BBR: Portable CO2 Charger for your keg

[@nathan2632]

Wow, you and I had the same exact need for this device. I'm heading to a cabin with some friends for the 4th of July, and I'm taking my keg with us. I thought about bringing the 5 pound tank I have but had the same concern about breaking the regulator. I did pick up the picnic tap style dispenser with a 3 foot hose, so we'll see how it works. Thanks for the how-to video on this!

[@BuffaloBeerReviews]

Welcome. I hope it works out

[@brsbkrgl]

How was it? Foamy? My biggest concern about this kind of setup is tons of foam.

[@nathan2632]

@@brsbkrgl I definitely had a bit of foam, but it was also pre-carbonated in the keg and in the back of a passenger van for a 6 hour drive immediately before. So I don't know if the foam was from being shaken for 6 hours or by the CO2 canister. Beer was delicious, though!

[@brsbkrgl]

thanks for your answer Nathan.

[@ericstinnette5888]

Very helpful. I hadn’t used mine in a while and couldn’t remember the order of operations.

[@distlledbrewedreviewed]

Fantastic breakdown my friend.

[@BuffaloBeerReviews]

Thank you!

[@mikehoy2886]

Thanks for a great video! I may have missed this but can you use these to force carbonate a beer from the start? I have been bottle conditioning all of my brews so far and i am a bit intimidated by the extra equipment needed for a full kegging set up. I was hoping to get a little 2.5 gal keg that I can tuck into my fridge but can't figure out if this would be a sufficient set up to force carbonate AND serve it without a regular CO2 setup. Thanks!!

[@BuffaloBeerReviews]

Thank you... I though I had read up that initially carbonating with this guy is not recommended. It’s probably do-able but would be terrible inefficient.

[@unityproject2279]

Hi there thanks for this video.
I have a 19L corny keg that needs carbing. How many would it take with these mini cartilages from nothing to beer ready? Hope this makes sense. I just wanted to try them out before I got a larger C02 tank

[@BuffaloBeerReviews]

I get what you’re saying. That’s a tough call? Maybe 3 till pouring. Given the O2 has been purged. It really works best when you know where/when you’re going. You can give the keg a nice robust fill, and then have the portable pick up the slack after a few pours.

[@kalescullen3600]

If you end up with any yeast in your keg dose the keg clean it up with the CO2

[@robstephens5291]

Have you ever gotten the c02 cartridge stuck in the charger? Can't unscrew it to change out the cartridge 😢 thanks!

[@handradesilva3767]

Hello, I live in Brazil and bought a co2 trigger style device. A question / Does this device leak when not used? It is normal for it to leak or it works normally. The product that goes the cO2. Thank you friend. A big hug from BRAZIL.

[@BuffaloBeerReviews]

I thought it would leak when not used but it doesn’t. I also don’t think it will last long enough for you to have to worry about that. It does fill up the keg pretty quickly. I didn’t notice any leaks anywhere’s while using it.

[@user-charlieccchong]

Genius!

[@oreo1064]

I found one in a Starbucks dumpster. Can it be filed from the air compressor?

[@kiernanmay8177]

I've got same one and have experienced leaking to the point it only lasts one day per cartridge, 6 pints or so. Any idea

[@cysiurts]

Hi. What kind of Co2 cartridges are you using ? With thred or not ?
I want to buy this item :)

[@BuffaloBeerReviews]

They are threaded. Only tightening until you hear the seal pop.

[@cysiurts]

Buffalo Beer Reviews Great! Thank you ! Can you send a link from some store with these cartridges ? I don’t want to buy bad ones :)

[@BuffaloBeerReviews]

Krzysztof Sz not sure. I picked mine up from the beer store in Buffalo. But this link looks reasonably priced compared to what I paid. Generic Innovations 6 Pack Threaded 16g Co2 Cartridges for Bikes 16 Gram Bicycle Tire Inflators Refills for Mountain and Road Bikes www.amazon.com/dp/B07L38JHTK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ypmbEb96KK6KN

[@cysiurts]

Buffalo Beer Reviews thank you so much !

