Corny Party Tap Advice

A forum to discuss the various ways of getting beer into your glass.
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BeerMatt

Corny Party Tap Advice

Post by BeerMatt » Sat Apr 15, 2017 11:10 am

Hello All,
Hope someone can help me here, I'm about to buy a Corny Keg Setup with a Party Tap, a step up from the King Keg i'm using at the moment :=P. The only thing i'm worried about is say I have a few beers one weekend is the beer okay left in the pipeline to the party tap till the following weekend, I don't have a fridge to store the keg in the moment it will be stored out in the garage which is about 9 - 12c, I will get a fridge later just don't have the space at the moment. Is it worth me sticking with buying the party tap or would be better for me to get the corny with a keg faucet instead of the party tap ? Any help or advice would greatly appreciated.

Haydnexport
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Re: Corny Party Tap Advice

Post by Haydnexport » Sat Apr 15, 2017 11:36 am

get one of the taps that fit directly to the disconnect to start , but you wil have to lower the psi considerably to serve anything but froth

Bigbud78
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Re: Corny Party Tap Advice

Post by Bigbud78 » Sat Apr 15, 2017 12:27 pm

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RECONDITIONED ... Swc-tY2QV4

This could do you ? I've bought most of my stuff from the seller, top guy

Haydnexport
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Re: Corny Party Tap Advice

Post by Haydnexport » Sat Apr 15, 2017 12:34 pm

jeesus thats dear , one of these better? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cornelius-Tap ... SwEeFVPs-1

But i have bought a few bits and bobs off norm , very good quality usually

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Re: Corny Party Tap Advice

Post by Bigbud78 » Sat Apr 15, 2017 12:41 pm

Haydnexport wrote:jeesus thats dear , one of these better? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cornelius-Tap ... SwEeFVPs-1

But i have bought a few bits and bobs off norm , very good quality usually
What would it be like for foaming thou ? With a party tap you have to have a good length of small dia tube and with the one I linked its got the flow control.

It would be easy enough to buy a keg and a flow control tap is £25, just needs mounting on the keg or something else.

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Hairybiker
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Re: Corny Party Tap Advice

Post by Hairybiker » Sat Apr 15, 2017 1:37 pm

I used one of those direct connect ones for long time, till I fitted by external tap, No real problem with frothing as long as you keep the psi down to <10. I used to use the plastic tap on the end of a 1M pipe but found that one better (the direct connect).

Haydnexport
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Re: Corny Party Tap Advice

Post by Haydnexport » Sat Apr 15, 2017 1:42 pm

the foaming is minimal if you serve at low pressure , i take a keg with one on when we go bbq's etc with a sodatream bottle for gas works well.

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Re: Corny Party Tap Advice

Post by jaroporter » Sat Apr 15, 2017 1:59 pm

to answer the first question, the only thing that will happen to the beer in the line is it will warm up, which may see it foaming at the start of the next session. it wont go bad though, the tap is just an extension to the keg.
dazzled, doused in gin..

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Dads_Ale
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Re: Corny Party Tap Advice

Post by Dads_Ale » Sat Apr 15, 2017 2:20 pm

I have several kegs with the party tap and 3/16 beer line. Shouldn't be a problem for a week or two as long as you pour off about 1/2 pint before serving.
Not had a lot of success with the direct tap and now only use for cleaning.

My shed based system has a couple of metres of beer line at ambient temperature and again isn't a problem.

You can use on of the fermentation cool bags and ice blocks to keep kegs at a reasonable temp during the summer months

BeerMatt

Re: Corny Party Tap Advice

Post by BeerMatt » Sat Apr 15, 2017 5:58 pm

Hello Guys,
Thank you so much for your replies, can't believe got so many. I think I will now probably buy a Corny setup with a Direct Tap / Faucet that comes with it. This seems the way to go and I won't worry about the beer being in the line for a week and have to get rid of the first bit before pouring.
Many thanks again for all your replies & advice.

