Lion introduces "Tap King" - party keg / growlers

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Poured my first beer out of the Tap King today, it was mostly head. The Chancer Ale tastes a bit bland after only having home brew for a while.

Does anyone else think it sounds like a budgie when the gas is entering the bottle?
 
So the 12g canister fits nice, a filed down Allen key can sort the triangular screws...

Next logical question...

How much do we prime the PET bottle? As usual for longnecks or less?? Anyone over/under carbed yet?
 
I'm really interested in this, the ezy charge website did not have food grade 12 g , keep it up guys, Great project
 
damienkelly87 said:
So the 12g canister fits nice, a filed down Allen key can sort the triangular screws...

Next logical question...

How much do we prime the PET bottle? As usual for longnecks or less?? Anyone over/under carbed yet?
Damien,

See my post on previous Page which should give a starting point, and shouldn't require much if you use a 12g.

I don't think you'll ever get a consistent pour without a regulator topping up the gas, so your first few will be heady because of the higher carbonation and probably velocity, and the last few will start to suck in CO2.

Maybe prime to the lower end of the range and allow something like an extra 0.5-1 vol of CO2? 0.2 would be enough to push it out, but I guarantee you'll have nothing left at the end.

Good luck...
 
It has a regulator inside TK. It's not adjustable but is regulated. First glass is always foam but last glass is much the same as 2nd. If it were unregulated the 900psi bulb would blow the little 4mm tube off.
 
Anyone notice that the Chancer in the tap king tastes quite a bit metallic over the Chancer served in bottles, or is it just me?
 
I thought the tooheys new tasted worse than in a can, although I probably havnt had a can of new for a couple of years.
 
bradsbrew said:
I thought the tooheys new tasted worse than in a can, although I probably havnt had a can of new for a couple of years.
The trick is to serve at room temperature in a couple of months time, after having sat on the bench for 2hrs and preferably with a cigarette butt or two in the bottom. Peak flavour.


On a side note, I guess regulator = good and bad: good for consistency but who knows what pressure it's set to. You could use the keg-side gauge of a regualator (I guess plug the bottle side) connected to a set volume to see what the pressure is, or trial and error.

I think I need to commit to this... :)
 
G'day Gents

Got a reply from finewhip about food grade 12g unthreaded bulbs.

They are getting them in next month but the price is $3.50 a bulb which conpared to $1.20 for non food grade chargers

anyone else having luck?

JD
 
Finewhip have no 12g bulbs until mid Sept. All you enthusiasts must have cleaned them out.
 
evildrakey said:
Anyone notice that the Chancer in the tap king tastes quite a bit metallic over the Chancer served in bottles, or is it just me?
Me too. Definite 'metallic' after taste.
 
mrTbeer said:
  • Pics for above.
  • 16g bulbs (finewhip.com.au) are about 9c / gram.
  • 330g Sodastream refill from Woolies about 4c /gram.
I'm keen to see more of this! How has it all been going mrT? Is this doable for the average user? Cheers.
 
Anyone notice that the Chancer in the tap king tastes quite a bit metallic over the Chancer served in bottles, or is it just me?


Feldon said:
Me too. Definite 'metallic' after taste.
Yep me too, had a free sample at the bottlo the other day, My megaswill mate thought it was alright. Was flat and horrible for me.
 
mrTbeer said:
Finished 1x3.2 today and tried to take it apart, fucked if I can find a triangular screwdriver or even a bit small enough to kinda fit. I went to Jaycar and struck out, online I can't find anything smaller than 2.0mm and its not tri-wing?
Will get on the angle grinder tomoz and make something.
Next step is to find 12g cartridges, my bicycle ones are all 16g. I wonder if 8g can do the job??
Would be awesome to hook up a sodastream 330g bottle!
Anyone know the thread size vs tap-a-draft thread?
Mate I bought a console game tool kit from jaycar it has the triangular piece and a hand ratchet screwdriver it fits in.
 
Captain Morgan said:
I'm keen to see more of this! How has it all been going mrT? Is this doable for the average user? Cheers.
Yeah easier than I thought. The main body comes apart pretty easily all with a standard screwdriver.
I took a photo so I knew how to put back together but didn't need to refer to it.
Didn't need a reducer as the fit between 6mm OD and 6mm ID tube was perfect would probably hold without a clamp but I've got one on there.
There are a couple plastic legs that need to be jiggled in when re-assembling but doesn't take long. It's a little bit tighter than before but I think that's because some of the oil has been wiped off.

Trying it out with a (new) bottle of Boags and the larger co2 tank (sodastream). It's working well, will be better (less room in fridge) when the mini reg arrives.
Hope to find the right pressure setting before this bottle is finished.
This is the first bottle, should yield a lid with fresh bulb and another empty PET, will use those with my homebrew (APA) on the unmodified rig.
If the mini reg arrives before then, I'll use the bottle for my homebrew and provide my own co2.


aussie brewer said:
Mate I bought a console game tool kit from jaycar it has the triangular piece and a hand ratchet screwdriver it fits in.
Good stuff, was it the set for ~$30? I made 1 from an ikea allen key (silver metal was too soft) and made a second from a real allen key (harder black metal). Since doing the above I may not need to use it much though.
 
mrTbeer said:
Trying it out with a (new) bottle of Boags and the larger co2 tank (sodastream). It's working well, will be better (less room in fridge) when the mini reg arrives.
Hope to find the right pressure setting before this bottle is finished.
This is the first bottle, should yield a lid with fresh bulb and another empty PET, will use those with my homebrew (APA) on the unmodified rig.
If the mini reg arrives before then, I'll use the bottle for my homebrew and provide my own co2.
As I understand, your setup just has a line in from the sodastream, via regulator then into the 3.2L PET bottle? If you had a new 12g CO2 cylinder and 'engaged' the TK, would this pressure back into the bottle?

Does your regulator have pressure relief in it, i.e. if you lower the pressure does it vent off through the regulator or rely on opening the tap?

Eitehr way, you could get tricky and set your regulator to say 200-250kPag, crack the cylinder (hopefully nothing comes out of the 12g cyl), turn off your sodastream cylinder and either wind down the regulator in 10-20kPag increments or crack the tap a bit. Hopefully you get to a pressure around 150kPag where your 12g cylinder/regulator is topping up gas. :)
 
You're right in description, my setup gives an alternate line in from sodastream reg BUT I've removed the bit of TK reg which is the bit that pierces 12g cylinder.
Need to use an unmodified TK if I want to pierce a new 12g cylinder.
The metal 'piercer' is actually in the lid but the TK has a metal pin that pushes it.

The reg that I currently have does have pressure relief, I've ordered a cheaper reg on ebay $39 and am not sure if it does?

What you've suggested is possible but I've got no fittings for the tiny 4mm hose, it'd need a Y on the low pressure side of TK reg. There's no room to access high pressure side of TK reg besides I'm not keen on fiddling with that.
 

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