Party Pig Beer Dispenser (pet Mini Keg Thingy)

[ozpowell]

My Tap-A-Draft arrived yesterday, I'm all set to go, I even have an All Amarillo Ale halfway through fermenting. I'm thinking I'll fill the two PET bottles I've got with this brew, force carbonate the first, and put some carbonation drops in the second and hope it takes me a few weeks to drink the first bottle.

I'm wondering if you can answer a few questions I have.

Can you give me a quick guide to force carbonating with the TAD?
How many CO2 bulbs can I expect to use? Do I need to shake/rock and roll it around when cold? How long will it take to carbonate?

Hey Wardhog,

Force carbonation with TAD is pretty simple. Be sure to fill your PET to within only 1 to 1.5 centimeters from the lip on the neck - don't leave too much head-space. Attach the valve unit. NOTE - when cleaning, don't submerge the valve unit in any kind of sanitizer, it will dry up the lubrication inside the pressure valve, just run the bits exposed to the beer under hot water for a minute of so and then attach to the PET bottle. Insert two CO2 bulbs and place in the fridge. You will notice that the PET bottle become very firm once you've attached the bulbs. Check the bottle every few hours and, when you notice it is no longer firm, replace ONE of the bulbs. Repeat this procedure until the bottle no longer loses it's firmness. I usually alternate the bulbs that I replace (ie. left then right then left etc.), but that's probably not necessary.

I haven't ever actually force carbonated from scratch. Whenever I force carbonate, I usually still prime each PET bottle with 4 to 6 carbonation drops (ie. 15 to 25 grams of priming sugar) and leave the bottles for a few days before force carbonating as per above. Using this method, I usually go through about 4 bulbs to carbonate the 6L. So, at a guess, if you're doing it from scratch, I'd say you'll need probably 6 bulbs. Probably a day or two required all up.

I've never tried shaking/rocking the bottles to increase the CO2 absorbsion. If you try it, let me know how it goes.

Note also, if you're naturally carbonating, don't use the same proportion of priming sugar/malt extract that you would normally use for bottling into 750ml bottles. I would suggest no more than 40g of priming sugar per 6L.

Finally, I find that it takes a good 3 or 4 days for all of the sediment to settle out and I'm pulling crystal clear beers.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Cheers,
Michael.

 

[Uncle Fester]

My Tap-A-Draft arrived yesterday, I'm all set to go, I even have an All Amarillo Ale halfway through fermenting. I'm thinking I'll fill the two PET bottles I've got with this brew, force carbonate the first, and put some carbonation drops in the second and hope it takes me a few weeks to drink the first bottle.

I'm wondering if you can answer a few questions I have.

Can you give me a quick guide to force carbonating with the TAD?
How many CO2 bulbs can I expect to use? Do I need to shake/rock and roll it around when cold? How long will it take to carbonate?

Fester's guide to TAD force carbonation:

Fill bottle as normal, add tap and chill. once cold, add 2 x CO2 charges. Whilst keeping the bottle the right way up, shake the crap out of it for 5 minutes, or until your arms give out. Put back in fridge and leave overnight.

It will be ready the next day (It may be slightly under carbonated, but the internal pressure of the bottle is 15psi, so it will soon balance out nicely). You will start to lose dispensing pressure some way through the keg. add 1 new CO2 charge, and keep drinking. Most of the time that is all that is needed. however, if the beer absorbed heaps of CO2 during the shaking phase, you may need a second extra charge to push out the last 25% of the contents.


Festa.

[EDIT] Your'e a made of far stronger stuff than me if you can make a TAD of Amarillo Ale stretch 2 weeks whilst waiting for another to carb up naturally [/EDIT]

 

[Wardhog]

Your'e a made of far stronger stuff than me if you can make a TAD of Amarillo Ale stretch 2 weeks whilst waiting for another to carb up naturally

Note the inclusion of the word 'hope'. I also hope I'll win the lottery.

Thanks for the replies, guys. With any luck, I'll be able to pour the first on Saturday night.

 

[Uncle Fester]

Note the inclusion of the word 'hope'. I also hope I'll win the lottery.

Thanks for the replies, guys. With any luck, I'll be able to pour the first on Saturday night.

Good luck - FWIW, I would force carb 1 TAD, naturally carb a second and have a third sealed in the fridge waiting for the first to die a noble death. then I would force carb the second and by the time it has met it's maker, the naturally carbed one will be ready.

Be aware that the naturally carbed TAD will have more sediment in it due to the fermentation process.

one little trick I devised was to leave the sit the bottle in a CD spindle cover like a giant egg cup. That way all of the sediment accumulates at the base of the bottle. When you are ready, chill it upright, and when you put the tap on it, carefully place it on it's side. the vast majority of the sediment will remain at the back of the bottle, away from the pickup tube.


Cheers,


Festa.

 

[yeungnut]

Interesting post!

I have been using both Corny kegs for 3 years and TAD for aproximately 18 months. The reason I got both is that if you are doing a 23-25L batch you have those extra litres to bottle which is a PITA. It's nice to have a 17L -18L keg and 5-6L keg which is a lot easier to transport or store in a kitchen fridge rather than having to go out to the shed where I have my kegging system. I also purchased the insulating jacket which is great for barbies and keeping your beer cold outside on hot days.

