# How Long Will A 5 Litre Mini-keg Last.



## EK (4/12/07)

The other day I purchased a couple of 5 Litre mini-kegs, one of which went straight into the fridge. Today (Tuesday), my wife needed some beer for her Christmas puddings, unfortunately the only suitable beer I had was the one in the mini-keg. I needed to draw off a pint pretty quickly and as such I needed to let in a little air. I did this by putting pressure on the inner part of the bung, a slight hiss relieved the pressure and allowed a pint to be poured. I didn't push the centre part of the bung in (as you would if you were going to be drinking the lot).

The problem I have is that I didn't intend on opening it until Saturday night. Now that I have let in a little air, I am wondering if the beer will go off before Saturday?

Should I just start consuming it, or will it be OK?

Also are these any good for home brew?


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## Zwickel (4/12/07)

EK said:


> The other day I purchased a couple of 5 Litre mini-kegs, one of which went straight into the fridge. Today (Tuesday), my wife needed some beer for her Christmas puddings, unfortunately the only suitable beer I had was the one in the mini-keg. I needed to draw off a pint pretty quickly and as such I needed to let in a little air. I did this by putting pressure on the inner part of the bung, a slight hiss relieved the pressure and allowed a pint to be poured. I didn't push the centre part of the bung in (as you would if you were going to be drinking the lot).
> 
> The problem I have is that I didn't intend on opening it until Saturday night. Now that I have let in a little air, I am wondering if the beer will go off before Saturday?
> 
> ...


Hi EK,
if the keg once has been opened, it should be consumed within 24 hours. After 24 hours the beer will not taste any good anymore, will taste stale.
Sorry mate, that was one of the reason I became a homebrewer


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## Mercs Own (4/12/07)

EK said:


> The other day I purchased a couple of 5 Litre mini-kegs, one of which went straight into the fridge. Today (Tuesday), my wife needed some beer for her Christmas puddings, unfortunately the only suitable beer I had was the one in the mini-keg. I needed to draw off a pint pretty quickly and as such I needed to let in a little air. I did this by putting pressure on the inner part of the bung, a slight hiss relieved the pressure and allowed a pint to be poured. I didn't push the centre part of the bung in (as you would if you were going to be drinking the lot).
> 
> The problem I have is that I didn't intend on opening it until Saturday night. Now that I have let in a little air, I am wondering if the beer will go off before Saturday?
> 
> ...



You purchased a couple?? Drink one now and drink the other on Saturday and if you are worried go buy a couple more!


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## EK (5/12/07)

Mercs Own said:


> You purchased a couple?? Drink one now and drink the other on Saturday and if you are worried go buy a couple more!



If I drink one now and the other on Saturday, I won't have one for Sunday...I'm now broke and I don't get paid for another week!


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## 501 (5/12/07)

what type of mini kegs ? 
the Heineken ones last for ages as they are top fed etc, 
the quality from the Imported ones is so much better then 
the Australian Heineken under license bottled crap. 
^_^


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## EK (5/12/07)

501 said:


> what type of mini kegs ?


Bitburger, I don't mind the beer and was hoping to use the kegs for homebrew when I was done.


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## KGB (5/12/07)

I've heard next day fine, day 2 ok, day 3 noticeably going downhill, fast.


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## sluggerdog (5/12/07)

That sux, I'm sure I read somewhere they are supposed to last for 30 days once opened.


Bugger <_<


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## EK (5/12/07)

I managed to pull a pint off today before the vacuum pressure stopped the flow and I didn't need to let air in. The flavour and carbonation were fine.

Note that these are the non-Heineken kegs. Here is an image from the Bitburger site: Bitburger 5L Keg

Also Note that I didn't open it on Tuesday, I just let some air bleed in by pushing the centre of the bung away from the rim of the opening until I heard the air hiss in. The keg is still sealed.


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## KGB (5/12/07)

wally said:


> The Heineken 5lt kegs state that they are OK for 30days.
> 
> I had one last Christmas and the beer was fine for the 5 or 6 days that it lasted.
> 
> ...



Do they use a bladder to let the air in or something and still keep the beer away from the air? I think the bitburger style just opens a vent at the top and lets all that atmospheric goodness flow straight onto your beer  I guess it might keep a little longer if it only let a little air in and then it was resealed, but keep in mind the gas will be slowly coming out of your beer as well. Better drink them fast just in case


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## Muggus (5/12/07)

EK said:


> Also are these any good for home brew?


I recently cracked open a beer (dark lager) i'd 'bottled' in a 5L Bitburger keg. They're a pain in the ass to open and clean, but my beer turned out alright. You basically have to pull out the rubber airlock/grommet sort of thing, and from memory there was a plastic part in the middle that I could only found came free after I pushed into the keg itself with a pen...or something similair. Once you're happy with the cleaning and sterilising job you've done to the inside of the keg (I'll leave that up to you) I filled it with approx. 5L of brew and carbonated it as I would a bottle with dextrose. 
After thatyou're going to have to put the airlock/cork/grommet device back together again just as it was when you originally bought the keg. I found as a safety precaution, it was a good idea to tape over the cork as much as possible to be sure its airtight.
The beer itself had good carbonation, though it had a slight metallic flavour that wasn't present in the bottled versions. Having said that I'd left it in the for 9 months until a suitable occasion came up!
Its well worth a try though, just don't do it with your more premium expensive brew.


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## EK (7/12/07)

OK
After initially drawing off a pint on Tuesday, then again on Wednesday and Thursday for lunch you could taste the degradation of the beer, it was definitely affected by the initial letting-in of air. So, I pushed in the centre part of the bung and consumed the keg on Thursday night.


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## Andyd (7/12/07)

Even better guys - buy a Beer king and use CO2 to dispense the beer - it'll last significantly longer (unless you're really thirsty


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## EK (9/12/07)

Andyd said:


> Even better guys - buy a Beer king and use CO2 to dispense the beer - it'll last significantly longer (unless you're really thirsty



Is there anywhere you can buy a Beer King in Australia? I haven't had much luck with locating one.


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