heineken mini keg

is it possible to reuse the heineken mini keg for home brew?

I am curious as well having never bought one and being burned on the other kinds of mini's. The rust way to easy. Hopefully someone has reused them here.

bungholebrewery said:

is it possible to reuse the heineken mini keg for home brew?

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Yes, you can. A mini-keg is a mini-keg. I know that you can't over-carb the things or they will bulge out. Would be good for a lower carbed beer I guess, but if you don't fill em up with more CO2 once the keg is tapped, the beer will get stale in a couple days.

I know that the Tap-A-Draft mini dispenser works with mini-kegs via an adapter. That would fill them with CO2 and keep it fresh for weeks.

So, you have used a heineken keg and refilled it?

WortMonger said:

So, you have used a heineken keg and refilled it?

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No, not personally. About a year ago I was close to getting a "mini-keg package" with extra bungs to use with store-bought mini kegs. The folks said the store bought mini kegs can be used fine. Only difference is some have built-in spouts, some don't.

I went with the tap-a-draft system. Glad I did, because I hear those min-kegs are killer to clean and drain.

i have thought about the tap a draft, or just saving to get a full 5 gallon keg system.

No, AFAIK you cannot use the heineken ones, they have a proprietary built-in CO2 charged draft system... There are plenty of breweries making beers in the more basic type of mini-kegs (bung in the top, simple spigot) that could be reused, but heineken is different. This has been discussed a number of times before, try searching - I even recall a thread where someone dissected a heineken keg to try to determine if it could be made reusable.

yea, i saw that post about taking apart the mini keg. I ended up seeing it after i posted this lol. :cross:

anyone know of other brands that have reuseable mini kegs?

I know that Warsteiner can be obtained in mini-keg form.

sounds good, ill check that out.

Funkenjaeger said:

No, AFAIK you cannot use the heineken ones, they have a proprietary built-in CO2 charged draft system... There are plenty of breweries making beers in the more basic type of mini-kegs (bung in the top, simple spigot) that could be reused, but heineken is different. This has been discussed a number of times before, try searching - I even recall a thread where someone dissected a heineken keg to try to determine if it could be made reusable.

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Really? I thought they were all the same. I've bought many of Warsteiner German beer in mini-keg format with the built-in spigot. Looks just like a Heineken one.

I wonder how the Heineken min-keg is different?? Off to search....

Here it is... you're right, Heineken kegs are different:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=57621

This guy seemed to create something that works. Have anyone tried?

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=&t=21461

Yo

Hi. I have tried using the Heineken and New Castle kegs with poor success. These guys have a big CO2 cartridge inside them and if I remember right, you have to drill the top out to be able to rig up a bike valve. After I drilled, my hole was a little jagged so I had to file it down and I forever had a nice iron taste if I put anything in. I couldn't get all of the filings out and I really question the CO2 cartridge because you can't get it out and clean it well.

I aborted that style and went with a design somewhere from the NB boards I think that used the gravity style kegs with the spigot at the bottom. This style was much better but a little more $$ to build. I used a Bells keg when I did it. The top hole fits a tiny bung and then you mod it to fit a T-joint. One side is for a bike tire valve and on the other, you insert a bent stainless dip tube for serving. This style worked a lot better for me but sealing the dip tube was really finicky. Bending it was also terrible but the system did work well. It used a full CO 2 cartridge to carb up and then 1 to serve over time.

I also tried to re- use a coors mini keg system ( plastic bottle ). That failed miserably but they have a nice weighted tygon dip tube that I still use today. I slap that onto a syringe for my DIY wine thief. I also used the tube as the dip tube for the Bells keg to save money on stainless steel tubing.

I think the cost is a little high though for the gravity keg style with all of the stainless fittings and charger where it might work out to the same price as buying one of the party keg things from NB. Check the pricing on that.

Here we go

http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=61167&sid=71d363b2f27a082a9a1b7700865b58d6

I followed this guys work

Ive seen one guy on youtube refill a heineken by the spout, not cutting anything, he just conncet to a pressurized keg and fill the 5 L heineken with it

Otherwise you can now buy the Sub

or use it as a headrest