TAP-A-DRAFT: first impression...

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How long can you store homebrew in this system? I want to make a few batches right off and pre prime them, so I know a few of the bottles will be sitting for a 3-4 months by the time I get to them. I am just worried about shelf life.
 
Folks I've talked to have kept them for several months without any issues. One even said he's kept them around for up to a year before tapping them without any problems. Of course, YMMV.
 
ChshreCat said:
Actually, I thought the TAD bottles looked better than the party pigs. Granted, I've only seen the pigs in person so far. One advantage is that one TAD system will hold nearly a full 5 gallon batch of beer while the pigs hold half. And the TAD has 1/3 of the batch in the fridge at a time, so it's less space. And if you screw it up, you only lose 1/3 of your batch instead of half. That's a bit incentive to those of us (those of me) that have and average of 4.5 thumbs on each hand. :D

One thing I like is that if I find someone nearby who uses a TAD, we can trade bottles of our brew.
Click to expand...

No, not the party pigs.... those things look kinda generic (though functional). I was referring to this:
5 Liter Party Keg with tap - Kegging by Stomp Them Grapes and the tap: Party Star Tap - Kegging by Stomp Them Grapes

You can find thm a lil cheaper on other sites but those links are one of the few to show pics.
 
goodbyebluesky82 said:
What makes this system better than the Party Keg system? The price seems comparable, and the aluminum party kegs don't have to be replaced like these PET bottles. Plus they look way cooler.
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The aluminum min-kegs are very difficult to clean, and if over-primed they will buldge and must be discarded. The tap-a-draft PET bottles are more thicker than regular plastic pop bottles and will last longer than the mini-kegs.

Also, I've heard many complaints with the taps that are used for the mini-kegs; many breaking after a few uses. The tap-a-draft dispenser may not look as sturdy, but it really is. I've been going nuts with mine ever since I got it and it's working perfectly after 30 bottles. Plus I got the repair kit for it when the time comes to change the tubing and gaskets.

Also the mini-kegs when hooked up with the tap takes a heck of alot of space in the fridge, especially compared to the tap-a-draft.

The tap-a-draft "looks" cheaper, but it's very sturdy and reliable.

Cheers:mug:
Tony.
 
Sorry about reviving an old thread but my question is related.

I've read on other forums that people were not happy with the tap-a-draft because the tube was placed right where the trub was on the bottom and it sucked it up. Do any of you run into this issue or do you use gelatin/cold crashing to remove most before going into the TAD?

Thanks
 
kendrid said:
Sorry about reviving an old thread but my question is related.

I've read on other forums that people were not happy with the tap-a-draft because the tube was placed right where the trub was on the bottom and it sucked it up. Do any of you run into this issue or do you use gelatin/cold crashing to remove most before going into the TAD?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Use a secondary or cold-crash the primary for a few days prior to bottling to settle out as much stuff as possible. I'll still get a cloudy pour on the first glass or two but it's no biggie. You're going to have that problem with any kegging system as the pickup tubes go to the bottom.
 
jkarp said:
Use a secondary or cold-crash the primary for a few days prior to bottling to settle out as much stuff as possible. I'll still get a cloudy pour on the first glass or two but it's no biggie. You're going to have that problem with any kegging system as the pickup tubes go to the bottom.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I cold crashed before I bottled into the TAD. In two more days they will be two weeks old but I am going to wait another week before chilling one and giving it a try.
 
Just wondering does Anybody know where to get TAD in Canada, (Any where in Saskatchewan would be Great!)
 
I have ordered TAD kits from both morebeer.com and breworganic.com

These are both US sites, but I could not find anything locally. The kits came to around $100 us including shipping. If you buy from the US make sure you choose the USPS shipping option otherwise you will be surprised by a nasty customs brokerage surcharge from UPS when it is delivered.
 
I got mine from MoreBeer. Mainly because they had something else I wanted at the same time. Just "bottled" with it for the first time on April fools day so I'll give it it's first try at the end of the month.
 
ChshreCat said:
I got mine from MoreBeer. Mainly because they had something else I wanted at the same time. Just "bottled" with it for the first time on April fools day so I'll give it it's first try at the end of the month.
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what did you put in it ?

I use mine for cider ! it works great, cold cider always on hand !
 
ChshreCat said:
Folks I've talked to have kept them for several months without any issues. One even said he's kept them around for up to a year before tapping them without any problems. Of course, YMMV.
Click to expand...


I have had my system for over a year now and yes it is easy to store your brew with it !

all that I can reccomend is that you store them with the caps pointed upward !!

I had one on its side for about 2 weeks and it leaked out, on that note buy new caps often ! it is worth it. even the smallest scratch inside of it will cause a leak, from my what I have learned the hard way.

takes up about the same shelf space as to gallons of milk, but about 2/3 as tall


Hope this info helps


-Jason
 
kendrid said:
Sorry about reviving an old thread but my question is related.

I've read on other forums that people were not happy with the tap-a-draft because the tube was placed right where the trub was on the bottom and it sucked it up. Do any of you run into this issue or do you use gelatin/cold crashing to remove most before going into the TAD?

Thanks
Click to expand...


no real need too.

there is a weight on the bottom of the draw tube that you can adjust.

I give myself about 1/2" in after the weight to keep the tip out of the mess

-Jason


sorry about multi-posts I was reading the thread backwards !
 
Cheeto said:
all that I can reccomend is that you store them with the caps pointed upward !!

