$3.43 Tap-a-Draft conversion

[desertrat2468]

In preparation for purchasing my first set of Tap-a-Draft bottles, I scoured the web for ideas on how to use bottled CO2 with the bottles. I saw several ideas, but didn't like the price tags (~$50). Why not just buy kegs at that point? So... after some research, and 3-day shipping from US plastics, here's my take:

I used the following items from US Plastic:

One 1/8" check valve (Item #57171, $2.01)
Two 1/4" HDPE elbows (Item #64904, $0.71 ea)
(didn't use the 1/8" elbows, but with $7 shipping & handling, I got them just in case)
Shipping: $5.99 (most expensive part)

Here's the basic process I followed:
1) drilled two 5/16" holes in the top of the Bottle caps (after removing the cap's interior post with an Exacto knife). cleaned up holes

2) used superglue to hold elbows in place with a small (~3mm?) offset from the fully seated position to give clearance when installing the exterior tubing.

3) JB welded the underside of the caps around the elbows

4) removed hot glue, & epoxied all around the exterior of the elbows

5) "glued" check valve in place using tile/tub silicone caulk. Yes...there are a faction of you cringing at this...feel free to be fancy & use stainless, but we all pay our own bills.

6) installed ~1.5 ft of beer tubing & a party tap to finish the job.

7) I will add a length of vinyl tubing to the fluid out barb & weight the end down with a SS nut (~$1?)

Initial pressure test was ~10PSI induced via a bicycle pump. Held pressure great & no leaks!

 

[hillybilly]

I am pretty sure the JB weld is no where near food safe and can't imagine th flavor it may give off

 

[satph]

The JB Weld MSDS has some pretty nasty chemicals, and it's an OSHA defined "Hazardous Chemical". But their FAQ states that "When fully cured, J-B Weld is completely resistant to water, gasoline, and about every other petroleum product or automotive chemical." and "When fully cured, J-B Weld is non-toxic. However, we do not recommend consuming the product."

Even though you're probably fine, I'd still try and cover the JB Weld with some sort of food safe sealant.

 

[desertrat2468]

Noted on sealing the JB Weld. Thanks for the help. Still going to be mucho cheaper than the alternatives I've seen.

 

[stlbeer]

Here's to creativity! Nicely done!

 

[Rivenin]

i like this, i wonder how well plastic welding would do under pressure like this? as long as you aren't force carbing and just putting it under like 10ish PSI, in theory, it should be fine. Actually, this would be rather cool on some 2liters and a party!

 

[desertrat2468]

The plastic components are well able to stand the pressure (rated >100psi). The combination of food-grade caulk (picture 1) & JB weld on the inside, & a wad of epoxy on the outside are more than able to hold the pressure, since the total outward force exerted would be on the order of 1/10th the indicated pressure (nominally ~1/10 sq-in area over which that force is exerted in the outward direction). BTW- I changed the pickup tube setup to use a section of 1/4" stainless tubing I had laying around (picture 2).

 

[drinkwd40]

I made a carbonator cap for the TAD system that just uses the ball-lock system like the real 2L carbonator cap does.
I like your idea of a cheap way to do this, one that I could apply to all my bottles and put them in a mini fridge, yet have 3 different beers on tap! Your cap looks a lot different than any of the TAD caps I've seen, since it has a deeper well, more threads, and an O-ring inside. I got the Polyseal caps from williamsbrewing, and they work fine with only 1 hole. Where can you get caps like yours?

 

[Kolsch_Meister]

What a great idea! Now my TAD bottles will be useable again. Thanks for sharing!

 

[bstacy1974]

I made a carbonator cap for the TAD system that just uses the ball-lock system like the real 2L carbonator cap does.
I like your idea of a cheap way to do this, one that I could apply to all my bottles and put them in a mini fridge, yet have 3 different beers on tap! Your cap looks a lot different than any of the TAD caps I've seen, since it has a deeper well, more threads, and an O-ring inside. I got the Polyseal caps from williamsbrewing, and they work fine with only 1 hole. Where can you get caps like yours?

Those are a new TAD cap design from the manufacturer. They are $1.79 on the Sturman BG website. I also use the polyseal caps but still have issues with leaking. It might be a bad bottle however.
I just order 4 of the new caps to build a paintball tank/TAD system. I'll center drill a hole in one of the caps and mount a 1/4" SS bulkhead fitting. Hopefully, I can get a good seal with nuts, washers and rubber gaskets. The problem I see with epoxy is that it does not truly bond to HDPE.

 

[drinkwd40]

Please post what it looks like when you get it up and running. The above design is nice but I would like to avoid any glue or metals beside stainless steel to come in contact with my beer. An auto-shutoff feature when disconnected like the standard ball-lock kegs would be great. Why not kegs? I want 3-4 beers on tap from a mini-fridge/mini-freezer. Quick/easy, no-mess swap outs are a plus.

 

[drinkwd40]

got my kegerator/keezer up and running. I used Tap-a-drafts as the kegs. I bought luer lock connectors from Amazon and superglued them in then sealed them with silicone. I have a slow leak somewhere so I just turn off the gas when I'm not using it. The carbonation stays just fine somehow so I'm not super motivated to find the leak. Overall it works pretty well. I have a soda tap for sober times when I still want to use it, but the other 4 are beer. I even made a gin-tonic mix as a successful experiment. It's a good stepping stone considering small kegs are at least $100 each. This is about 10% of the cost of doing it with kegs. I need variety and this did the trick! If someone has a good idea out there of how to put cheap quick-release auto-shutoff valves on the caps, then I'd be interested. In the picture there are actually 3 different kinds of caps, one with a ball-lock attachment, one with a tap-a-draft dispenser mod off ebay, and also the cap in the closeup picture with the 2 luer locks. The dispenser mod works fine but is expensive at ~$50 instead of around $3 for the luer cap. The ball lock is a dumb idea because there simply isnt enough room on the cap. The luer looks like the best bet right now.

 

[rmedved]

Sorry to dig up an old thread but I have a tap a draft system on the way, and this is pretty much exactly what I want to do.

Are you still happy with this set up. If you were starting over from scratch, would you do any of it differently?

This is the only thread I've seen where someone used a tap other than the tap a draft tap.

 

[Indygunworks]

Any updates on how these caps are holding up? Can you go into a bit more detail about the Luer lock installation?

 

[treacheroustexan]

Interested in this as well. Do you still have to replace the bottles every 8-10 uses? I already have a 5 gallon ball lock and my fridge can't fit a 2.5gallon SS keg without modification. I can fit 1 TAD in at a time though but I want to install another perlick. I was looking for ways to run a TAD through that. I work in the PET industry so I have unlimited access to caps with a 38mm finish.