The fellow who sold me the keg threw in ball lock disconnects plus two 45g canisters of co2 and a charger. He explained the last two were for dispensing on the go, not really for kegging. :-)
That would be my assumption as well. One of the 2 main benefits to kegging for me is being able to force carbonate (the other being only cleaning and sanitizing 1 vessel vs 50). I wouldn't think the c02 canisters would contain enough c02 to do the job right. Maybe I'm mistaken.
Based on threads on other fora, I think it's possible the canisters could force carb one 1.75 or 2.5 gallon keg. I don't know how *well,* but the "Paramount Kegging System" (I love that Williams named this package--kind of genius) isn't targeted at competition-league brewers. If it's good enough to make the brewer happy and impress friends and family, then a compact, self-contained kegging setup that can fit in just about any fridge and doesn't require expeditions for CO2 may have a home in the homebrew universe, not to mention the holiday shopping universe.
What my CO2 project made me reflect on is the potential of the *packaging* aspect of homebrewing being a hurdle for maintaining the hobby. Planning for a brew day (recipes, starters, etc.), and then mashing and brewing, are the fun parts of the process; and especially for new brewers, fermentation continues to be fun (at this point I just tuck the beer in the fridge, set the controller, and check in every few days). You can't say that about bottling; it's laborious, and it's not like you feel "wow, look how well I bottled that beer, like I bottled the last 20 batches." But bottling is also easy and inexpensive, with very few moving parts. The alternatives to bottling are either low-end dispensing systems (Tap-A-Draft, Party Pig)--been there, meh--or kegging. Companies such as AIH have figured out there's a market for packaging up kegging components and selling kegging kits to those of us with no kegging experience. But there's still a learning curve and there's still the hassle of finding and then replenishing CO2, and indeed there are hoses and clamps and the CO2 canister to deal with. it was a question I set aside for over a year while I dealt with other things in my life, including moving from a city where CO2 was a hassle to procure, to a larger home in a smaller city where I am one mile from a friendly and courteous purveyor of the same. Most homebrewing inventions and new methods seem to be related to ease of use. I would predict seeing more inventions related to dealing with the packaging aspects and marketed at new/casual/urban brewers. Thus endeth the Reflection. :-)
Topic: Hose on first? (Read 5855 times)
