How do people fill their 19L Asahi commercial kegs?

[citraman1]

Hello all,

First time poster and have been teaching myself to brew for about 6 months now. I want to begin kegging and I have been given some free 19L Asahi kegs that use an S type coupler. I have tried opening the keg with it and watched a few youtube vids on it with no luck. Can you clean and fill this keg without having to take the spear out?

 

[mr_wibble]

I'm interested in how to wash them. They have them in my LHBS.
You can never see past the ball right? So how do you know it's clean?
I guess you wouldn't dry-hop these kegs.

 

[koshari]

You can open em. Read this thread
https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/how-to-open-an-asahi-style-19l-keg.16449/page-2

 

[gap]

Where are you sourcing them?
Online or HBS?
Any links please.

 

[Leyther]

I have 2 of these kegs. You can buy a tool to open them but at $50 its expensive, I open mine with a 10c and a S-type coupler, basically put the 10c over the top of the spear then use the coupler to depress that and turn it, it will then unscrew, its fiddly as there are also so retaining clips after the screw which I usually have to wrestle out, once that is clear the spear just comes clean out. You can then rinse and clean as per a corny, you obviously cant get your hand in it put you can fill it with sodium perc or some other cleaner.

Personally I find them a PITA, I have 3 corny kegs so I tend to use them for beer, I keep a keg full of cleaner in the Asahi keg and use it to flush through my beer lines.

 

[citraman1]

Where are you sourcing them?
Online or HBS?
Any links please.

Have a mate who gets them for me from pubs where they never get collected by the brewery, only have the 1 but they seem more trouble than they are worth

 

[citraman1]

You can open em. Read this thread
https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/how-to-open-an-asahi-style-19l-keg.16449/page-2

Cheers

 

[citraman1]

I have 2 of these kegs. You can buy a tool to open them but at $50 its expensive, I open mine with a 10c and a S-type coupler, basically put the 10c over the top of the spear then use the coupler to depress that and turn it, it will then unscrew, its fiddly as there are also so retaining clips after the screw which I usually have to wrestle out, once that is clear the spear just comes clean out. You can then rinse and clean as per a corny, you obviously cant get your hand in it put you can fill it with sodium perc or some other cleaner.

Personally I find them a PITA, I have 3 corny kegs so I tend to use them for beer, I keep a keg full of cleaner in the Asahi keg and use it to flush through my beer lines.

Thanks ill give this a crack. Tried the 10c piece but have a keg king s type coupler and it wouldnt depress all the way to lock in and it made trying to unscrew very difficult

 

[citraman1]

I have 2 of these kegs. You can buy a tool to open them but at $50 its expensive, I open mine with a 10c and a S-type coupler, basically put the 10c over the top of the spear then use the coupler to depress that and turn it, it will then unscrew, its fiddly as there are also so retaining clips after the screw which I usually have to wrestle out, once that is clear the spear just comes clean out. You can then rinse and clean as per a corny, you obviously cant get your hand in it put you can fill it with sodium perc or some other cleaner.

Personally I find them a PITA, I have 3 corny kegs so I tend to use them for beer, I keep a keg full of cleaner in the Asahi keg and use it to flush through my beer lines.

I can depress the 10c piece with the coupler no probs, but there is no way to turn it anti clockwise after it has depressed. I might try and source an opener from somewhere as I think this will be my type of keg and I need to learn how to open them without killing myself in the process!

 

[Leyther]

I can depress the 10c piece with the coupler no probs, but there is no way to turn it anti clockwise after it has depressed. I might try and source an opener from somewhere as I think this will be my type of keg and I need to learn how to open them without killing myself in the process!

Like i said they are a PITA, with mine after I put the 10c down I jam the coupler under the lugs and manage to turn it but it is a ballache!

KK sell them but like I said $50, expensive when you can get a corny for almost the same price, I also bought the adapters so I can run standard corny connectors on the S-type coupler, it soon adds up, I only spent cash on it because I was given them, I would never buy them, cornies so much easier.

