Party Kegs

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Hey Pete,

I know with mine (6L sprayer from Bunnings) if I get it carbed up, and pouring well, it doesn't loose pressure if not used. That being said, the Schrader valve I use for gas in does leak if left connected, but all it needs is a quick squirt once in a while to up the dispensing pressure, and it's all good.

Cheers

Nick,

Too many beers at the Torbanlea Picnic Races made me leave the Schraeder valve connected (I think?? --- not too sure here :lol: )
Am trialing another type of Schraeder at the Swap.

TP :beer:
 
I think I need new seals for mine. Mine looses pressure after 10 mins, by the end of the night the beer is on the way to flat :(

Must get another beer post to finish the transfer lines so I can do closed transfers. I think this would help heaps

Kabooby :)

I found the valves needed a lot of tightening to make them seal properly, but once that was done they hold the pressure well.
 
What valves are you using Geoffi?

I have used cornelius posts on mine and they are sealed fine. Its the seal where the lid screws on to the bottle that I lose my gas. Mitre 10 have spare seal kits but I was thinking of kiving it some lube first to see if that works

Kabooby :)
 
What valves are you using Geoffi?

I have used cornelius posts on mine and they are sealed fine. Its the seal where the lid screws on to the bottle that I lose my gas. Mitre 10 have spare seal kits but I was thinking of kiving it some lube first to see if that works

Kabooby :)



I use metal Schraeders, from Jax tyres. Pix on page 15 of this thread. Lube sounds like a good idea.
 
Hey all,

Thought I'd post some pics of my new party keg setup.

Inspired by Ross' setup however I couldn't find as deep an esky as he did anywhere in Canberra.

If anyone in Canberra knows of a taller esky that is a reasonable price (under $100) then let me know.

The keg has been filled and emptied twice in under 24 hours already so it is going to be a summer winner :D

Photos here http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...m&album=220

Cheers
Troy

PS. sorry Ross I couldn't resist that US guy's bronco tap delivered for $50 :( I will be in touch with you shortly though as a friend is keen to get into kegging :)
 
Hey all,

Thought I'd post some pics of my new party keg setup.

Inspired by Ross' setup however I couldn't find as deep an esky as he did anywhere in Canberra.

If anyone in Canberra knows of a taller esky that is a reasonable price (under $100) then let me know.

The keg has been filled and emptied twice in under 24 hours already so it is going to be a summer winner :D

Photos here http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...m&album=220

Cheers
Troy

PS. sorry Ross I couldn't resist that US guy's bronco tap delivered for $50 :( I will be in touch with you shortly though as a friend is keen to get into kegging :)


Nice setup troy, where did you get the keg from and how big is it? :beer:
 
Nice setup troy, where did you get the keg from and how big is it? :beer:

The keg is one of those syrup kegs that fast food stores use.
You see them pop up from time to time on eBay or you could make friends with a HJ's employee :D

It holds about 4 litres. Perfect for a one man drinking show. If any mates get into it, it runs out too quick :)
 
hi havent been on for a while. I saw this creation and think its the ducks nuts!!! I now know what i'm taking on xmas day to my sisters place.
I am going to the hardware store tomorrow morning and getting two of these.
the only thing is that I am a lazy sod and buy my kegs from tooheys direct and was wondering if i pour straight from the keg into these outstanding creations im hoping it will be the same out come as pouring from a keg when i get to the other end ? am i correct?
 
the only thing is that I am a lazy sod and buy my kegs from tooheys direct and was wondering if i pour straight from the keg into these outstanding creations im hoping it will be the same out come as pouring from a keg when i get to the other end ? am i correct?

depends on the timing.
oxidation sets in pretty quick.

even with my small 4L jobbie, the beer tastes different at the other end (just slightly but enough to notice)
 
Hey guys, I'm looking at one of these as a keg:

Hozelock High pressure garden sprayer

HZL4448_detail.jpg

It's 8L, and will take up to 45psi before the relief valve kicks in. It's $44 from Bunnings.

The pump has a male thread, and can be removed, so hopefully I can fit something else in there. Also, it seems you can get it all seperately as spare parts, so I might be able to get one without the pump section.