Fil
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Re: Corny Party Tap Advice

Post by Fil » Sat Apr 15, 2017 6:18 pm

As long as you dont disconnect the tap and applied some sanitation procedure to the inital tapping then you can consider the keg and beerline feed up to and including the Tap All part of the same enclosed system. And the only area you need concern yourself with is the tap spout which will benefit from a rinse out between sessions.

The connect to keg taps are imho as worthwhile as a chocolate teapot loss of condition is inevitable when you maintain a keg at the low pressures needed to pour without a catastrophic loss of all co2 contained as condition.

your much better off imho modding your party tap to include a length of upto 5-6ft of the thin 3/16" micro line. this not only coils with a much tighter radius so is way neater it also has the effect of reducing the keg pressure along its length so that at the tap the pressure difference isnt high enough to cause a foam out.

so to sum up

1) mod the tap to include a length of pressure reducing 3/16" micro line to balance off your keg pressure as a rough rule of thumb 1 foot length of micro line can drop 1-2psi of keg pressure. The goal being no more than 1 1-2psi difference in pressure at the tap release as anything higher can stimulate the foam out ;)
you can ebay modded party taps even..

2) maintain good sanitation procedures when tapping a keg (wash post, tap, and tube etc, before rinsing and sanitising (starsan is a godsend in such situations)
then once tapped leave the tap in place and you can consider the tap and its beerline feed a simple extension of your keg and forget any worries about it.

btw due to the pressure reducing quality of the micro line beer close to the tap will loose its condition in the line and there will be lots of visible gas bubbles, NOT A PROBLEM.. the beer contained in the beerline is a drop in the bottom of the glass, all it means is the start of each session the tap will cough up 1/4 - 1/3 of a pint of foam which if left to sellte would be a couple of mm depth in the glass which you can simply discard before continuing to pour a well conditioned pint ;)


Well thats my take ;)
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate :(

BeerMatt

Re: Corny Party Tap Advice

Post by BeerMatt » Sun Apr 16, 2017 5:19 pm

Hello Fil,
Great bit of advice there - I think now that is probably best I go withe the party tap with the extra line, what kind of pressure would I need to keep the keg at the temp it would be in my garage -around 9 - 12c ? I take it 10 psi would be to low ?
Cheers again

Fil
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Re: Corny Party Tap Advice

Post by Fil » Mon Apr 17, 2017 1:21 pm

BeerMatt wrote:Hello Fil,
Great bit of advice there - I think now that is probably best I go withe the party tap with the extra line, what kind of pressure would I need to keep the keg at the temp it would be in my garage -around 9 - 12c ? I take it 10 psi would be to low ?
Cheers again
check out the sticky with the conditioning chart in here its got temps in C,
viewtopic.php?f=59&t=55498
the one i have bookmarked is in F temps for an indication of optimum temp pressure balances for ideal condition setting and maintenance. I say an indication because no 2 thermometers and no 2 pressure guages will agree, and setting lower pressures can be a pita as you can find the pressure has crept back up an hour later.. .. 10 psi is a tad on the high side for my tastes with an ale or bitter i tend to keg @ and serve @ circa 4-6psi for low conditioned beers, while upto 15 psi for more fizzy highly conditioned drinks (going by my regs)

If you do over condition brew with too much pressure its not the end of the world. shake n vent repetitions can be employed to take excess condition and pressure from a brew
it may take a few sessions over a few days and be a pita, and tbh i generally sup a bit of over conditioned ale when it happens here..

if keeping in the garage without a keg fridge insulate the hell out of em you will want to keep the day/night temp fluctuations off the beer, im in the same boat and come winter and temps drop my beers get very fizzy. come summer i need to use a shelf chiller as otherwise its just too warm.. its more of an art chassing the seasons when kegging without a keg fridge, if yiu have room i would get one asap, without one you will need to waste a bit more co2 as each pouring session is best started with a keg vent to ensure you have the serving pressure wanted and not more due to warmth-condition loss - extra co2 in the kegvoid = higher pressure,, tho its all do-able ;)
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate :(

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