Mini Keg Discussion / Mods / Show Off - Dedicated Thread

[Gmoney]

If your kegging and have 19 litre kegs then the 4l mini is perfect for a 23l fermenter brew. I have 2 x 4l, excellent.

This will be my first foray into kegging so I am starting from scratch. I guess it will be a test to see if I like it or prefer washing bottles...................

 

[EalingDrop]

I've found most of my solutions looking at normal kegging topics.

Blacken metallic is a batch issue for me. I've stored a Wheat beer for several months and compared the beer side by side with a bottle one, as well as an IPA (stored even longer) no sign of darkening. Bought 4L, 5L from various suppliers over the years all of which had no issues (apart from foam - see above for noob keggers). As a concept they are very good for those not ready to go all out with bigger kegs (Co2, storage etc), and I've gone everywhere with them and even built a mini bar because they're so portable. However the last one (2L) has all the mentioned problems. Overall I'm very pleased with them. Someones picking up those old bottles tonight!

 

[wide eyed and legless]

A satisfying day in the garden followed by a coldie, not a big fan of freezing cold pish but happy with my purchase.

 

[Zeener]

Does anybody know where you can buy Nitrogen bulbs from? I’ve searched all over the internet with none it sight.

I’ve seen plenty that are threadless but none with a thread that is suitable to the mini-regs.

 

[peteru]

Even if you could find a bulb that would fit, it would be Nitrous Oxide (aka laughing gas), not Nitrogen/CO2 mix (aka beer gas).

 

[mattyg8]

Just went and visited keg king and look like they have an updated version of the mini regulator. Has what seemed like a better swivel adapter and a valve release.

 

[Danp3d]

Had a massive drama today - my minikeg (which was daisy chained to one of my corny kegs) decided to start shooting beer out of the liquid out post when I disconnected the beer line. Of course I wasn't expecting that, so I thought my disconnect was broken or something and ended up taking me a while to be able to stop the thing - results: ended up soaked in beer from head to toe, and the whole room was sprayed. There's beer in the carpet. There's beer dripping from the ceiling.

To make things worse, there's an inspection tomorrow morning (rental property).

Anyone had any similar dramas before or am I just lucky?

 

[Grott]

Hell, not to that extent. Have had leakers where the liquid post ring was letting beer out when the disconnect and hose were under pressure.
What caused the problem in your case? Cleaning up beer spills is the shits.

 

[Danp3d]

Yeah, in my case the internal o-ring from the liquid post somehow got displaced and part of it ended up on top of that pin that stops the flow (the one that gets pushed down by the disconnect). That's causing the post to be constantly slightly open.
Still happy it didn't happen at work today. A bunch of computers soaked in beer doesn't sound good.

 

[Brewnicorn]

Had a massive drama today - my minikeg (which was daisy chained to one of my corny kegs) decided to start shooting beer out of the liquid out post when I disconnected the beer line. Of course I wasn't expecting that, so I thought my disconnect was broken or something and ended up taking me a while to be able to stop the thing - results: ended up soaked in beer from head to toe, and the whole room was sprayed. There's beer in the carpet. There's beer dripping from the ceiling.

To make things worse, there's an inspection tomorrow morning (rental property).

Anyone had any similar dramas before or am I just lucky?

Not for me. Good luck with the inspection mate.

 

[peekaboo_jones]

Bugger! That's a real pain.
Other than that issue is the Daisy chain system ok?
Do you set the 19L corny to serving pressure and connect the liquid post to the mini keg gas post? Is there frothing issues from the transfer?

I don't have room for a bigger setup yet but have some counter space close by under a sink that can house a few 19L cornys and thinking of having 2 or 3x 5L mini kegs Daisy chained in my old bar fridge.
It's in a pretty hot room in summer, so temp fluctuation also is another main concern.

 

[mofox1]

Had a massive drama today - my minikeg (which was daisy chained to one of my corny kegs) decided to start shooting beer out of the liquid out post when I disconnected the beer line. Of course I wasn't expecting that, so I thought my disconnect was broken or something and ended up taking me a while to be able to stop the thing - results: ended up soaked in beer from head to toe, and the whole room was sprayed. There's beer in the carpet. There's beer dripping from the ceiling.

