How to Serve Wine On Tap

Kegging wine has become a far more common occurrence in the beverage industry, and for good reason! Being able to pour a taster or single glass without wasting the remainder of the bottle, having consistency throughout 5 gallons, and the more conveniently sized and less breakable storage are just some of the advantages of such set ups. However, it is not as simple as disconnecting your existing beer and hooking up a keg of wine. Here is how to get your wine on tap on your system. 

White Wines:

Getting a white wine pouring on your system will start at your gas supply. Like beer you will need an inert gas (ie. not Oxygen) to push out your beverage without risking contamination. However, you also are not trying to carbonate it (unless you are, see sparkling wines down below!). To achieve this, either Argon or Nitrogen is most commonly used. Nitrogen is easier to acquire and cheaper, but as Argon is less reactive many people claim it is less likely to have any effect on your wine than the nitrogen might. To hook up either gas, you will need a different connection than is on a standard CO2 regulator. You can get Nitro/Argon specific regulators, or you can get an adaptor to use your existing one. The pressure will also be very low compared to your classic beer dispensing, pushing only at 4PSI. 

Connect the gas valve to the coupler for your wine. In America this is almost always a Sanke D coupler, though if you buy from imported wineries, check with your retailer to verify before you buy something you can not dispense. For the liquid out portion, you have the option of hooking to a standard faucet, or using a nitro faucet to give a burst of aeration to your wine. Personally, I like to use the Intertap faucets with the interchangeable spigot so that I can switch back and forth between them, depending on what variety of wine I am pouring. Set your system to between 45-50 degrees fahrenheit, hook up your keg, and you are ready to pour your first glass!

Red Wines:

Red wines may be the trickier to get started on, as you may have to reroute your system. If you are doing beer and white wine, you can generally keep them in the same kegerator with slight adjustments to temperature. For a red wine however, you are typically keeping them at between 55-65 degrees, drastically warmer than you would want your beers at. You can have a specific unit dedicated to red wine to keep them at their specific temp, or some people keep the wine at room temp sitting outside their kegerator, routing the beverage lines through holes in the sides or backs of the units. It is also possible to build a sudo-kegerator system out of a tower and any storage container you wish, making a system to hold your wine without cooling it (see the Barrel Dispenser Below!) Either way, besides the temperature issue, the rest of the setup is the same. 4PSI Nitro or Argon in, Wine out through a standard faucet or nitro spout.

Hollow out whatever you like to make a room temp dispensing system for your red wine!

Sparkling Wines:

Sparkling wines are the easiest wines to get dispensing on your traditional beer system. You can use the same CO2 and regulator you use for your beer and the temperature range is close as well (40 - 50 degrees). Depending on the brand, you may also use a similar pressure, some keeping theirs in the 10.5-14PSI range (though others are up to 30PSI). For this reason, many bars have their champagne on tap for easy and cheap options for mimosas. Just make sure to clean your lines before you switch from a beer to your wine, as you will not want to taste an ipa or stout added to a glass of champagne!

Ohza’s Classic Mimosa is one of several brands kegging premixed mimosa for bar convenience!