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Widget World Cylinders make a comeback

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After a short period of uncertainty regarding their future, we are please to announce that Widget World Cylinders, used by many homebrewers to carbonate their Cornelius kegs, are now back on the market. The original manufacturers sold the company durign the summer and shortly afterwards, Youngs ceased to be the main UK stockist for the homebrew trade. It has now been announced that Ritchies will become the UK stockist and distributor with immediate effect.

Widget World Gas Cylinder

At present, only the CO2 bottles will be generally available, though discussions are apparantly ongoing regarding the supply of the N2/CO2 cylinders. The So-dash handle and cylinder stand will also shortly be available from Ritchies.

 So-Dash Gas Injection System Widget World Cylinder Stand

The new recommended retail price for these will be increasing to £21.50 for new cylinders and £13.35 for refills so we will unfortunately have to increase our prices once our exisiting stock has run out.

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Comments

  1. Steve Boland

    I'm interested in the so dash handle and cylinder stand could you keep me updated please. Hi Steve, I actually have a cylinder stand in my "obsolete stock" box, but the rest of the system has been unobtainable since 2016.

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  2. Stephen Mcnair

    Hi I am looking for a supplier of c02 gas midget widget bottles. Are there any suppliers in Scotland ? Thanks Stevie ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Stevie, The company producing/filling/distributing the midget world cylinders ceased supplying to the Homebrew Wholesalers during 2016 and it is now an obsolete system. Sadly, there are no alternative systems that work with the Widget World control handle. These cylinders had the same external screwthread as that used on the "old" Sodastream cylinders, so for a while it was possible to use the widget world cylinders with the "Sodastream Adapter" (which had previously become obsolete when Sodastream changes to upgraded, aluminium cylinders that had a different screwthread), but this system is now also obsolete. If you are trying to inject standard Homebrew Barrels, then you will need to use either a Hambleton Bard S30 cylinder or the 8g "Sparklet" type bulbs depending upon which valve is fitted. If you are trying to use it with a "Corny Keg", you will have to change your system to a standard 2kg, commercial gas cylinder with a regulator (not normally available from Homebrew Shops as the Homebrew Wholesalers do not support these systems). If you are trying use it to inject CO2 into a tropical fish tank to promote plant growth, then you will need to change to a standard aquarium set-up. Regards Andy

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  3. Scott Ayling

    Hi can you please tell me when you will have the widget world so dash back in stock Thanks

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    Hello Scott. I don't routinely stock the So-dash handle system any more as the current version isn't quite as usable and flexible as the previous version was. My understanding of the situation is that new owners of the Widget World company found a set of blueprints relating to an old design of handle and had the handles manufactured to that design, rather than to the pre-2010 design that was available when we first joined the industry in 2008. The pre-2010 design had the pressure gauge attached directly to the handle and was fitted with a small brass connector that allowed air tubing to be connected either directly to a suitable "in post" for connecting to a Cornie Keg, or to a "Universal Barrel Adapter" to allow it to be screwed onto an S30 or Pin valve. The original So-Dash handle was designed with the a separate pressure gauge attached directly to a circular screw threaded post which allowed it to be used on top of a 2" or 4" barrel lid as a direct replacement to an S30 or Pin valve. Unfortunately, the plastic screw threaded post on the current pressure gauge is not easily adapted to allow it to attach to a Cornie "in post" and being circular, does not fit properly in the holes provided for the current design of S30 or Pin valves as these tend to be Oval in shape with straight edge sides to stop the valve rotating in the lid housing. I can easily order them in from Ritchies but at a cost of £45.00+ they tend to be quite expensive for an item that doesn't really work properly in either of its common uses, even after modification and improvisation by the user. If you would like me to get one in for you to try, let me know and I'll add one to my next Ritchies order. Regards Andy

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  4. daryl

    Hi. Last time I came to your shop we spoke about the widget co2/nitrogen mix refills. At that time they were not available but you mentioned that they may become available again. have you got any good news yet?? many thanks

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    Hi Daryl. As of 24/2/2012, there is still no news from Ritchies (the sole distributor of these cylinders) regarding when/if the new owners of Widget World are planning on re-introducing the CO2/N2 mixture, nor as to whether or not they will be producing "So-Dash" handles. Sorry.

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