Has anyone made a party keg from one of these?

I've seen a CO2 charger on ebay that has a keg fitting (Male I guess). Is there a fitting I can buy to put on the keg to fit this?

Cheers,

Troy
 
Hey guys, I'm looking at one of these as a keg:

Hozelock High pressure garden sprayer

It's 8L, and will take up to 45psi before the relief valve kicks in. It's $44 from Bunnings.

The pump has a male thread, and can be removed, so hopefully I can fit something else in there. Also, it seems you can get it all seperately as spare parts, so I might be able to get one without the pump section.

Has anyone made a party keg from one of these?

I've seen a CO2 charger on ebay that has a keg fitting (Male I guess). Is there a fitting I can buy to put on the keg to fit this?

Cheers,

Troy

Troy,

Wade through the previous posts in this thread and you will find that quite a few people have built party kegs out of garden sprayers. Actually, most people are using the cheaper ones. If you wait around a bit, periodically Bunnings has 5 or 8 litre garden sprayers for around 8-15 bucks. They convert really easily.

If you were here in Victoria, I would shamelessly plug the workshop that I am helping to run at Grain & Grape with another AHB member, Spillsmostofit. We will be supplying all the custom and modified parts and helping to put together party kegs made out of sprayers.

8th December - $15 including parts - see the promo post I made [post="260920"]Here[/post] and the information page on Grain & Grapes website Here

To justify the fact that I shamelessly plugged it anyway ....... If you are willing to wait a little while, After the 8th I will be posting a comprehensive instructional guide for how to convert a garden sprayer into a party keg. Diagrams, photo's a step by step, go to woh how to thingy.

Otherwise, Yes, you can do it, have a look back through this thread for a few hints.

Cheers

Thirsty
 
Cheers mate,

I've already read most of the thread (which is why I went looking for garden sprayers :D) but was wondering if anyone had used this sprayer in particular, as it is difficult to see in the packaging what the pump assembly is like (and it's even hard to tell from the parts diagram on the website I linked to, which shows every part of the unit. lol.)

I'll await the results of the workshop :D

Thanks,

Troy
 
Ah, sorry about that. I misinterpreted. Oh well, it gave me an excuse to get my plug in :)

Sorry, no info from me about that particular sprayer. Just out of curiosity, why that one rather than the cheaper ones??

In any case, about the C02 charger - you can buy a keg fitting called a taylor plug, which is basically a cornie keg post with a male thread, you can get em in gas or in liquid. With the right sized backing nut and gasket, I dont see why you couldn't fit that to the keg.

The other option is to fit a car tyre valve to the keg, one of the mag wheel type ones (not the black rubber jobbies) those chargers are originally made as quick inflators for push-bike racers. So you can buy them (from Grain and Grape here) without the QD on them and they should screw straight onto a car tyre valve. You can also get them from bike shops and/or e-bay and they may well be cheaper.

Cheers

Thirsty
 
Sorry, no info from me about that particular sprayer. Just out of curiosity, why that one rather than the cheaper ones??

Cheers

Thirsty


Looks like the more expensive one will hold more pressure. Not a bad thing. As I noted earlier, the cheapies seem to hold enough pressure for a respectable APA or English ale, but maybe not a lager, Weizen or other gassier beer.
 
No worries :D

The main reason I was looking at that sprayer, was that it was the only one in the Bunnings that I went to. lol.

I'm going to check another store, as I know there is usually a bigger range, but there was lots of stock outs yesterday. Also it is possible that some of the ones people have been posting up in this thread aren't sold in Bunnings stores in WA. Happens quite a lot (which was an issue when there was one catalogue for the whole country...)

Anyway, after seeing the parts breakdown, I'm wondering if I might be able to order one without a pump. Might be cheaper. I'm hoping that I can get away with simple using the smaller threaded inlet, so that if I ever decide I don't need it as a party keg any more, I can use it as a sprayer. lol

The corny keg fitting seem really pricey. Found a gas in and beer out set that was like $70 on ebay. Seems a little excessive.

I might have to look for a supplier.

