kegs - details

[locokta]

Hey all,
Until recently i was a student at an american university but have now returned to my nation. as a sort of cultural exchange, i wish to bring home the "Keg Party" culture.
Now, we already have kegs for draught commerical taps here, the ones with professional machines and taps.
I however, want to introduce the good old hand pump... however, i heard from someone here recently that it wouldn't work because our kegs here have CO2 inside them. my question is, what exactly is the make up of an american keg used for most college parties. i know the size but thats abt it. no idea how hte inside stuff works, is there CO2 pressure? are kegs in bars different from those in parties?
please help me.

[wild]

The keg is the same. The dispensing equipment is what can be different. All kegs that are not conditioned are mechanically filled with CO2. The dispensing equipment requires a tap that opens the keg, usually a picnic tap to pour from, and gas or pump the push the beer out. In theory, a gas or a hand pump could be attached to any keg.

Wild

[Mill Rat]

I assume you're not talking about English-style cask-conditioned ale here, which is a different story entirely. Yes, US kegs have CO2 under pressure inside them also, otherwise the beer would be flat. When you install a hand pumper on a keg, the hand pump connects to the same port on the tapper as the CO2 line would on a tap box system. There's a check valve in that line, usually built into the pump, that prevents the CO2 from escaping from the keg through the pump. When you pump it, you take air and put it under more pressure than is in the keg, allowing the check valve to open and let the air into the keg. The same principle should work with the kegs that you're using.

One note of caution, the hand pump will put air (including its 21% oxygen) into the keg. The oxygen will deteriorate the beer fairly quickly. (In a day you can taste the difference.) If you plan to empty the keg in an evening, no problem, but if you want to make the keg last, a CO2 system is a good investment.