# Parties & kegs



## Doc (3/1/03)

I have a party coming up that I'm brewing for. 
I will be kegging the beer, but want to know how you guys handle kegs at parties.

My current thought is that I have should make a long beer line wind it in a coil, and put it in an esky filled with ice. I have a spare tap that I could mount on something. This should cool the beer without having to keep the keg cold yes?

What about providing some pressure to dispense the beer? Don't want to take my VT size gas bottle if I can avoid it. I'd imagine the keg would be gone in an afternoon, so maybe a bike pump arrangement?

Look forward to your ideas.

Cheers,
Doc

PS: A local brew shop used to have small 10 litre kegs and they also had a regulator that would take a soda stream bottle. That would be ideal, but from memory the regulator with that fitting was quite expensive. For the amount I'm mobile with kegs the outlay is not worth it.


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## GMK (3/1/03)

Party Kegs

I friend of mine was in the same dilema....this is what we did.

Buy an old soda stream bottle setup...Garage sales etc...really cheap now.
Pull out the mechanism. Attach a gas disconnect to the end of the tube and fit a soda stram cartridge to the mechanism at the other end as per normal. Keep the trigger mechanism as this allows you to inject CO2 into the keg as/and when the dispensing pressure starts to drop.

Buy a cheap plastic tap with 3m of line and attach a liquid disconect to it..
Note: a beer gun is better.

Buy a plastic garbage bin. The kegs fits in there nicely and you can pack 4 bags of ice around the 
keg to keep the beer cold. 
Gas the beer as normal, use the soda stream cartridge assembly to dispense the beer only, injecting CO2 as needed when the presure drops...there is not enough CO2 in the cartridge to gas the beer.

All up, without the beer gun, should get everything around $55.00...

Hope this helps.


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## Doc (4/1/03)

Thanks Ken. That sounds like a cunning little plan.
Now on the lookout for a soda stream machine. 
I have a spare tap. Should only have to buy a length of beer line and a couple of disconnects.
As long as I can source the soda stream machine I'll put it all together, take some photos and post them.

Beers,
Darren


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## Doc (16/1/03)

HELP !!!!!!!!!!

Ok, I've been on the hunt for an old soda stream machine.
Have come close to getting one on ebay, but got outbid at the last moment.
Have done the second hand shops and trading post and online auction sites.
Have asked work mates, family and friends.

Seems everyone has already sold theirs at garage sales.

So does anyone out there have an old one with gas bottle that you are prepared to part with?

Need to have it all up and running for next weekend (25th Jan).

TIA,
Doc


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## RegBadgery (16/1/03)

A ten litre keg would be great - don't want a separate kegging fridge - I reckon a 10 litre would fit in my regular fridge ok. I've seen lots of 19 litre kegs about. Do smaller kegs exist?

As for the esky - I've read that this works very well - think in the US it's called a "jockey box"

In fact I think I recently read a posting from someone who permanently dispenses from a keg via a jockey box.

By gee you can get just about anything ready made in the US

http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/j...s/process.shtml

http://www.stpats.com/towers.htm#picnic



cheers
reg


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## Doc (16/1/03)

yeah I've seen those jockey box things.
I've also seen 10 litre kegs in Aus.

The thing is you still have to get the beer out of the keg.
Ideally with CO2. 

Saw brand new curvy soda stream machines at KMart yesterday but they are $96.
Jeez, I just need the gas bottle, fittings and button.

Beers,
Doc


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## Doc (16/1/03)

Just found this information.
However don't really want to use air.

Do BigW just sell the soda stream bottles without doing a swap?
I'm sure you could get a little gas tap and hook that up.

Cheers,
Doc


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## Doc (5/2/03)

This is my final solution to the problem.
I bought one of those corny beer keg chargers in the US last week.
As I expected I had trouble getting the cartridge out of the country.
So does anyone know where I can purchase these refil cartridges in Sydney. 
*Note: *they are 12 gram NON threaded.

TIA,
Doc


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## kook (5/2/03)

Doc said:


> This is my final solution to the problem.
> I bought one of those corny beer keg chargers in the US last week.
> As I expected I had trouble getting the cartridge out of the country.
> So does anyone know where I can purchase these refil cartridges in Sydney.
> ...


