Hi All, I am ready to spring for a conversion kit that would include two corny’s regulator, splitter and picnic taps. I’m on the fence about buying two taps that could eventually be mounted on a collared freezer chest. In an effort to keep things simple and cost effective, is there any real drawback to picnic taps and opening up the freezer to pour? My thought is down the road I’ll build a collar and mount taps. Time and money are keeping that on the back burner. Thoughts?
Thanks, Mike :?
No drawbacks other than it’s not as showy. And I like my chest freezer without the wooden collar - the height is just right for working (I attached a 3/4" piece of plywood to the top).
I was sort of hoping you were going to offer up 
It seems the simplest approach for the time being.
I thought exactly as you. i have six kegs in a chest freezer with picnic taps. however i found that the sides and bottom of my freezer are constantly dripping with sweat because of the opening and closing of the freezer. not good…
im working on converting right now with perlicks and a wooden collar.
Good news. I’m going to do this on a 3 keg size due to space and avg consumption. I know I’ll make modifications as needed. I’m pulling the trigger today!
I using a picnic tap on one keg as I continue to build my keezer. “Sweat” on the inside is annoying, but other than that, no big deal.
FWIW, I included a door in my collar so i didn’t have to lift kegs/carboys the additional 6 inches (I’m old) 
.
:cheers:
All this talk about sweat makes me think you’s dudes drink lots of beer. I guess that’s the point :shock:
[quote=“sethhobrin”] however i found that the sides and bottom of my freezer are constantly dripping with sweat because of the opening and closing of the freezer. not good…[/quote]I have two EvaDry rechargeable dessicant packs in the freezer and the drips are kept to a tiny puddle once or twice a week. I do try to minimize the time spent with the door open, too.
Call me just plain nervous maybe, but I have a 3-tap chest freezer kegerator that can hold 6 kegs, and so sometimes a 4th or 5th keg on tap inside requires me to use a picnic tap. However, I generally pour those myself rather than let guests do it, because I know how to avoid beer drips that would dirty the inside of my otherwise very clean keezer. I typically squirt out the end of the picnic tap with iodophor solution after pouring from it, shake it into the drip tray, and insert the faucet end into a gallon zip lock bag to keep the inside of the keezer immaculate. At 33F, it’s a pain to think about cleaning the inside, not to mention due to the hard reach-in from the additional height from the wood collar.
I also use two EvaDry 500’s and get no condensation, but then again I live in a northerly, dry climate to start with.
I am going to evaluate soon how easy it would be to add a 4th tap thru the collar since that just works best to keep everything clean, available, and simple.
my 2 cents.
The condensation from opening the fridge all the time is the biggest issue due to the condensation generated.
As for the picnic taps, I used them for a long time for kegs that I didn’t have tap space for. The drawback is allowing friends to pour their own and make a mess. I just sat the end(s) in a bowl inside to prevent the inevitable drips, and only sanitized when changing kegs or after the rare gathering which always ended up in some mess to clean.
Thanks fellas! Well, at least I’ll get my kegging underway in the next few weeks. I’m sort of a neat freak so I’ll be pouring for all. As for the condensate, I’m sure it will get old to deal with especially in SFL. Good motivation to build a collar right.
I have a 2x4 collar and ran my picnic taps thru it. Someday I’ll upgrade to perlicks but not any time soon since I just got laidoff yesterday.
Very sorry to hear that.
Thanks. 43% of my dept got let go. My head is still spinning. Wondering if I can roll my very modest 401k into a roth IRA and then be able to withdraw what I put into the roth (my 401k balance), without penalty? I’m guessing probably not.
On the positive side I have a lot more time for brewing. And drinking, for that matter. I sense a lot of light beers in my near future. I’m gonna now split the grains from grateful dead guy into two batches and add in some cheap beet sugar to each batch. I’ll do one batch with the 2-row and the other with the munich and end up with a side by side comparison. To add to the pile, this sunday is my 38th birthday.
Wishing you the best of luck. For me, brewing is medicinal. I hope it is for you as well.