I had one on its side for about 2 weeks and it leaked out, on that note buy new caps often ! it is worth it. even the smallest scratch inside of it will cause a leak, from my what I have learned the hard way.
Click to expand...

I bought a different style of cap from my LHBS that are used for wine jugs (38mm I think). They have a thick plastic seal inside. Using these, I never had an issue with leaking. I suggest having a look for them.
 
Cheeto said:
what did you put in it ?

I use mine for cider ! it works great, cold cider always on hand !
Click to expand...

I filled a bottle with my Brown Biscuit. I just did one bottle from the batch. I have a double chocolate stout in primary I'll fill a bottle with next month.
 
TAD is easy to use, that's a big plus.

Using Teflon tape is a big help when priming, too. It seems there's always a bottle or two that don't carb right.

A couple of times recently, the tap popped open during the night and drained half the bottle into my mini-fridge, which really sucked.

But, overall, I think they're great, and for an inexpensive no-brainer alternative to cornies, they're really worth it.

You can get 8 gram cartridges off eBay for a great price, too.
 
I'm reviving this old thread again. I'm getting back into brewing after about 16yrs. I had a bar with a 2-tap tower, 4 corny kegs for serving and 4 for fermenting when I was brewing in the early 90s. I don't want all the big stuff this time. Simple mash/extract brewing is what I plan to do this time. I don't want a ton of bottles around either so this looks like the perfect solution for me. Are you guys still happy with this system?
 
I'm still happy with it. I've been brewing for almost a year now and I am very tired of bottling so today I am ordering 4 more bottles.

The way I have used them is to only use 1 CO2 cartridge at a time. If you use two it over carbs and you get too much head. Besides that I've had no issues.
 
I haven't had any issues with overcarbing when using 2 CO2 carts at at time.

I just lucked into a kegging system recently, so when I get that set up I may relegate my TAD system to making sodas for the wife and kid. Not sure yet.
 
Just wanted to chime in on another benefit of the TAD.

I work at a local brewery's tap room and I fill these all the time right off the tap. My customers say it works great. They hold just a few ounces more than 3 growlers, and they get to take 1.5 gallons of beer home to have on draft in their fridge.

So they work for more than just homebrew. That would be a nice perk when the pipeline is running low.
 
Has anyone had a problem if they under filled one? I was filling mine recently and finished 2 full and 1 half way. I carb mine with priming sugar and decided to test the half filled one since it seemed pretty rigid given a squeeze. The beer that came out of was pretty sour, could that have been because of all the air space left in the bottle?
 
I always carb mine with sugar. Force carbing on a TAD eats up CO2 carts. I go through enough as it is with them primed.
 
ldgenius2000 said:
Has anyone had a problem if they under filled one? I was filling mine recently and finished 2 full and 1 half way. I carb mine with priming sugar and decided to test the half filled one since it seemed pretty rigid given a squeeze. The beer that came out of was pretty sour, could that have been because of all the air space left in the bottle?
Click to expand...

I had one bottle with a lot of headspace left 2 batches ago. One thing I do, regardless of how much headspace is left, is squeeze out all or at least some of the headspace before capping. With my bottle I fill almost completely, I give them a little squeeze before twisting the cap on so almost all of the headspace is gone. The headspace useually returns a few hours after caping due to CO2 production. Of course, this will only work if you're naturally carbing the beer. For the bottle that I did not fill compelely (filled about 2/3 of the way) I wasn't able to remove all of the headspace, but did fget about half of it out. Due to the nature of CO2 being heavier than the normal mix of gasses that compose air, it creates a "blanket" over the bear which will protect the beer as long as you don't move the bottle a lot. I intentionally made this TAD bottle the last one of the batch I drank to both give it sufcient time to carb given all the extra headspace and to test and see if the extra headspace would impact the beer. I can tell you that this was the best bottle of the batch, probably becuase it aged the longest.

On a side note, 2 nights ago I did my first full 5 gallon batch where I did not use my TAD system, I used regular 12 ouncers. Man, that was a pain. My 45-minute bottling session with the TAD took about 2.5 hours, and all those bottles are a lot harder to store than 3 TAD bottles (and one or two 12 ouncers for the remainder).

I think, for my next batch, I'll do 2 TADs and the balance in bottles... depending on how lazy I'm feeling.
 
jrfuda said:
Due to the nature of CO2 being heavier than the normal mix of gasses that compose air, it creates a "blanket" over the bear which will protect the beer as long as you don't move the bottle a lot.
Click to expand...

That's why open fermentation as used in Belgium doesn't get contaminated. The combination of thick foam on the surface and the layer of CO2 keep the contaminants out.
 
limulus said:
That's why open fermentation as used in Belgium doesn't get contaminated. The combination of thick foam on the surface and the layer of CO2 keep the contaminants out.
Click to expand...

CO2 keeps the oxygen out, but not contaminants. It protects against oxidation, not infection.
 
mrgstiffler said:
Wow, this is a pretty sweet find! I have 3 winter brews that will be bottled in 3 weeks and wasn't looking forward to that. I'll get a couple of these instead!
Click to expand...

Unless you want to have more than one serving at the same time, you can just get one TAD system and then buy extra bottles.
 
That, I don't know. It doesn't work quite like a regular keg. It's worth a try though!

I just bottle up some regular bottles at the same time I do the TAD bottle.
 
I ordered a TAD system yesterday. I hope to use it on a batch in about 2-3 weeks.
 
Just on a side note I was able to bottle directly from the TAP, just don't bottle right after adding a co2 cartridge too much foam, 1.5 months later still good carbonation.
 

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