 I'd check around your supermarkets. They look like standard cream chargers. Most supermarkets now sell CO2 cream chargers rather than NO2.


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## Doc (5/2/03)

I have found a source for them.
If anyone is interested check out Swim Bike Run .
Their site has a picture of threaded cartridges, but after emailing them they say they have both.

Cheers,
Doc


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## RegBadgery (6/2/03)

Thanks for the info, Doc. It's good to know in advance any info relating to potential import problems.

cheers
reg


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## Doc (6/2/03)

Have also just received the info for the Australia distributor.

GKA Sports Distribution
Unit 2/ 39 Foden Avenue
Campbellfield, Victoria 3061
Tel: 61 3930-88000

Interesting enough the people that make the product say you can also use the bigger cartridges 

--- snip ----
the keg charger can use 12g nonthread, or 16g and 25g
threaded (you would just use the head of the pump, not the cup and screw
the cartridge on).
--- snip ----

Cheers,
Doc


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## Doc (1/2/04)

Found the ideal portable keg cooling system for parties.
Check it out at Morebeer here.
Unfortunately it is for 3gal kegs.

However I have seen wheelie bin conversions for the same thing.

Beers,
Doc


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## Thunderlips (5/10/04)

An old thread but I've just come across it after looking into a party keg setup myself. Instead of some kind of portable CO2 setup, what do people think of a keg air pump like the one at this US store?
Scroll down about halfway and you'll see it there for $25US.
https://hoptech.com/index2.html?https://hop...om/kegging.html


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## Thunderlips (5/10/04)

Ah, I just read the link that Doc left regarding the hand pump.
Forget my post


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## Doc (5/10/04)

Check out these guys as well if for nothing more than ideas.

Beers,
Doc


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## Hoops (5/10/04)

That's a great idea. How much are those style of eskys though?


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## big d (5/10/04)

top idea.
are those cut down kegs to suit coolers available anywhere in oz or do we need to import from the usa.?

cheers
big d


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## Guest Lurker (26/9/05)

Here is my solution to kegs and parties. It had its first outing at Sandgroptoberfest and worked OK. 

After thinking about it, I decided I didnt want the hassle of decanting to a smaller keg. I wanted to be able to pull a keg out of the serving fridge, have a portable way of serving it at a party, even if I only pull 2 pints out of it, then take it home and whack it back in the serving fridge.

So no air driven systems and no mini kegs. The simplest answer seemed to be a wheely keg from a rubbish bin. 

Replaced the top with some floorboards to make a bar surface, and added a stubbie cooler to the outside for insulation.


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## Guest Lurker (26/9/05)

Used an adaptor from good old Hoops to get a soda stream bottle and small single gauge reg into the keg. And guess what? Finally used my flow restrictors from the Roach Bulk buy!


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## Guest Lurker (26/9/05)

It was originally planned as a single keg system. But discovered that if I put in a false bottom, and squeezed the bin 8 cm out of square, I could get 2 kegs in, as long as one is my older style kegs. Cant fit two of the newer ones.


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## roach (26/9/05)

Good to see the restrictors in action GL. Now I know what to do with my old BD taps, that have been freed up as a result of the GMK Ventmatic buy.
Nice job GL - and the floorboard top is a nice touch.


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## Ross (26/9/05)

Great idea  - my only problem would be getting it to the party... :blink:


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## Guest Lurker (27/9/05)

Ross said:


> Great idea  - my only problem would be getting it to the party... :blink:
> [post="79547"][/post]​




Why, havent you got a mountain bike? The first attempt at a trailer hitch wasnt up to the loading of two full kegs, but the modified version should survive the cycle from my place to most of the other brewers in Perth.


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## tangent (27/9/05)

http://www.beerinabin.com.au/


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## jimmysuperlative (27/9/05)

...this in the Courier Mail "goodlife" liftout today. Go the Cowboys!!

party setup


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## THE DRUNK ARAB (28/9/05)

Nice set-up GL :beerbang: . How much ice do you need to keep two kegs cold?

