iBrew tap-a-draft versions

[Fore]

Hi. Been wondering about what to do with the 4-5 litre left over from a Cornelius keg. I'm quite anti-bottle, basically for reasons of lazyness. All solutions seem to have their down sides, but the tap-a-draft (iBrew) system seems to come out on top, specifically the 5 litre x 4 version, for obvious reason.

It seems, from US reports, that they upgraded their tap in early 2011, from a 2x8g to 1x16g. Thing is, all UK sites seem to sell the older version. Are they just dumping old stock onto non-core markets or am I missing something?

Is tap-a-draft a good solution? I'm aware of the cost of the gas, 1x16g per 10 pints, but I think of it as divided by 40, not 10 .

 

[Steveicky]

A cheap option is to use a 5L mini keg. A lot of the micro breweries are selling their beer in these now.

You can buy a mini keg full of beer and then re-use the empty keg. Although the mini kegs are considered disposable they can be successfully re-used.

 

[orlando]

A cheap option is to use a 5L mini keg. A lot of the micro breweries are selling their beer in these now.

You can buy a mini keg full of beer and then re-use the empty keg. Although the mini kegs are considered disposable they can be successfully re-used.

And if they are cask conditioned you can harvest the yeast too.

 

[Pearlfisher]

I have the 8g tap a draft system , they are very good except if you want to put them in the fridge at a very cold temperature (5C.) then they become very expensive to carbonate.

 

[Fore]

I did consider the mini-kegs, but sort of discounted, partly due to cost (including necessary tap if not drinking all within 2 days), partly due to short life (~6 times) and also storage difficulties. Still, they are on my shortlist.

I was a bit surprised to read that the recommended maximum number of uses for the tap-a-brew bottle is 10, but I guess this is a safety limit which can be safely exceeded if you look after the bottles (no heat, scratches, etc.). Yes I hear that they eat gas if in the fridge; possibly wouldn't refrigerate in this case (ales). Can anyone explain the 8g vs. 16g question? The 16g seems to be the latest tap, but I see websites selling the "new" system but with a photo showing the 2x8g tap. A bit confused :wha: .

I might end up going the bottle route finally, partly as I can then age at least one example of each beer for much longer. I just remember my bottling days, for lager, and it was very tedious. Still hoping there is a cheap fail proof solution out there. It's bottles isn't it .

 

[Fore]

Can I ask this... I'm definately not intererested in reusing supermarket beer bottles. I'd just worry every time that the thing was going to explode. However, in Germany where I shop, they have a returns system on their beer bottles and they are reused by the brewers several times. Is it the case that such reused bottles are always OK for homebrew use? I repeat that I wouldn't use standard bottles, but perhaps these are different. The weight of a 500ml one I have here is 370g. What do you think?

 

[Fil]

ive recently got mini kegs to keep the excess from a corny for a standard circa 23l brew. i was bottling, and just found a crate of 20 such bottles i had forgotten :)

i looked at the ibrew system too, Big 5l pet bottles, but spare bottles and caps were not cheap. or u needed a tap cap for each bottle??.

the fact u can force condition in the pet bottles is an advantage over the mini kegs, as they cannot take the pressure needed for that.

My experience with minikegs and co2 taps is that they encompass the worst features of PBs and cornies, the bottom suck drain of a co2 tap on the mini kegpulls sediment first and the pour pressure yo-yos betwen gas injections like a pb,

but both issues are exagerated by the smaller keg volume..

im going back to bottles for my next few batches.. the surprise find crate just sealled the deal.

imho mini kegs are perfect for chilling and pouring from a built in tap in a single session.. for anything else they are compromise solution :)

no doubt after the next brew i will be sick of cleaning a dozen bottles or so and be back with the minikegs tho

still 10-12 bottles is way less to clean etc than 40 odd :)

 

[Fore]

So finally I did go the bottle route for Cornie overflow, and not some fancy iBrew or Mini Keg. Bottles are cheap and problem free for long term storage. I also realised that quite a few kits are not the full 23 litres. In fact, of the 8 kits I have bought, only 4 are the full 23 litres, and 2 are 18 litres. 18 litres exactly fills the Cornie with no bottling.