has anyone tried to reuse one of those 5L heinecan kegs for homebrew, or have any ideas for kegging smaller batches 2-3 gallons. just thinking of reducing my batches.
You can reuses many of the 5L mini kegs. However, I believe the newer Heiniken mini kegs are not reuseable. I believe they have some sort of patented co2 charger which is not reusable. All the other mini kegs work on gravity dispense. They have a spout at the bottom and a pressure relief bung at the top. You can buy them new for about $10-12 a piece from homebrew shops, though they are becoming less available. The down side of these are they are not made to be force carbonated and you need to rig up a method of dispense for long term useage. Meaning they are intended to be emptied in a short amount of time since the allow air in when dispensing, so you will need a dispense method that tops up with co2 rather than air.
You can get corney kegs that are 2.5 or 3 gallons. They are not very plentiful and so, not very cheap when you actually find them. The ones I have seen were three times the cost of a used 5 gallon corney.
There are other systems out there too like the tap a draft which uses PET bottles and CO2 chargers. Or the party pig which is another PET bottle system.
You could always go to bottling…
:-X
I have a little CO2 dispenser that came with my 5L mini-keg set. But it’s still not the most airtight setup and they really are designed for relatively fast consumption. Honestly the few times I’ve used them they haven’t worked all that well. But I do have a starter batch fermenting right now that I don’t want to bother bottling so I’m going to mini-keg it. Maybe it’ll work better this time :-\
My dad got a “Beertender” for Christmas from my mom (she didn’t know any better) and we both tried to figure out a way to get a decent beer in those cans but to no avail. Too bad, the Beertender is a nice set up. Would be nice to see some decent beers available for it.
probably still easiest to stick with 5 gallon cornys. thanks
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So, I just picked up a very lightly used Krups B90 Beertender at a garage sale for $5.00, thinking, “Hey, don’t I need another experiment?” After looking around a bit, I found this sorta jenky solution.
https://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=&t=21461
The local national mega drinks stores both sell the Heinicans, so I think I’ll give it a shot. Wish me luck!
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I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that that’s the same @dmtaylor as on this very forum.
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Indeed. The method works quite well but only for a limited time until the keg begins to rust or the inability to properly clean the innards of the keg becomes a problem.
I no longer use Heineken kegs – now I use the uKeg Go (expensive!). But the Heiny kegs will indeed work on the cheap for a few batches.
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Try using these with the dispenser cap….
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Thanks for the info about the lifespan of the kegs! I hadn’t thought of that. Still, for $5.00, I’ll give it try. The worst thing that happens is I have to drink and share some fresh-is Heineken.
Those are an attractive option, but I’m really only interested in this as an experiment. I have 4 Corny kegs and LOTS of glass bottles. This is just for giggles.
I thought about using them when I was first trying to figure out how to connect my beer engines. Ended up just using my 5 gal cornies instead. If you don’t want 5 gals then get smaller ones. Yes they are more expensive but I bet you will find more parts and have less frustration with the cornies
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