C&B
TDA


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## Guest Lurker (28/9/05)

I think 1 bag would do a party, there isnt a lot of space around the kegs. 2 bags of ice lasted a day in full sun. But things were warming up by the following day. There is a false bottom made of polystyrene and expanding foam to lift the kegs out of the narrow base. I cant have done a very good job on sealing the base up as the melt water disappeared from around the kegs. If I fix the seal to keep the water on the base of the kegs, 2 bags of ice should last a couple of days on a camping trip.


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## deadly (19/11/05)

So heres my latest project inspired by Guest Lurker I came up with this.
Its a pvc strom water pipe with 2 20L buckets inside and the space between filled with foam and mounted on a granny trolly.Powered by a soda stream with thanks to Hoops for the adaptor and GMK for the regulator.I didnt want to decant to a smaller keg as I do think its possible to have too much beer for a party so it holds 18L and is able to fit in the boot of the car :beerbang:


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## deadly (19/11/05)

the inside


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## deadly (19/11/05)

with keg


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## deadly (19/11/05)

The set


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## Fingerlickin_B (19/11/05)

That looks awesome man! :beer: 

PZ.


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## Samwise Gamgee (19/11/05)

Thats awesome!

Well done! :beerbang:


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## Ross (19/11/05)

Top work deadly - The ingenuity of people on this forum is mind blowing...


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## muga (19/11/05)

That is very cool!
I think I'm going to try build something similar..


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## Darren (19/11/05)

Looks great deadly. Do you need to put ice in it or does it keep itself cool?
What is the lid made out of?
cheers
Darren


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## tangent (19/11/05)

VERY nice work!
function and form


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## Jye (19/11/05)

That is damn nice and is nearly exactly the same of what I have been thinking of doing. Where did you score the piece of storm water pipe?

Once again very nice :super: :beerbang:


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## Jye (19/11/05)

Is there any room between the inner and outer walls (where the foam is) to slot the cylinder and reg in, this way it will keep its nice outer finish and stop drunk mates from playing with the reg.

I really like the black :beerbang:


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## deadly (19/11/05)

Thanks guys Im pretty happy with it, in a test drive last night a keg from the fridge stayed cold all night without ice in it 15 by morning.
The lid is MDF cut to shape with polystyrene glued to it and the pipe I all ready had, but you can get from a demo yard.


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## bindi (19/11/05)

It has it all, function and looks :super: B) I bow to your skill.


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## tangent (19/11/05)

you should be knocking those out and flogging them off
really neat job!


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## deadly (19/11/05)

Jye, I was going to fit the gas inside as there is plenty of room between the keg and the inside of the bucket (for the ice) but I couldnt find a single gauge reg in time or for less than $110.With the Harris it all fits inside but I didnt want it sitting on ice.


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## Pumpy (19/11/05)

Deadly,

Classy job !!!

How did you you join the two white 20 litre buckets inside ? 

Pumpy


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## Fingerlickin_B (19/11/05)

I figure the buckets were tapered as usualinterference fit Deadly?

PZ.


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## deadly (19/11/05)

Pumpy, the top bucket was cut to sit on top of the other as I didnt want one overlapping the other so the foam couldnt push through.I then duct taped them together on the outside and wrapped it in foam underlay and screwed it to the pipe (pic2) then added the pour foam once inside the pipe.Silicone sealed the join


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## Fingerlickin_B (19/11/05)

I was wrong :lol:


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## Batz (19/11/05)

Well I don't decanter either , but I have 6x3 gallon party kegs.

I just make a brew and fill two

My party keg set up

Batz


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## Darren (19/11/05)

Batz said:


> Well I don't decanter either , but I have 6x3 gallon party kegs.
> 
> I just make a brew and fill two
> 
> ...




Batz,
Nice piece of work. Hope you chain that down at parties. I can imagine waking up in the morning and finding it GONE  
cheers
darren


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## Ross (19/11/05)

Batz,

Very similar to mine - Gas bottle & reg all fit neatly inside - 1 bag of party ice will keep it cold all w/e...


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## Batz (20/11/05)

Darren said:


> Batz said:
> 
> 
> > Well I don't decanter either , but I have 6x3 gallon party kegs.
> ...




Thanks Darren <_< : 

I'll never relax at a party again :lol: , I was going to take it to Ross's

I better watch that Tidalpete bloke <_< 

Batz


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