# Beer on tap when camping



## reckless (21/4/15)

Just thought i would share this.

Last year my dad and myself did quite a bit of prospecting in outback WA. We were usually away for a minimum of 2 weeks just relying on solar to charge the metal detectors and keep the beer cold. Well, we came up with this idea, keeping the beer cold and leaving room for the other produce we would require on our trips to keep us going. 

We would usually take 3 kegs sometimes 4, a tiny engel with the frozen meat in it and the 35l waeco with the repurposed automatic transmission cooler and the veg. Transferring the meat over to the waeco as we were going. 

As for the beer it was cold :beerbang: it was a bit hard to get it to pour right with those silly little co2 cartridges but we managed. A better tap probably would have helped but we were on a tight budget. Hey and guess what we found gold!!

Hey and i should ask what setups have you guys run when camping??


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## Yob (21/4/15)

Isn't that "plate chiller" full of lead?

You'd be much better served putting that gold (how much didvyou strike BTW?) to use and buying a stainless steel plate chiller.


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## BottloBill (21/4/15)

Transmission coolers are made of 100% aluminium these days and would be no different than what was used in the older style jockey boxes.


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## reckless (21/4/15)

Yob said:


> Isn't that "plate chiller" full of lead?
> 
> You'd be much better served putting that gold (how much didvyou strike BTW?) to use and buying a stainless steel plate chiller.


Nar its aluminium pressed and folded plates. like i said on a budget.


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## shaunous (21/4/15)

Well done Reckless. Good setup.


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## Yob (21/4/15)

Right you are then.


Carry on


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## dannymars (21/4/15)

I just take a 50ltr bin I got from bunnings... Perfect fit for a corny keg... Plus picnic tap.. Back up kegs in large esky.. 

Might invest in a soda stream bottle plus adapter in future as the 5lb co2 is a bit of a prick to take with..


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## nvs-brews (21/4/15)

This was posted on our local facebook brew page...
ain't she beautiful!!


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## MastersBrewery (21/4/15)

That's been posted here before, think it's one of our AHB members. One power ball :huh:


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## crowmanz (21/4/15)

I have 2 set ups I have used camping/travelling away from home base.

1st set up is a 60L red wheelie bin (red makes the ice last longer) with a hole in the lid that the top of the corny pops through. I have also insulated it with a polystyrene broccoli box and expanding foam. Tap and shank through the front with line coiled around the keg and sitting in ice.

2nd set up is a 70L (I think) poly cooler (also red for ice retention) that stands on its end with the gas in and beer out lines running through the drilled out bung to a pluto gun.

Ice lasts longer in the 2nd set up and it is a good height but was probably 4+ times the price of my wheelie bin set up.


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## dicko (21/4/15)

I made this up for Easter.

I use the squat 23 litre kegs and the lid goes back on.
It also fits the 10 litre corny keg or the 19 litre with the lid off.


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## Rodolphe01 (21/4/15)

2x 9L cornies with bronco taps in a 100L esky. Connect soda stream gas as required when pouring rate slows.


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## labels (21/4/15)

Old fermenters are great for putting cornies in, only use the wide mouth fermenters. Use a hole saw to cut a couple of large holes in the shoulder to drop ice into. As mentioned, use a Sodastream CO2 cylinder to pressurize and dispense. Cheapo way out but works.


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## reckless (21/4/15)

So Few good setup's there. Only one crazy awesome rig i can see that is not ice dependent posted by nvs-brew's.

After yob mentioned it a plate chiller would probably work alright :huh: perhaps sit it in a little water bath in the bottom of the fridge then plumb it up as a dual pass. Might be a good option for all you blokes that already have a plate chiller. I found that the most important thing is the exchanger just had to have the volume of one beer parked in it for a couple of minutes before pouring.


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## yankinoz (21/4/15)

Once you solve the problem, and when you next go camping, post the dates and the coordinates of the campsite, so that some of us can conduct an evaluation.


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## Adr_0 (21/4/15)

For those who don't have a keg setup, try a Tap King... see this link http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/71427-lion-introduces-tap-king-party-keg-growlers/

You basically need a 2.5mm? triangle screwdriver (buy a set of 3-4 on eBay) and some replacement CO2 cartridges. Obviously pour the beer in the tap king from the shop out in the garden somewhere where nobody can see....


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## reckless (21/4/15)

yankinoz said:


> Once you solve the problem, and when you next go camping, post the dates and the coordinates of the campsite, so that some of us can conduct an evaluation.


Huh yea right! of course i will. 

This is after one of our better days, the beer tasted good that day.


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## neo__04 (21/4/15)

Let me know and me and the old man can come with you next time.

Just bought myself a GPX 5000. Now to find some gold with it


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## woodwormm (21/4/15)

mate of mine ran a cold plate in the bottom of his engel. plates really like a water bath though. his particular plate needed a solid 5 mins to recover after pouring a beer.


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## Black Devil Dog (21/4/15)

Been working on this for a little while now. Used it once, a couple of months ago and lost half a keg because I didn't realise one of the connections wasn't in properly.
Fits a 19 litre keg and enough ice for a day or so.


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## Adr_0 (21/4/15)

reckless said:


> Huh yea right! of course i will.
> 
> This is after one of our better days, the beer tasted good that day.


