Force carbonating with newer model (i.e. one cartridge) Tap-A-Draft

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by BedetheVenerable, Aug 6, 2012.

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  1. BedetheVenerable

    BedetheVenerable Initiate (0) Sep 5, 2008 Missouri

    A couple of you commented on my 'barleywine that might not carbonate properly' post earlier today. I got to thinking. If this doesn't carbonate in a couple more months, I can either a) drink it still (it's actually pretty tasty at 2 months so after 3-4 more, I imagine it will be good even still) or b) I can try to fix it. I know that Tap-A-Draft says you can force carbonate in the bottles. I, however, have the newer (i.e. only one cartridge at a time) system. All of the instructions I've seen are for the two cartridge system. Does anyone know how/if I could, theoretically, crack all my barleywines (most of em are in 22oz bottles), pour them gently into one of the six-liter Tap-a-Draft bottles, and force-carb them up? I don't plan to do this now, but will wait and see if I can get any carbonation at all by October or thereabouts.
     
    #1 BedetheVenerable, Aug 6, 2012
  2. inchrisin

    inchrisin Pooh-Bah (2,013) Sep 25, 2008 Indiana
    Pooh-Bah

    If you have to buy a regulator, like this guy did, you're about $100 away from kegging. You just need another fridge a CO2 tank and a keg. :slight_smile:
     
    #2 inchrisin, Aug 7, 2012
  3. benetoh

    benetoh Zealot (536) Feb 2, 2008 New Jersey

    The tap-a draft model you are talking about will work to force carbonate. I just had to do it for a belgian style that sat in one of their containers for 6 months and apparently didnt have a good seal. When i opened it, it was still flat (and luckily was not oxidized) Keep the 6L with the beer in it in the fridge for 24 hours, and put the tap on as you normally would. Give it atleast 2 days to carbonate though, one day didnt quite do it.

    You will also need to put in a second cartridge later on, once the first one runs out, in order to keep dispensing.
     
    #3 benetoh, Aug 7, 2012
  4. BedetheVenerable

    BedetheVenerable Initiate (0) Sep 5, 2008 Missouri

    Thank you SO much for this! You actually answered two of my questions, w/out even knowing it. I was wondering if I could ever put some of my age-worthy (not more than 6-12 months) brews in a Tap-A-Draft bottle. Some people had suggested that this type of plastic might be fairly bad at keeping oxygen out. Have you had much experience with long-term storage? It seems from the post above that at 6 months there didn't seem to be much of a problem. What kind of caps do you use?
     
    #4 BedetheVenerable, Aug 8, 2012
  5. benetoh

    benetoh Zealot (536) Feb 2, 2008 New Jersey

    I aged two beers in their bottles so far, a belgian brown and a sorachi green tea tripel. the brown was in the 6l for 9months using their standard cap and came out with no issues. the sorachi was in for 6 months but came out flat. Neither was any more oxidized than a beer of their age would be out of the bottle.

    My theory about the chemistry behind it is that even though there is obviously O2 in the container in the head space, there isnt enough to oxidize any noticeable amount of the beer, because each O2 can only oxidize once.

    Anyway, i have heard of using other caps or teflon tape, although i dont know if the teflon is nonreactive.Glad I couldhelp
     
    #5 benetoh, Aug 8, 2012
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