Co2 For Porta-keg

[dpadden]

Hi Guys,

I have an old Porta-Keg, like the image below. As you can see in the pic it has a plastic holder for a small soda bulb to push the beer out. Can anyone help me with the following questions:

1) Exactly which type of bulb does it need?

2) How do you regulate the flow of Co2 into the keg?

Thanks, Paddo

 

[komodo]

I'm no expert but it looks like it uses 16g nang bulbs

try http://www.finewhip.com/index.html or the site sponsors

 

[OzBeer_MD]

1) Exactly which type of bulb does it need?

2) How do you regulate the flow of Co2 into the keg?

Thanks, Paddo

View attachment 33390

There are soda bulbs available from the forum sponsors. I have a similar set up but using a standard keg and a 'Keg Charger' for when my corny keg leaqves the house. There is no regulator. The full pressure of the bulb is released to the keg when you push the button. The trick is to only give a short burst when the pouring speed slows. My tip is keep this thing close to you at parties as you dont want someone who has had a few too many to empty a full bulb into the keg and then have beer racing out of the font at 100MPH. If it is liek a 'charger' and you can remove it from the keg, then it is a good idea to keep it in your pocket until the beer needs another hit of Co2.

 

[[email protected]]

any ideas on carbonating in it? i got one from my father-in-law and wonderin how best to prime it. I was just going to try a bit of trial and error.

 

[OzBeer_MD]

any ideas on carbonating in it? i got one from my father-in-law and wonderin how best to prime it. I was just going to try a bit of trial and error.

I wouldn't use bulbs. Too expensive for carbonating.

 

[zabond]

They were originally designed for decanting pre carbed comercial beer into the keg then using the small soda-syphon bulbs to serve,if you have a keg set up you could attatch a beer out disconect to the gun hose and fill from a full keg at low pressure then use the bulb for serving[only fill to recomended level in keg]as the headspce to co2 bulb ratio was designed to give a low pressure pour for the keg quantity,if you dont keg then decant precarbed bottles straight in [very slow pour]
also they were designed for party use so its not a good idea to try bulk priming or leaving a brew in for an extended period as the internal linning will break down[its some sort of clear coating]dont ask how I know

 

[[email protected]]

internal lining? so it would be no good to turn into a still then?

 

[zabond]

dont know much about stills but as the kegs are aluminium I'd say no

 

[[email protected]]

Aluminum, shmanlumnuim, I'm brazing up a reflux tower to fit mine as we speak. My damn pressure relif valve isn't sealing so kegging with it is out of the question.

 

[mxd]

hi guys,

I just got one of these and was wondering about the internal lining, it smell pretty rancid, and appears to have white crusty stuff on the threads.

At the moment I am soaking in nappisan then will move to pbw, is there anything I should check to make sure the lining is still present. Does it matter if it's not ?

thanks
Matt