Pressure Barrel Kegerator

Nameisnotvalid · May 15, 2019

Hi All,

First time caller, long time listener.

I've been homebrewing for approx 6 months now and have recently been looking into Kegerators.
I was wondering if it was possible to build a set up using a pressure barrel as opposed to Corny kegs.
It appears that this has been discussed on the site a while back, https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/kegerator-with-pressure-barrel.13096/, but unfortunately links to pics ect. now appear to be dead.

Any tips/info would be appreciated.

My main concern is maintaining pressure and the attachments need to add a more professional looking tap.

Nameisnotvalid · May 22, 2019

No-one?

BarnBrian · May 22, 2019

Nameisnotvalid said:
No-one?

I've not done it myself but there is no reason for it not to work. At the end of the day the Cornie is a pressure barrel. The only thing to consider is the physical size of whatever type of barrel you are planning to use.
If it will fit with its attachments then it will work.

-Bezza- · May 22, 2019

I can see some limitation to using a PB rather than a proper corny keg and by the time you've bought your fridge/freezer, taps, beer lines, connectors, regulator etc, the £135 to get 3 proper kegs isn't going to be a big deal and will save a whole load of faff.

The limitations as I see it:
- PBs don't hold as much pressure without ballooning or, worse, splitting. That makes force carbing harder and generally connecting a CO2 bottle a little iffy in my book.
- Cornies rely on the CO2 pressure to dispense, with the taps typically mounted higher up that the keg. PBs rely on a mixture of low CO2 pressure and gravity to dispense. So to get the PBs to deliver beer upwards to taps would require some sort of CO2 supply.
- Yes, you could probably fashion something up using the little CO2 bullets, but you'll tire of that quickly.
- Connecting a proper tap to a plastic PB seems a bit of a challenge. I can think of a few ways that it could be done but it would be a bit heath robinson and no doubt prone to leak.

I don't mean to be too negative but realistically it doesn't strike me as a sensible idea, even though it could theoretically be achieved.

Depending on your reasons for wanting to get a kegerator, there might be other things worth considering (mini kegs, pressurised garden sprayers).

Graz · May 22, 2019

Here's mine

Seriously consider corny kegs though. I'm going to convert the above when funds allow. Had enough of pressure barrels that don't hold pressure.

Lewis88 · May 29, 2019

I did for a short time before buying corny kegs, I used a wilko pressure barrel with a shraeder valve drilled into the lid. This allowed me to link it up to my co2 bottle. The valve type I used was similar to these:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/192747582114

From memory I believe that I linked up the tap to a proper tap just by using some silicone as well. Worked fine for me! Although pressure barrels are auto venting for excess pressure so was only good for ales etc.

Pressure Barrel Kegerator

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Pressure Barrel Kegerator

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