To make things worse, there's an inspection tomorrow morning (rental property).

Anyone had any similar dramas before or am I just lucky?

Damn...

If / Next time that happens - don't try to stop it leaking by going straight for the post. Either whack the beer disconnect back on or pull the PRV to depressurise..

Get some lube onto those o-rings too.. will reduce the chance of it happening again.

 

[Danp3d]

Bugger! That's a real pain.
Other than that issue is the Daisy chain system ok?
Do you set the 19L corny to serving pressure and connect the liquid post to the mini keg gas post? Is there frothing issues from the transfer?

I don't have room for a bigger setup yet but have some counter space close by under a sink that can house a few 19L cornys and thinking of having 2 or 3x 5L mini kegs Daisy chained in my old bar fridge.
It's in a pretty hot room in summer, so temp fluctuation also is another main concern.

I had it at almost serving pressure (a tiny bit higher to adjust the flow a bit).
I actually filled it up with beer first, then pressurised it and connected it (corny beer out -> mini gas in; mini beer out -> tap).
Worked well, and the idea of always having the minikeg ready to go sounded really good. Only problem is the, you know, beer bomb thing.

 

[Danp3d]

Damn...

If / Next time that happens - don't try to stop it leaking by going straight for the post. Either whack the beer disconnect back on or pull the PRV to depressurise..

Get some lube onto those o-rings too.. will reduce the chance of it happening again.

Yeah, I didn't even know it had a big o-ring just sitting inside the post like that. My corny kegs have poppet valves with the o-ring being almost like an integral part to them, taking them out is pretty hard - that kind of thing would never happen. But this one seems to be a completely different beast.

The only way I could stop the leaking was to attach my picnic tap and leave it there. I'll disassemble it tonight to try to understand that post - that big o-ring still doesn't make sense to me, I don't get why it's there in the first place. Seems to be just bad design - I can probably fix it by using a regular poppet valve like the ones in my other kegs.

 

[Lionman]

If my keg ever starts leaking beer after disconnecting the beer line, I will be promptly reconnecting the beer line.

Plenty of conies use o'rings on the poppets too. The universal poppet valves employ an oring, its just a cheaper way to get the job done.

I hope you go the beer smell out of the carpet in time for the rent inspection...

 

[Danp3d]

I wasn't home, but my wife said the bloke who came to inspect the property spent more time analyzing my brewing equipment and looking funny at the fermenters than actually inspecting the place, so I guess it's all good.

I reckon I should wait for the police to pay me a visit saying they've received an anonymous tip that I'm cooking methamphetamine .

 

[Pugdog1]

Hey guys. Been a few years since I've brewer. Got sick of bottling story I'm sure you've all heard haha. Looking to keg and thinking 5 of these 5 litre kegs might be the way to Go? Or a corny and a 5?

Are they a good bit of kit?

And where's the cheapest place everyone has found to buy them with the spear that has the two post?

Any other handy info is much appreciated.

Cheers guys

 

[Gmoney]

And where's the cheapest place everyone has found to buy them with the spear that has the two post?

Cheers guys

I found that beerkat.com.au was the cheapest (no affiliation) and they have been pretty responsive in my dealing with them. They offer a discount for AHB members (have a look in the Sales thread). The 5 litre is pretty handy to have sitting in a bar fridge or if you don't have much room in the main fridge. The 2litre is handy to take to a mate's place in stead of a 6 pack. Can be used with the dispensing tap or if it is carbed up you can just pour it into a glass (looks better with a tap).

 

[Liam_snorkel]

I've also had a good experience with beerkat.

 

[Ronwales]

A satisfying day in the garden followed by a coldie, not a big fan of freezing cold pish but happy with my purchase.
View attachment 97675

I just purchased the 2litre and 4litre kegs, did you have to do any mods to yours or is that standard. Reading some of these comments have got me a little scared that I bought something that doesn't wrk. .. fingers crossed