[@rodvikvr]

Awesome.

[@thomasfrank1227]

Any feedback on how much CO2 / how much beer it’ll dispense ?

[@BuffaloBeerReviews]

I wasn’t able to do an official account. But I do recall using like 2 or 3 small ones for the keg.

[@SS-pi2yi]

Great vid - thank you!
I am not too familiar with kegging yet..so please advise as to my 3 questions here:
1) Since the CO2 charger is quite small, how much glasses of beer do you actually get?
Enough for the whole keg until it empties? I assume no, but please advise just to understand better..
2) Since you have no gauge, in general when would you know the CO2 is finished - is it because the beer would taste flat? meaning no more CO2 gas?
3) Would you have any idea if this portable CO2 charger would work placed over a carbonation cap in a 2L (PET) plastic soda bottle filled with water to make seltzer water? or simply to carbonate soda drinks etc as shown here using a 5lb CO2 tank. czcams.com/video/84IClX8ZYsI/video.html
thanks.

[@BuffaloBeerReviews]

those are all good questions. The portable CO2 cartridge really works best as quick resort/quick option. Probably works best with kegs smaller than the 5 gal keg that I had it on. I was able to get an entire keg emptied at a party with about 3-4 cartridges when using the tap handle, if you are using a longer type hose with the plastic dispenser it will use more CO2. It really is a nice option because I can keep the CO2 tank and hardware at home and bring this. These last a pretty good amount of time, you'll notice that you need to change them when the stream of beer goes really slow. I would assume you could use these to do seltzer and sodas. I would advise, if possible, that the majority of the carbonating be done with a larger CO2 tank source first and then use this just to dispense, or you're gonna run through a lot of them.
Cheers....
Brian

[@SS-pi2yi]

@@BuffaloBeerReviews ok so would it be correct to say that the role of the mini CO2 charger as used in your video, is primarily to create a pressure over the beer/liquid surface in the keg so that when you use the dispenser, beer flows through...
- is this correct? where the mini CO2 cartridge is really used to help with the flow out of the dispenser rather than the carbonation of the liquid in the keg ? (which i assume the carbonation should have been done in some previous step when making beer) ? please advise.
Sorry if my questions are 'finicky' as I just want to understand how this works as you used it etc.thanks

[@BuffaloBeerReviews]

S S yes. You are correct. I have a larger CO2 tank that would initially carbonate the keg. It takes a little while to carbonate, and a lot of gas. Also, the tank regulator is bulky and expensive, so if you don’t have to disassemble and travel with it, risking it breaking, then the smaller system is perfect.

[@SS-pi2yi]

@@BuffaloBeerReviews great thanks again.

[@suburban91]

Can it be used both with threaded and non threaded cartridges ?

[@BuffaloBeerReviews]

Yes. I had a threaded cartridge that came with it from store and the refills were non threaded. Worked for me.

[@garydsouza2335]

how many beers would you get from one charge,

[@BuffaloBeerReviews]

If the beer is carbonated and pressurized prior to using, I believe we used 2-3 little CO2 charges to get the keg pretty much kicked. I brought the entire 6 pack though to my first party because I hadn’t used them for an all day party before.

[@garydsouza2335]

@@BuffaloBeerReviews cheers pal

[@BuffaloBeerReviews]

Cheers. I hope the video helped

[@kinggorf]

I'm going to be using these for the first time with a mini keg
I did a quick test and it does leak a bit. My plan is to only connect it when it needs a charge.
So basically dispense as much as possible first without hooking it. Then when the flow stops I'll give it a charge.
It seems a little flimsy to leave on the keg for an extended period of time

[@StoneyardVineyards]

It is a great system when you take a keg with you . Prost

[@BuffaloBeerReviews]

I could get used to it. Cheers!

[@russgalgiani2261]

lack of information.... what is the red button for? can you take it off without losing the charge? too much talking and not enough explaining