 

[citraman1]

Quick update guys, grain and grape sell openers for $50 and I have purchased one as it seems like most other ways will either destroy the keg or the coupler

 

[///]

Why pull apart at all. Flush cleaner and sanitiser IP the spear, letting drain out the gas out port with the keg inverted.

 

[mashmaniac]

Why pull apart at all. Flush cleaner and sanitiser IP the spear, letting drain out the gas out port with the keg inverted.

This.

Remove one way valves from coupler, and pump through cleaner/sanitiser.

 

[///]

This.

Remove one way valves from coupler, and pump through cleaner/sanitiser.

Blow out from a post mix and up. No need to remove the spear

 

[Ross]

Citraman1 & others - Probably won't be popular advice on here, but how about you stop using kegs that are not legally yours & buy your own cornys. Seriously, you can buy a second-hand corny for less money than an S type coupler & not have any of the dramas regarding cleaning them etc...

 

[mashmaniac]

Citraman1 & others - Probably won't be popular advice on here, but how about you stop using kegs that are not legally yours & buy your own cornys. Seriously, you can buy a second-hand corny for less money than an S type coupler & not have any of the dramas regarding cleaning them etc...

Ross I whole heartedly agree with the sentiment, there are now more and more PET "A" type one way kegs that are throw a ways for the industry, these are becoming more widely used, light enough for a 5 yo to throw around when empty and won't hurt the industry if they were re purposed by the home brewing community.

<rant>kegs aren't cheap, most breweries buy them by the container load to help reduce cost but still more than $150 each, the industry loses $$millions a year, this is tagged onto the price of your favourite bevie at the tap or in the bottle. Post mix kegs are the easiest and most widely available alternative for the home brewer. KK and I believe KL can sell you legitimate commercial kegs (note you'd bawk at the price), you can also import "D" type 5 gal kegs from Stout Tanks (again break out the piggy bank). If you want a keg system, either pay the big bucks, or do what the rest of us do and used cornies/ postmix kegs.</rant>

be bright enough to include building brewing vessels from commercial kegs in the above rant. (70L is a much better kettle size any way)

 

[citraman1]

Citraman1 & others - Probably won't be popular advice on here, but how about you stop using kegs that are not legally yours & buy your own cornys. Seriously, you can buy a second-hand corny for less money than an S type coupler & not have any of the dramas regarding cleaning them etc...

Thanks for your input Ross, had I known the cost initially I wouldnt have bothered. Not everyone has an endless budget to try and make their systems better and when you get offered free kegs it sounds like a good deal at the time.

 

[brewgasm]

I'm pretty sure that the company that blow moulds the fermentasaurus also do the one way kegs.

I would probably use a commercial keg if I had one but I think that it's really hard to beat a corny.

Is the keg you are talking about like a squat version of the 50l keg?

 

[citraman1]

I'm pretty sure that the company that blow moulds the fermentasaurus also do the one way kegs.

I would probably use a commercial keg if I had one but I think that it's really hard to beat a corny.

Is the keg you are talking about like a squat version of the 50l keg?

Looks like a corny but needs an s coupler and purchased an opening tool from KK

 

[Ross]

Ross I whole heartedly agree with the sentiment, there are now more and more PET "A" type one way kegs that are throw a ways for the industry, these are becoming more widely used, light enough for a 5 yo to throw around when empty and won't hurt the industry if they were re purposed by the home brewing community.

<rant>kegs aren't cheap, most breweries buy them by the container load to help reduce cost but still more than $150 each, the industry loses $$millions a year, this is tagged onto the price of your favourite bevie at the tap or in the bottle. Post mix kegs are the easiest and most widely available alternative for the home brewer. KK and I believe KL can sell you legitimate commercial kegs (note you'd bawk at the price), you can also import "D" type 5 gal kegs from Stout Tanks (again break out the piggy bank). If you want a keg system, either pay the big bucks, or do what the rest of us do and used cornies/ postmix kegs.</rant>
.

I have no issues with one way pet kegs being re purposed. I was referring to the opening post where the brewer had obtained 19L Ashai kegs. These are owned by the brewery & keeping them is theft, pure & simple