On The Verge of Tears

Yep! If you already own a Corny Keg and the taps that fit on the posts, this is literally all you need to convert your kegging system into a dual purpose server. Mind you, you’ll need the Corny taps( whether your keg is pin-lock or ball-lock) that have a MPT (male pipe threaded) tip, not a barbed tip, so make sure you ask for that at your Homebrew Store.

Your Kegerator “coupler” probably looks similar to this. The air line comes in from the side, and the beer is dispensed from the top. The lines on this one are clamped with screw clamps. Even if yours has crimp clamps, no worries. You won’t have to pry them with pliers.

Simply take your scissors and cut the lines near the coupler. Before cutting your air supply line, make sure your regulator is shut off, and the CO2 tank is closed. If you have screw clamps, remove them and save for later.

Now, unscrew the two nuts holding the old tail pieces to the coupler. Under the beer supply at the top, you’ll find a rubber gasket, and under the air supply, you’ll find a check valve. Keep both of those, as well as the nuts. The tubing and the old tail pieces you can either throw out, or slice off the tubing and save for spare parts. You won’t need them anymore for this tutorial.

You’ll now have two open tubes going to your CO2 tank, and your tower and faucet. Insert the swivel set through it’s corresponding nut and into the tubing. Remember to slide the screw clamp over the tubing first so that you can tighten it onto the barb once inserted into the tubing.

Make sure you leave a little space between the tubing and the nut on the swivel set. This is what allows you to be able to tighten the nut without twisting the hose. It’s called “swivel” for a reason.

With those secured in place, simply screw them tight to the taps on your Corny keg and you’re ready to dispense your favorite beverage.

Replace the check valve and gasket on the coupler, and attach the new MPT tailpieces to the coupler. You’re now ready to switch back to the old, traditional coupler when you run out of home brew and want to drink a Miller Lite.

Simply unscrew the air and beer lines from the Corny taps and attach them to the “D” coupler. Tap your favorite brew!

UPDATE!!! Here’s another way to do it, if your home brew store carries the parts. You can get tailpieces that fit onto “D” Sanke couplers that are Cornelius/home brew keg posts.

Once screwed on, you’d be able to simply leave your corny disconnects permanently attached to the beer and CO2 lines, and either connect them to a corny keg system, or right onto a regular keg coupler.

these posts cost around 40 bucks a set, not including the disconnects seen in this picture, but they save you from having to find a wrench when you want to convert back and forth, and save you a bunch of time as well. The only advice I can give here is this: I would still recommend that you have threaded swivel sets on the beer line, instead of a barb and clamp. That way, when in come times to clean out the beer lines, you can simply unscrew the disconnect from the swivel set and run BLC through the lines.