You can presently buy small CO2 bottles from Bunnings for a new OZITO range of tools. It's only a small bottle (800g or so iirc) and it is about $90, with about $18 for an exchange. But no rental on the bottle.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows if the bottle has any impact on if it is rated "food grade" or if it is only the gas used to fill it.

Just been looking at small regulators, and wondering if it might be the way to go a little further down the track.

Any idea where I could source one of these "Taylor plugs". Google seems to come up short.


Also, does anyone know if you can buy nitrogen in the little 8g or 16g bottles? (NOT nitrous oxide)

Cheers,

Troy
 
CraftBrewer seems to be cheaper.

Hrm...Getting to the point where it might be cheaper to get a corny keg...
 
Roy from TWOC in Bibra Lake sells the Taylor gas plugs for about $25. The Bibra Lake Bunnings is a stones throw away too which is where I got my $8 sprayer / keg.
Cheers
Doug
 
(apologies if pics are too big. I tried to get them as small as possible. Still got the L's on as far as posting pics go...)

Had a crack at one of these a few years ago. Couldnt get it to seal where the beer line came out. We then moved 3 times in 14 months and project sort of got lost in the mix.

Had a crack again a few months ago. This time I got 4 brewing mates at work to make one as well. They are all Engineers, (whereas Im a toolhard sales guy), so I was able to piggyback on their skills which helped.

We were originally going to cut a plug from a nylon breadboard but engineers being engineers the plans got more and more ambitious and we ended up bribing one of the fitters with some HB to turn us up some nice ally plugs.

cap_from_side.jpg

cap_from_top.jpg

cap_from_top_side.jpg

Next we needed the valve. My previous attempt had used a valve that I scrounged from a local JAX tyre branch. I was planning on this again but one of the guys mentioned that we use Schrader valves in one of the products we make. DOH !! Ive worked here almost 8 years and hadnt made this connection. The valves are great for this application as well, with a nice flat bottom. Perfect for carbonation caps as well.

valve.jpg

Next we needed a way to gas up and decided on the bike pump method. We found this guy on EBAY who does the Innovation ones for US$11.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Innovations-Ultrafl...1QQcmdZViewItem

We did a bulk buy of 5 with him and landed them for US$16 each, a tad under $20 each.

Best bet is to get a few mates together and do a bulk buy with him direct. His email address is [email protected]. I used PAYPAL. Ordered on a Tues and they were delivered the following Monday.

CO2.jpg

CO2_x_5.jpg

The cylinder they come with doesnt last too long, so I bought a box of 10 from David Jones, (kitchen ware), for $7.95 which is not a bad price and easy to get. The David Jones ones were the smaller bulbs, so I put a marble and a couple of 5c pieces in the bulb holder which worked well. If you buy one of these CO2 injectors make sure they can take both the threaded and non threaded bulbs.


Last off is the tap. We did a bulk buy from Ross, (Craftbrewer sponsor link above), and grabbed 5 of the picnic taps with the beer line attached. These attach easily to the line out of the original sprayer.

keg_with_tap.jpg

So in summary construction is:

- open top and pull pump assembly out.

pump.jpg

- Put in some sort of plug, (can be a cut out section of Perspex or plastic bread board or a fancy turned plug from ally or brass.
- Schrader valve goes in hole in the plug.

cap_with_valve.jpg

cap_with_o_ring.jpg

cap_fitted.jpg

- Replace the original poison out line with your new beer out line and tap. (hot water and rubber washing up gloves help here)
- Cut a few cms off the bottom of the dip tube.
- I cut the bottom of the handle out as well so the CO2 injector can stay attached with the handle on as well, (perfect for walking around parties with !!).

CO2_on_valve.jpg

cap_with_lid___handle.jpg

Filled with beer, primed, left 2 weeks and it served well. When serving pressure drops and pour gets a bit slow you just give it a quick squirt of CO2 from the injector thingy.


First fill:
first_fill.jpg

First pour
first_pour.jpg

I havent tried to force carbonate with it yet.

Next step is to make one from the bigger sprayer version which I think would be perfect for small batch brews. :party: :party: :party:
 

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