# Heineken Kegs



## littlew6 (13/6/07)

Has any one addapted a heineken keg to be used as a party keg?if so how and pics if you have them.
Regards Wal


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## Enerjex (13/6/07)

it it's easy i'll be annoyed coz i threw mine out a couple of weeks ago! i shoulda played with it a bit to check it out.


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## jkeysers (13/6/07)

Hmmm...
I have one too, i'll be interested to hear about this if anyone knows if this can be done. Saves me having to buy a six-pack when I go to a mates place, just fill up my little Heiny keg.


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## hockadays (13/6/07)

I chopped one up to inspect and they are not made from stainless so I threw the whole thing away...


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## oldbugman (13/6/07)

You want one of these


Beer King


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## DarkFaerytale (13/6/07)

any more info on thos bugman? website?

-Phill


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## Enerjex (13/6/07)

i found it on ebay Here, also a few shops in the states seem to have it. My main question is carbonation, i think it just creates pressure for serving, so does this mean you have to prime the beer before putting it in the heineken keg and let it mature for a few weeks first to carbonate? This also brings about the question of whether the heineken keg is strong enough to take carbonation pressure, and also how you rip the original fittings etc out of the heineken keg in the first place as I believe it has it's own co2 supply inside.

I also believe there are a few more of these mini kegs coming onto the market one from lowenbrau and some others, spose maybe wait and see what the others are all about.


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## winkle (13/6/07)

When I was using one you could either force carbonate or 'keg condition', I think it took one sparkler bulb to force carbonate and another to dispense. The bulbs were smaller than the ones you see at home brew shops though, I'll see if I can find out the size.


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## jpbirbeck (13/6/07)

I was just looking at the 5l min-kegs today. The Party Star Deluxe Tap System and the Beer King 2000 are a couple of options for dispensing from the minikegs. Its seems like a reasonable alternative to the tap-a-draft or partypig systems. The systems are german made, specifically it seems for the german mini-kegs.

http://www.beernut.com/Web_store/web_store...t_id=93114_3278 
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/Pr...spx?ProdID=4897 

Not a bad little system...


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## boingk (13/6/07)

Yeah, I tried playing around with a mates and it looked pretty intimidating - we couldn't figure how to get the beer in there in the first place. Apparently the older VB style mini-kegs were good at being reused as they had a removable top bung and a bottom dispensing tap. Oh well.

Anyways, I copied what Geoffi has been doing and went down to Bunnings and got myself a nice little 8L sprayer for $15. Cleaned and sanitised it inside and out, and am using the stock SS rod minus the spraying nozzle for dispensing. Its in the fridge at the moment with 2 longies inside it, which were already carbed. Carbonation is being kept up by pumping the handle - this also makes for good dispensing pressure.

It'll be interesting to see if the stock sprayer works well as a party keg. Because it knock the socks off everything else I've seen in terms of price. Its also got a blow-off valve in case too much pressure builds up. Sweet.


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## Enerjex (13/6/07)

boingk said:


> Yeah, I tried playing around with a mates and it looked pretty intimidating - we couldn't figure how to get the beer in there in the first place. Apparently the older VB style mini-kegs were good at being reused as they had a removable top bung and a bottom dispensing tap. Oh well.
> 
> Anyways, I copied what Geoffi has been doing and went down to Bunnings and got myself a nice little 8L sprayer for $15. Cleaned and sanitised it inside and out, and am using the stock SS rod minus the spraying nozzle for dispensing. Its in the fridge at the moment with 2 longies inside it, which were already carbed. Carbonation is being kept up by pumping the handle - this also makes for good dispensing pressure.
> 
> It'll be interesting to see if the stock sprayer works well as a party keg. Because it knock the socks off everything else I've seen in terms of price. Its also got a blow-off valve in case too much pressure builds up. Sweet.



The bitburger ones have what looks to be a removable plug in the top and just a tap at the bottom, purely gravity only no co2, however they get stale after a day or so. I saw the thread about the gardening bottles and was curious how it would work with carbonating and serving pressure without the use of co2 (just using the pump handle instead) as this would introduce oxygen not co2, any ideas on this?


