Serving at Party: Faucet to disconnect, or picnic tap?

I want to take a keg to our beach vacation and need to serve it for a week or so. I think I’ll just put the keg in a small garbage can and keep icing it down when needed.

But, do you prefer a faucet attached to the liquid disconnect, or just using a length of tubing and a picnic tap? I’m leaning towards the faucet so I don’t have to worry about keeping the tubing for the picnic tap cooled. I’ll be taking my CO2 tank for dispensing as well.

Any other suggestions or issues with these setups?

Thanks in advance.

I usually use a 7’ length of hose and a cobra picnic tap. Mainly to slow down the pour and balance it properly sinse iced down kegs are usually colder and more carbonated than at 44F. I wrap the hose around the keg and slide a homemade keglove over it to keep it chilled with the keg.

If you use just a faucet on the keg post, you will probably have to have a length of tubing inside the keg attached to the pickup tube to balance the system and give you a nice pour.

[quote=“MullerBrau”]
If you use just a faucet on the keg post, you will probably have to have a length of tubing inside the keg attached to the pickup tube to balance the system and give you a nice pour.[/quote]

I’ve read that elsewhere. But why wouldn’t I just dial back the pressure and serve at 3-5 psi? Seems like adding tube inside the keg is more work than it’s worth. You probably know better than I though…

[quote=“Chinaski1217”][quote=“MullerBrau”]
If you use just a faucet on the keg post, you will probably have to have a length of tubing inside the keg attached to the pickup tube to balance the system and give you a nice pour.[/quote]

I’ve read that elsewhere. But why wouldn’t I just dial back the pressure and serve at 3-5 psi? Seems like adding tube inside the keg is more work than it’s worth. You probably know better than I though…[/quote]You CAN dial the pressure down but then your beer will lose carbonation with time. Much better to “balance” the system.

You can add the “swizzle sticks” - an epoxy mixing tip insert - into your dip tube and shorten your line lengths quite a bit. I add 2 sticks to each dip tube, and then run about 6’ of line at ~12 psi.

If you wanted to go even shorter, I know you could fit 3 in there, and possibly 4. The convoluted mixing path adds back pressure and slows the beer down on the way out.

There was a bit of a buzz over these a couple years ago on here, and I’ve used them ever since. Great idea.

Just cut the tip off and push the white insert out. It fits perfectly inside the dip tube!

[quote=“MullerBrau”][quote=“Chinaski1217”][quote=“MullerBrau”]
If you use just a faucet on the keg post, you will probably have to have a length of tubing inside the keg attached to the pickup tube to balance the system and give you a nice pour.[/quote]

I’ve read that elsewhere. But why wouldn’t I just dial back the pressure and serve at 3-5 psi? Seems like adding tube inside the keg is more work than it’s worth. You probably know better than I though…[/quote]You CAN dial the pressure down but then your beer will lose carbonation with time. Much better to “balance” the system.[/quote]

OK, makes sense. The 7’ line with a picnic tap is looking better (and cheaper). What psi do you dispense at?

So, what sort of receptacle are you using to keep the keg cold, and do you have a pic of your “keglove”?

[quote=“Chinaski1217”]OK, makes sense. The 7’ line with a picnic tap is looking better (and cheaper). What psi do you dispense at?

So, what sort of receptacle are you using to keep the keg cold, and do you have a pic of your “keglove”?[/quote]
Here’s a photo of my homemade kegloves. With a balanced system you can serve and carb at 9-10 psi with your keg in a 7 gallon bucket packed with ice. Sorry if the photo is huge, I am doing this from my phone and can’t resize.

I have served from a 6’ line with picnic tap (PSI set to around 3-4) for a full weekend and not had any carb loss from unbalanced lines.

Not suggesting the methods above aren’t the right way to do it, just that I’m not sure you will have any noticeable difference in product with a simpler method.