Some observations which maybe of interest:

The white screw cap with O ring from i-brew.com.au are heaps better than the plastic or metal caps which come with the PET bottles and are better for natural carbonation. I picked up half a dozen while on the Goldcoast last year.

I now naturally carbonate in the TAD bottles and force carb the corny keg straight from fermenter. No problems with clarity. There is a perceptible difference between the two in that the TAD conditions alot better and the resultant beer tastes better and alot smoother in my opinion. This maybe due to the forced versus natural carbonation issue as the yeast still being active clean up some of the harshness which takes longer to resolve in the corny keg if your not filtering.

The ability to use nitrous bulbs with the TAD is a plus if you like a creamer tightly packed head such as with Stouts. Nitrous is also good to experiment and compliments many other styles.

If your looking to get a TAD system Grain and Grape are considerably cheaper than I brew and also have a couple of 20% of sales per year which helps if you can wait until then.

All in all a good alternative to Corny Kegs in my opinion

Hope this helps

Phil

 

[ozpowell]

If your looking to get a TAD system Grain and Grape are considerably cheaper than I brew and also have a couple of 20% of sales per year which helps if you can wait until then.

Hey CILA - I didn't realize G&G stock TAD! Thanks for the tip. I'm actually on the Gold Coast, but find iBrew WAY too expensive. I'm also not real keen on the guy who owns the business.... <_<

All in all a good alternative to Corny Kegs in my opinion

I agree.

Cheers,
Michael.

 

[Fents]

For anyone wanting Cheaper C02 Bulbs get them here :

http://www.finewhip.com.au/

No we did not used to buy whipped cream bulbs in bulk and inhale them as kids to get high. h34r:

 

[Wardhog]

For anyone wanting Cheaper C02 Bulbs get them here :

http://www.finewhip.com.au/

No we did not used to buy whipped cream bulbs in bulk and inhale them as kids to get high. h34r:

Thanks, Fents. I think I'll get a fair bit of use out of that site.

 

[Fents]

As did I

 

[Wardhog]

Well, the maiden voyage of the SS Tap-A-Draft was a rousing success. Grain to brain in 7 days. Racked from primary fermenter into TAD bottles Friday night, one went in the fridge, the other had priming sugar added. Saturday morning saw 2 CO2 chargers used along with vigorous shaking. A second set of two was used Saturday afternoon with additional shaking.
Beer ready to drink by tea time. Mmmm, Amarillo and BBQ ribs.

First TAD bottle empty by the end of Saturday night, with fifth CO2 charger used to push out last half of bottle.
NB. Had nearly forgotten how to speak English just before bed, drank 2 pints water, and bounced out of bed Sunday morning with no sign of hangover. Commercial beer looking progressively less and less appealing.

Emergency purchase of two more TAD bottles occurring Real Soon Now, and trip to see Dave at Greensborough HBS planned. I think I'm going to be brewing a lot more often now.

Thanks to ozpowell and Uncle Fester for their good advice leading up to a successful first time usage.

I would recommend this bit of kit to anyone.

 

[ozpowell]

Thanks to ozpowell and Uncle Fester for their good advice leading up to a successful first time usage.

My pleasure. Glad to hear you had a successful weekend!

Cheers,
Michael.

 

[Rons_Place]

Well It's been over a year since the last post on this thread but I thought i would add my 2cents.

I have been using a TAD system for quite some time and think there are great.

Today I just finished putting my keg system together, the TAD will compliment it, as mentioned Fill a corny and the left over into the TAD bottle.

I did try Force carb the TAD once but the tap couldn't handle the pressure and kept opening skirting out of the tap and on to the ceiling, in the fridge etc resolved this problem by adding a rubber band to the tap, it was quite funny but since then now I only naturally prime.
I have 6 bottles which worked well for me, bottle the first batch ( 4 Bottles) then make the next and by the time that finishes I have finished 2 bottles so can fill 4 again. I still have had to on the odd ocassion fill stubbies so the beer can mature properly in the PET bottle.
Sediment had never been an issue but I only do K&K's

2 co2 bulbs is all i ever had to use to dispence the beer, ( 1 at a time) and @ $8 for 10 that works out about $1.60/6l bottle, so works out about $25/ 23l brew, not cheap but still considerably cheaper than buying 60 stubbies of packaged beer. I have never had trouble getting the bulbs.

Back to my keg system, I purchased 4 corny's and apart from this first brew which I will force carbonate ( hanging out to try it) I still plan to naturally carbonate because beer appears tastes better with some ageing and the co2 bottle should last considerably longer between refills if only used to dispence the beer.

Hope I did the force carb alright, Filled the keg, put a bit of co2 and burped the keg,chilled to serving temp, gunned the reg all the way, turned off the gas backed off the reg and now just letting it settle, hopefully over the next 24hrs it will equalize so I can have a drink from it tomorrow.

Cheers
Ron