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Author Topic: Rotating Kegs out of the serving line.  (Read 2272 times)

Offline rep

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Rotating Kegs out of the serving line.
« on: October 18, 2010, 04:48:24 pm »
At the moment, I only have one keg that I serve at a time.  I have a number of different styles lined up ready to serve.

Is there a problem with taking a keg that is half finished out of the kegerator and swap with another for a bit?  My intent would be to return the original to the kegerator in the future.  I would like to mix em up a bit.

Maybe it is taking me too long to finish a keg, but I would like to swap them at times.

And yes, I am working at increasing my serving capacity.   :)

Wear Wool, Sit on Leather, Ride Lugged Steel

Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Rotating Kegs out of the serving line.
« Reply #1 on: October 18, 2010, 05:00:09 pm »
It's no problem at all, swap at will.  :)
Tom Schmidlin

Offline gordonstrong

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Re: Rotating Kegs out of the serving line.
« Reply #2 on: October 18, 2010, 05:38:42 pm »
Yes, no problem. But Dude. Two words: picnic tap.
Gordon Strong • Beavercreek, Ohio • AHA Member since 1997 • Twitter: GordonStrong

Offline bluesman

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Re: Rotating Kegs out of the serving line.
« Reply #3 on: October 18, 2010, 05:48:13 pm »
Picic taps are essential for brewers who keg.  I have at least a half dozen.

I am actually in the process of finishing up a four tap kegerator.  8)
Ron Price

Offline rep

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Re: Rotating Kegs out of the serving line.
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2010, 07:35:36 pm »
Sweet.  Sometimes it takes awhile to finish five gallons.  I am a politician, so as you know I have no friends.   ;D 

Yup I have a picnic tap and am now about to begin purchasing my dorm refrigerator two keg build.

I ran across this the other day:  http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/home_brew/faucet-blset.shtml

Anybody use one?  It seems this may be easier than a picnic tap.
Wear Wool, Sit on Leather, Ride Lugged Steel

Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Rotating Kegs out of the serving line.
« Reply #5 on: October 18, 2010, 09:36:23 pm »
I haven't used one of those, but the problem I see is one of foaming . . . if you get one of these, you'll probably have to turn the pressure down for serving otherwise you'll end up with a glass of foam.

With a standard beer fridge setup you'll pressurize a keg to 10 or 12 or whatever psi and have a length of line to help restrict the flow and drop the pressure to ~0 at the faucet.  With that thing you don't have the line, so unless it has some kind of restriction to instantly drop the pressure you'll have to dial back the keg for serving, then turn it back up to keep the beer from going flat.
Tom Schmidlin

Offline gordonstrong

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Re: Rotating Kegs out of the serving line.
« Reply #6 on: October 19, 2010, 05:25:39 am »
Quote
I ran across this the other day:  http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/home_brew/faucet-blset.shtml

Yes, I have about 8 of those.  I probably have a dozen or so picnic taps as well.  Depends on where I'm serving.  Yes, you have to adjust serving pressure, but you do that with every keg anyway.  Most of the time at home I just use the keg pressure to pour and don't worry about proper foam levels.  If it's foaming, I'll vent or use a bigger glass and wait a minute.

If you have the various parts, you can assemble one yourself.  The key piece is the adapter that fits between the faucet and the black beer fitting (which needs to be threaded).  When I bought my walk-in, I got rid of about three beer fridges and had maybe 6 extra faucets lying around.  I eventually found those adapters and built myself those taps.

I like that they take up little space and have a classy look.  You do have to take them apart to properly clean them or else mold can grow in the damp places.  It's not hard, but it is a little extra work.
Gordon Strong • Beavercreek, Ohio • AHA Member since 1997 • Twitter: GordonStrong

Offline dshepard

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Re: Rotating Kegs out of the serving line.
« Reply #7 on: October 19, 2010, 06:21:55 am »
Sweet.  Sometimes it takes awhile to finish five gallons.  I am a politician, so as you know I have no friends.   ;D 

Yup I have a picnic tap and am now about to begin purchasing my dorm refrigerator two keg build.

I ran across this the other day:  http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/home_brew/faucet-blset.shtml

Anybody use one?  It seems this may be easier than a picnic tap.

I have a couple of these and use them for parties. They work like a champ, as others have mentioned, just adjust the serving pressure appropriately. At parties they look nicer than picnic taps (IMO).
Concord, NC