Portable keg tapper

Claim 1

Portable apparatus for tapping a beer keg, said key including a generally cylindrical side wall closed by a top and a bottom and having a recess formed in the upper end thereof, and means defining a normally sealed tapping aperture in the top of the keg which is automatically opened when a tapping assembly is slidably sealingly inserted therethrough, said tapping assembly including an elongate rigid pipe dimensioned to extend from substantially the bottom of said keg upwardly through said tapping aperture and terminating at its upper end in means for releasably attaching a beer-delivery conduit thereto, and a gas-delivery pipe formed around the upper portion of said tapping pipe to extend coaxially into the upper portion of said keg, the inside diameter of said gas-delivery pipe being larger than the outside diameter of said tapping pipe, the annular space between said pipes communicating with means for releasably connecting said gas-delivery pipe to a source of gas under pressure, said apparatus comprising: a. a portable ice-containing cooling chamber having the lower end thereof sized and shaped to be received within the recess in the upper end of said keg and having an aperture in the bottom thereof communicating with the tapping aperture in the top of said keg; b. a beer-dispensing faucet carried by said cooling chamber; and c. beer-delivery conduit means forming a cooling coil inside said ice-containing chamber, the inlet of said conduit means terminating in means for releasably coupling said coil to the upper end of said tapping pipe and the outlet thereof communicating with the inlet of said dispensing faucet.