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Author Topic: Portable Keg Equipment  (Read 2152 times)

Offline bbump22

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    • Bump City Brews
Portable Keg Equipment
« on: April 29, 2010, 01:07:22 pm »
A buddy of mine is getting married in July and I am brewing for his rehearsal dinner.  Right now I plan on bottling a majority of the beers, but thought it would be nice (and easier for me) to bring one 5 gallon corny with me.  I was thinking about hooking the carbonated keg to a portable Co2 charger and using a picnic tap as the serving device.  I would like to hear what experiences (positives/negatives) people have had and any lessons learned from using this technique. 

Thanks Again!

 
mmmm....beer

Offline rjharper

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    • Angry Scotsman Brewing
Re: Portable Keg Equipment
« Reply #1 on: April 29, 2010, 03:45:55 pm »
I've run a couple of kegs using picnic taps and the mini CO2 cartridges with a ball-lock connector.  It works just fine, but when the keg is full, its hard to regulate the pressure (so go easy on the charger!) and you may be rather foamy at first.  Counter this with a longer serving line.  First time I did this I had 2' lines from the keg to the tap, and a lot of foam at first.  If you have the opportunity to test it out first somewhere else, I'd recommend that.  But go for it, every one loves draft homebrew.

Offline IHBHS

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    • Ice Harbor Brewing Co.
Re: Portable Keg Equipment
« Reply #2 on: May 02, 2010, 06:37:24 pm »
The Portable charger is good but like rjharper said if the keg is full it is hard to keep that pressure down.  I like to take a tee with a gauge on it in between the charger and the ball lock fitting.  Standard flare fittings will work to hook to the ball lock threads and the charger threads.
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Offline rjharper

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Re: Portable Keg Equipment
« Reply #3 on: May 02, 2010, 06:48:49 pm »
i saw a nice thread somewhere, where you take a lowes mini regulator for CO2, and a 9oz paintball tank, add a gauge and then you're good to go.  Thing is, the reg was more expensive than a normal one, and the tanks arent any cheaper, so you might as well buy another 5lb'er and a single stage reg for the road.