How much is keg tap? picnic tap?

How much is a keg tap?

When I am asked how much is a keg tap, we are typically talking about the Picnic style taps (which includes a keg coupler, pump and beer faucet seen) example below. 

So we will first talk about those:

How much does a keg tap cost?  … Rent or Own?

- Own : Picnic style keg taps are pretty inexpensive to purchase, generally between $50 - $60 and some nicer taps can cost $90 - $100 but have more typical beer faucets (seen here).

- Rent : often, liquor stores will allow you rent a keg tap for ~$10-$20 but I’d recommend calling ahead of time to make sure they offer keg tap rentals.

One major downside to this picnic style keg tap is that it will cause your keg to go FLAT over time.  Kegs are carbonated with CO2 absorbed in the liquid and it is kept carbonated by using CO2 at a set pressure to dispense the beer, which keeps the kegs at pressure. 

When using one of these pump style picnic keg taps, you are pumping air into the keg to push beer out, which will eventually flatten your beer and also cause it to stale quite quickly.  If you tap a keg with a picnic style pump tap, you should plan to finish that keg same day, otherwise it won’t be very good.

Alternatively, you could use a jockey box which is a terrific way to tap beer, serve it cold and use CO2 to pump the beer out.  This will require also renting a CO2 tank, which can be done at most gas / propane / welding rental retailers. 

Do Kegs come with taps?

Short answer is NO. 

You will need some way to tap the keg.  A kegerator, Jockey Box, Picnic style pump taps or full blown draft beer system … etc.  Keg couplers are specific to the brand of keg, here is quick reference on which couplers match which kegs.

We do offer a few options for your keg tapping here at Keg & Brew Supplies including kits to convert standard taps to picnic style taps, standard pump style taps, nicer pump style taps with faucets … and more here!

Any questions … please don’t hesitate contacting me!

CHEERS!