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"PARTY PIG"
hi guys, my local homebrew shop sells the "Party Pig" beer dispenser. they charge $44 for it (which to me seems a bit high 
), but on the other hand you can basically "keg" your beer for alot less $$$ than a corny keg & C02 setup.
It seems that it would make bottling, cleansing, and sanitizing much easier. you would need two of these for a 5-gallon batch, but that's still much easier than having to bottle, cleanse, and sanitize dozens of bottles. seems like a win-win to me, but you guys are the experts. so my questions are:
1. has anybody ever used one of these pigs (LOL)?
2. if so, does it work good?
3. do you think it's worth the price?
The "Party Pig":
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Never used the party pig. I rate it right up there with Mr Beer in that I feel both are not a very high quality product.
Now since I have no experience with either product, and before an unnamed person decides to attack me, here is what I will say. If both of these products were that great, why don't more people use them? Why are the the majority of positive reviews from those who know ZERO about brewing?
If I read reviews from others who are very well educated in the science, and find nothing positive, gee... are they all wrong? That is why I don't stand up for either product.
I would recommend a kegging system. They cost more, but are completely worth it.
cubx wrote:
Never used the party pig. I rate it right up there with Mr Beer
I don't know why you have to bring mr. beer into this, the "pig" has nothing to with it and I see absolutely no valid reason for grouping them together. the pig is not a fermentor, it is only meant to be used as a keg after primary fermentation is complete.
cubx wrote:
If both of these products were that great, why don't more people use them?
again, you cannot group them together, they are different products, from different manufacturers, made for different purposes. you cannot use product popularity as an indicator of quality or usability. also, how do you know that "more people don't use them"?
cubx wrote:
not a very high quality product
the quality looks pretty good to me. if you look closely at the picture you will see that the spigot assembly actually uses two metal rings and 4 bolts to form a clamp that should create a very secure seal (that doesn't seem cheap to me 
). other than that it's just a big bottle, I'm not sure what kind of quality you would be questioning?
cubx wrote:
before an unnamed person decides to attack me
by "unamed person", you're obviuosly refering to me. I never attacked you. i only questioned your stubborn, biased, and opinionated views. you respond to posts with no evidence to back up anything you say. if you don't want the truth to be slapped back in your face then I'm not sure why you choose to start arguments.
I would love to hear other [more open-minded] people's thoughts on this product
1. Because you spoke of Mr Beer in an earlier conversation, and now you speak of the Party Pig, both of which are elementary products. I never said it was a fermentor. I said both are grouped in the early stages of learning, and both are not quality products.
2. "you cannot use product popularity as an indicator of quality or usability. also, how do you know that "more people don't use them"?" Oh... YES I CAN! I have been brewing for several years, and I know NOT ONE mainstream brewer who uses these products. Yes, it IS in fact safe to say this. I say most people do not use them because, well, do me a favor my friend, search Homebrew Digest, this web site, Homebrewing (that is a web site), or anything else that comes up on the first page of google hits when you type in "homebrewing", and ask how many of them use this. That speaks for itself. It is not common.
3. "the quality looks pretty good to me. if you look closely at the picture you will see that the spigot assembly actually uses two metal rings and 4 bolts to form a clamp that should create a very secure seal (that doesn't seem cheap to me wink). other than that it's just a big bottle, I'm not sure what kind of quality you would be questioning?"
You are a novice brewer. Looks mean nothing.
4. by "unamed person", you're obviuosly refering to me. I never attacked you. i only questioned your stubborn, biased, and opinionated views. you respond to posts with no evidence to back up anything you say. if you don't want the truth to be slapped back in your face then I'm not sure why you choose to start arguments.
Actually, BEERKING... NO, I was NOT talking about you. Don't assume.
I have not ever actually seen one of these, much less used one, but it looks like mini keg such as those you can find from More Beer. The principle always seemed decent to me, in that you basically fill up a few of these (apparently 2 for a Party Pig, I think it was 4 for the mini kegs), but you really wanted to naturally carbonate similar to bottling. They also can fit into a refrigerator, which is a bit of a bonus.
Before I got my keg system, my LHBS owner had one of the mini keg set ups. He had used one himself and he strongly recommened holding out for the true keg setup, if I could. He was actually selling the one mini keg system he had on ebay as he couldn't sell it in his shop (probably because he kept telling people to get true ket system).
Ok here we go again, the part pig is just another tool or introductory device to get the beginner into homebrewing, in my opinion if you are serious about brewing you will look beyond equipement such as this, please lets not make this discussion proceed like the Mr. Beer one.
thank you norcalnewb for being open-minded and realistic about this,
norcalnewb wrote:
I have not ever actually seen one of these, much less used one, but it looks like mini keg such as those you can find from More Beer. The principle always seemed decent to me, in that you basically fill up a few of these (apparently 2 for a Party Pig, I think it was 4 for the mini kegs), but you really wanted to naturally carbonate similar to bottling. They also can fit into a refrigerator, which is a bit of a bonus
the "mini-kegs" use C02 forced-carbonation right?
the party pig is basically just a 2.4gallon bottle. it does use natural carbonation. as I understand it, you make your brew the same way you would if you were going to bottle. after primary/secondary fermentation is complete, you prepare your brew in your bottling bucket. then instead of filling up bottles, you fill up the pigs (or 1 pig and the rest in bottles). the "pressurepack" internally inflates to keep a constant 19-21 PSI pressure inside the pig (which keeps air out as beer is drawn from the tap)
this would save save much time and aggravation from cleansing, sanitizing, and bottling bottles without the high expense of a full keg setup.
The mini kegs could be force carbonated, but from everything I saw on them it was best to naturally carbonate and just use the CO2 cartridges for dispensing the beer. It seems to be a pretty similar concept, except the Party Pigs use the pressurized bag insert to help with dispensing the beer.
I'm a bigger fan of the Tap-A-Draft system. While I've never actually used the Party Pig, I had beer from one and it was not good. Granted that probably had to do with the brewer and what he brewed than the party pig, but it didn't help that it came out super foamy, which I assume was the party pigs fault. While the Tap-A-Draft system holds less, it also costs less and it gives you the ability to naturally or force carbonate, in addition to using CO2 to pour the beer. So it ends up being more like a true keg system. I've found it really easy to just force carbonate the first bottle and while I'm drinking off it, the rest can naturally carbonate. And you have the option of only hooking up one CO2 cartridge instead of two, so you have slightly more control over the pressure and dispensing.
DT
dmofot wrote:
I'm a bigger fan of the Tap-A-Draft system. While I've never actually used the Party Pig, I had beer from one and it was not good. Granted that probably had to do with the brewer and what he brewed than the party pig, but it didn't help that it came out super foamy, which I assume was the party pigs fault. While the Tap-A-Draft system holds less, it also costs less and it gives you the ability to naturally or force carbonate, in addition to using CO2 to pour the beer. So it ends up being more like a true keg system. I've found it really easy to just force carbonate the first bottle and while I'm drinking off it, the rest can naturally carbonate. And you have the option of only hooking up one CO2 cartridge instead of two, so you have slightly more control over the pressure and dispensing.
DT
I've read about this thing, can you elaborate more?? I didn't see anyplace where there might be a picture with it but it sounded tempting....