Mini Keg Discussion / Mods / Show Off - Dedicated Thread

[Zorco]

We Aussie Home Brewers have certainly found our fancy of the little shiny Mini Kegs

Post pictures of your new rigs, ask a question of the community or come to discuss your problems.

Also share your excellent finds for handy modifications and customisations.


We are surrounded by the skilled, the experienced and the creative. On top of that, our supplier is a community member and will support us with problems right here...

 

[Coldspace]

Well early days for me..
But I recon the only way to fill these is what I did on Saturday before BBQ .

Purge with co2 , presurise to 15 psi at my main keezer. Sit on ground or table . Pressurise main keg. Don't have to move it at all.
Plug transfer jumper lead into mini out post and main keg out post.
Leave co2 on at 15 psi on main keg.
Use my pressure release spunding valve, 30 bucks from keg king but I already had one for my kegmenter.
Lock it on the gas post of the mini. Adjust back to approx 10 psi, beer transfers perfectly, takes about 5 mins maintains pressure and perfect carbonation.
You can watch the condensation line creep up on the mini,
Once at top un click away you go.
No mess, no waste, perfect transfer.

Easy as. Love these minis.

Been hassled next weekend to take them to a friends BBQ , I better start brewing faster this summer, lucky i got a kegmenter to help me out and bulk buys to keep the wallet in check

And a bracelet for missus birthday last week to keep the divorce lawyers away lol....

 

[goatchop41]

For those without a spunding valve, I assume this method will do the job?

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/16907-keg-transfer-made-easy/

 

[Coldspace]

I'm sure that would work fine. I used to do that with my 9 ltr kegs when I needed beer to take to bbqs from my main keg.

The problem is that sometimes when I lifted the big keg out it would stir a little sediment from the bottom.

With the spunding valve, no need to move main keg, and if you got a bad back this is handy.

But this method would work fine, so would a growler filler tube to bottom, fill like growler, seal and add abit of head pressure .

 

[malt junkie]

I have flow control tap, so I fill slowly with a silicone hose from the tap, and mini keg pre purged. I then cap and gas to 200 kpa, test if too low on carb skake.

 

[EalingDrop]

I'm talking to ikegger about those balland keg.com floats to fit our kegs. Currently they're too big to fit.

http://www.ibrew.com.au/products/keg-level-indicator-ballandkeg

These would work well for filling as well. At $26 , it's a bit of an overkill but we're brewers afterall. ..

 

[micbrew]

easier to just use scales or feel the temp of the keg.


just my 2c

 

[EalingDrop]

Fair enough.

I found it a bit tedious interrupting the fill as you get closer to the top, weighing several times towards the end to prevent over flow.
The condensation method is cool, but hard to read accurately, and it rules out anyone who aren't fortunate enough to cold crash before bottling.

In the end, I do it by sight.

As mentioned earlier, it also serves to monitor how much beer is left.

Hopeful that our resident geniuses here can come up with a hack for the float idea.

I came across this:

52mm Magnetic Stainless Steel Float Ball For liquid level measurements

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/331527399735?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

[Yob]

if you tare the keg on the scales, you can VERY accurately measure how full it is..

its really not that hard a process even without scales... you can just look in the top

 

[Batz]

its really not that hard a process even without scales... you can just look in the top

 

[Zorco]

I was walking down the road......

 

[EalingDrop]

:lol:

Thats what I ended up doing in the end as mentioned earlier (by sight).
Honestly though, it was harder in a dark basement bottling a Dunkleweizen. :blink: . There was a fair bit of horsing around...

The main thing was monitoring whats left (in a cool way to show off to the mates) :super:

 

[goatchop41]

The main thing was monitoring whats left (in a cool way to show off to the mates) :super:

Weigh the mini keg while empty with all bits and pieces attached (head unit + tap + reg + bulb). Then subtract that from total weight when beer is in it....obvious and easy, just not as 'cool'

 

[Dae Tripper]

Really odd there is no pictures in the show off thread. Pics people!

 

[TJP]

On a little bit of a tangent but related to the mini kegs, I am just getting back into brewing after more than a decade, I originally only did a few batch's but got over bottling. I don't really drink enough to justify running a second dedicated fridge at the moment so I had thought of using a hacked tapking set up but didn't collect enough bottles when they were available so I have thought of doing a similar setup with the mini kegs to this, with a soda stream bottle for the co2 but a few things I'm not sure about though are
1) would this be okay to lay horizontally.
2) I would only be using 1 keg at a time in the fridge? could I just force carb the other kegs and then use them when needed, would It be possible/better to maybe just get a corny for the brew and then transfer to a mini keg as needed?
3) I' m assuming that after force carbing the keg it would need to be left under pressure? this would probably be harder with the mini kegs
4) Anything else I am missing/should be considering.

 

[Kingy]

I transferred from my chilled fermenter just like I do with my normal kegs. Forced carbed that day. Had 2 schooners to sample. Put in keezer hooked up to gas at 12-14psi with my cornys until the next day. Vented pressure , Hooked up co2 reg and bulb,Then went halves with the misses in it. A good arvo was had.
Edit: not hard to guess when it's near full if ya put your finger on the side of the keg you can feel the coldness rising.

 

[EalingDrop]

Found this to work quite well.
Using a old film case (which is HDPE conveniently).
A couple of magnets.

 

[peteru]

There you go! I never thought I'd have a reason to pull out the good old SLR and use the last roll of 36 exposure film stuck in the back of the fridge.

 

[mmmyummybeer]

Does stickering count as a mod.

 

[bevan]

Has anyone had any issues with the beer out disconnects (black one). Other than the ones supplied (which have "keg king" on them) I can't get the cheap ones I've got from my LBS to go on. No problems getting them on my corny kegs.