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## boingk (13/6/07)

For a party, wouldn't be a problem. But for longer term storage and use, it would become one. I whacked two longnecks into the 8L sprayer, and dispensed quite easily and tastily - much to the amazement of my fellow dorm-mates. No specialised beer lines or guns, just the sprayer rod and line minus the plastic spraying attachment at the very end.

For carbonating in the vessel, I'd do the standard thing of 6g/litre dextrose and then leave for 3 weeks before consumption. Not sure how the seals would hold up, but I imagine they wouldn't fare too badly over that period of time. Tilt it to one side whilst doing this though, as mine has the intake line toward one side also. This way, when you sit it back level, it should have no sediment coming up the line.

I think I will end up doing the Geoffi bit though, and putting a charge of CO2 into it using a tubeless tire valve and a mountain bike tyre inflator with CO2 bulb - much easier than pumping your arm off towards the end of the keg to keep up pressure, and it won't contaminate the beer with oxygen as you said.


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## Andyd (13/6/07)

I have a Warsteiner keg I've just picked up for this purpose which has the rubber plug in it. As I see it, if you counter-pressure fill these the beer shouldn't go stale any faster than beer in a bottle.

As for using the pump to pressurise the vessel, this would indeed introduce oxygen. Mostly I see people removing the pumps altogether and using CO2 to dispense. I certainly wouldn't be using the pump...

Andy


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## 0M39A (13/6/07)

hmm, might pick up an 8L sprayer bottle.

would be great for a days drinking, so oxidising wouldn't be a problem. just the same as people using hand pumps on beer kegs like you always see in america. so long as the beer is drank all in one go theres no problem.


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## mayzi (13/6/07)

Think its about two days before the oxygen takes effect on the taste, if my memory from reading another post serves me right. No doubt if you rocked up to a mates place with a sprayer full of beer it probably wouldn't take too long to empty by the time every one goes "ooooh give me a try"


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## 0M39A (13/6/07)

Mayzi said:


> Think its about two days before the oxygen takes effect on the taste, if my memory from reading another post serves me right. No doubt if you rocked up to a mates place with a sprayer full of beer it probably wouldn't take too long to empty by the time every one goes "ooooh give me a try"



exactly right.

and 8L is roughly equal to 21 stubbies, which should be enough for a decent night on the piss, plus pouring a couple of mates a pot to try it out.


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## mayzi (13/6/07)

you'd probably need to gaurd it like a rabid dog OM39A. I think I need about another 8L. Just restocked the fridge and everything is warmish still, hmmm probably won't be too bad by the end of this schooner, I love leave from work......hmmmmm don't have to go to work, I so need to move onto kegging - apologies thread highjack, back on track now gents.


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## littlew6 (15/6/07)

hockadays said:


> I chopped one up to inspect and they are not made from stainless so I threw the whole thing away...


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## littlew6 (15/6/07)

so what is it made of ordinary steel?


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## geoffi (15/6/07)

boingk said:


> For a party, wouldn't be a problem. But for longer term storage and use, it would become one. I whacked two longnecks into the 8L sprayer, and dispensed quite easily and tastily - much to the amazement of my fellow dorm-mates. No specialised beer lines or guns, just the sprayer rod and line minus the plastic spraying attachment at the very end.




Beware of the lines on these sprayers. You might get away with it if you are filling then dispensing straight away, but I wouldn't trust them for longer term storage. They really smell foul and I strongly suspect it could affect the beer. At the minimum replace them with some food-grade line. I'm a bit worried about the taps too. There's a similar whiff emanating from them. As I said in the other thread, the bronco taps with the black lines fit these sprayers perfectly.


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## hockadays (15/6/07)

littlew6 said:


> so what is it made of ordinary steel?




I'm tipping it's made of aluminium or tin. It was a bit like a pinapple tin...I could be wrong though as I'm no metelurgist ..


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