I wondered: what the hell is that - some kind of root? - and do you add it to the boil or fermenter? And is that 1.149kg? What the hell us going on here? 

Penny has finally dropped... Good find!


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## stux (22/4/15)

My primary camping setup, the table top mini pub










uses a 7 circuit cold plate. Pours beautifully, and will run on a 10Kg block of ice for 3 days. Can be topped up with bought ice. We also top it up with ice blocks made in 1L containers in the gas freezer. (21 days on a bottle)

Just used it to dispense 120L over Easter.

The trick would be to use the same cold plate in the gas freezer


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## reckless (22/4/15)

Stux what did you make the plate from?

Sorry just saw the link on the bottom, cheers


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## stux (22/4/15)

It's a Cornelius style cold plate from a soda machine. Each beer line is double looped through two circuits. The circuits are stainless coils encased in about 16kg of aluminum. 

I bought it from chi company on a businness trip to the US and smuggled it home in my luggage. Shipping would've been astronomical otherwise


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## siege (22/4/15)

reckless said:


> We would usually take 3 kegs sometimes 4, a tiny engel with the frozen meat in it and the 35l waeco with the repurposed automatic transmission cooler and the veg. Transferring the meat over to the waeco as we were going.
> 
> As for the beer it was cold :beerbang: it was a bit hard to get it to pour right with those silly little co2 cartridges but we managed.


Did you think about putting the plate chiller in the freezer rather than the fridge? Just thinking out aloud here but:
1. Beer has a lower freezing point than water, especially if high grav. So hopefully it wouldn't freeze in your lines
2. If it was colder this might eliminate your pint-pint delay
3. Maybe even fix the foaming issue? 

I'm interested if anyone has experimented with this because I need to decide what kind of system to build for my bucks weekend.


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## crowmanz (22/4/15)

Stux said:


> I bought it from chi company on a businness trip to the US and smuggled it home in my luggage. Shipping would've been astronomical otherwise


 you're not wrong, just searched your plate on their site - new $165 USD plus $192 USD shipping.

http://www.chicompany.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3237


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## woodwormm (22/4/15)

My group of mates have now done many boys trips with kegs. We've been through a few different systems., finally settling on 3 jockey boxes. 2 doubles and a single giving 5 taps pouring. 

We are usually within an hour's drive of ice so a trip into civilisation every 3 days is easy. 

Freezing your own ice bricks in the weeks prior really helps. If you've got a few engels/ waecos etc in the group you can dedicate one to freezer to keep the ice bricks frozen.


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## mattyg8 (22/4/15)

There are some awesome ideas in here...atm I just use a modified tap king head dispenser but would love to do something better


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## stux (22/4/15)

crowmanz said:


> you're not wrong, just searched your plate on their site - new $165 USD plus $192 USD shipping.
> 
> http://www.chicompany.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3237


Yep, that's the one. Basically had my eye on it for 18 months before I managed to line up a trip with enough notice to get it shipped to my hotel.

(you can ask a hotel that you've booked in for to tell you how to ship an item for you before you get there... "Hold For Guest: XXX XXX")


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## buckerooni (22/4/15)

any thoughts in this - including the coil, tap and fittings for $160 seems pretty reasonable: http://www.mancaveoz.com.au/index.php?id_product=116&controller=product


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## reckless (22/4/15)

siege said:


> Did you think about putting the plate chiller in the freezer rather than the fridge? Just thinking out aloud here but:
> 1. Beer has a lower freezing point than water, especially if high grav. So hopefully it wouldn't freeze in your lines
> 2. If it was colder this might eliminate your pint-pint delay
> 3. Maybe even fix the foaming issue?
> ...


Nar the beer will still freeze and cause dramas, we messed around and managed to freeze the beer lines. (Could burst the exchanger)

Bigger volume in the exchanger is the the solution. If its a stag party and only one day/night I would go with something like Buckerooni posted. 

The only reason we had the exchanger was because we were out bush for over two weeks.


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## pat_00 (23/4/15)

Stux that's awesome.

Is there anybody in OZ that sells cold plates?


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## stux (24/4/15)

Andale does. They're super exxy and only go up to two circuits.


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## pat_00 (24/4/15)

Yeah, I just found andale's site after posting that.

Just shy of $400 for a two circuit one


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## MastersBrewery (24/4/15)

certainly makes the one Stux got look like top value even with the postage


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## brewologist (24/4/15)

I made this single tap dispenser. Works good. Ice will last for 3 or 4 days. Only one keg at a time tho. Not bad when you are camping. Other camping rigs posted in this thread to.

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/82751-camping/?p=1223557

I like the idea of converting an engel into temp rite/jockey box. A 12 or 18 litre freezer would be a good engine for this me thinks.

Cheers,

G.


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## reckless (24/4/15)

brewologist said:


> I made this single tap dispenser. Works good. Ice will last for 3 or 4 days. Only one keg at a time tho. Not bad when you are camping. Other camping rigs posted in this thread to.
> 
> http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/82751-camping/?p=1223557
> 
> ...


Mate you've cracked it!!! thats exactly the way to make a temp right. fill it with glycol, recirc pump for the flooded font and stainless coils for the beer!!!


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