordinary brew buckets!! He had a lot of brews on tap, and they all were good, and a back room full of brew buckets! No fancy stainless steel stuff...........

This year I hope to make a long ramble again......... Probably going St Regis, Mt, and crossing the mountains and the border into Idaho in the head of the St Joe River, down through St Maries, taking highway 3 down through the small towns to Potlach and Palouse, following the Palouse river where I can, wandering through the Channeled Scablands to Palouse falls one way or another, and various other areas many of which I haven't seen, and aren't on the tourist maps. The return will probably be straight across Eastern Oregon using Santiam Pass... Bend, Burns, Ontario... pretty direct, and 84 through the Boise / Nampa / Caldwell area to Bliss. From there I'll probably take some of the less traveled roads north through Sun Valley, and over to Hwy 93, and see if I can find my way across the mountains on Forest Circus roads over to Leadore and on across the pass to Dillon and on home.......... I never drive a straight line very far!

H.W.
 
I'm extremely happy with the system...

Good to hear it! I just ordered two for myself to get started. I'm particularly excited about using the force carbing for ciders and hard root beers.

A question: I posted this in a thread in the kegging forum but haven't heard anything back yet: WRT bottling "other" stuff like ciders and root beers, how much do I have to worry about the bottles holding onto flavors from past batches? Have you seen any issues from your end, even with really hoppy beers and lighter ones?

Boise is a great town! Holler if you're on your way through, the LHBS is just a few blocks off the interstate, with plenty of local brew on tap.

Ike
 
Well, it's a Chinese distributor, so you might just want to send a question via the website. Most of the folks on Alibaba/AliExpress are pretty quick to respond

I was referring to Williams, but thanks for mentioning the other site. Might as well ask them too. Thanks!
 
Good to hear it! I just ordered two for myself to get started. I'm particularly excited about using the force carbing for ciders and hard root beers.

A question: I posted this in a thread in the kegging forum but haven't heard anything back yet: WRT bottling "other" stuff like ciders and root beers, how much do I have to worry about the bottles holding onto flavors from past batches? Have you seen any issues from your end, even with really hoppy beers and lighter ones?

Boise is a great town! Holler if you're on your way through, the LHBS is just a few blocks off the interstate, with plenty of local brew on tap.

Ike

PET does not seem to pick up and hold flavors.... I rinse and dry well, and store them inverted and open........ I can't even smell anything after they are rinsed well.

H.W.
 

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