Where Are All the Mini Kegs?

Before I begin, let me say that I've never kegged a batch of homebrew in my life, and that I'm fairly new to the HB scene. I'm not ready to make the investment in a full keg system, so I was wondering if anyone knew of a good, inexpensive mini keg kit. Good as in easy to use and clean, inexpensive as in ~50USD and mini as in right around 2 gallons.

Thanks!

Your best bet is to forgoe those sold by the local HBS.

Find some beers that are sold with the built-in gravity tap. These have a pull out spout near the bottom and in the top have a bung with a red knob you have to turn to let air enter the keg and allow flow. This will save you the price of buying a tap.

The bungs on top are replaceable.

The Heineken minikeg is not reusable.

Try a party pig.

https://www.partypig.com/doodads.html

And this site.... for more ideas on the cheap.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByCat.aspx?Cat=100

You might even to a search in the bottling/kegging section. This is a common topic.

BTW - Where is east central Iowa? I'm actually in Pleasant Hill.

I got mine from midwest, but i would suggest going with the philtap and not the party star. it allows for being able to put the kegs in either a tilted or vertical position and also comes with a drip tray, sort of.

maybe consider the Tap-a-draft outfit, although, the money spent there would be a good start on a eal kegging outfit. Ebay can get you some great deals on regs etc

I use the Pig. It's a pretty good system.

The only downfall is that you have to buy those packets in order to inflate the pig. But it's easy to use, portable, you don't need a CO2 tank, and they're easy to clean.

I find them extremely useful for when I want to bottle half a batch, maybe for aging reasons, and keg the remainder for portability (parties, post-ice hockey game in the lockeroom). Things like that...

The funny thing is that the 3 gallon cornelius kegs are about 4 times as expensive as the 5 gallon ones... go figure

Donasay said:

The funny thing is that the 3 gallon cornelius kegs are about 4 times as expensive as the 5 gallon ones... go figure

Click to expand...

Strictly because they are VERY rare, compared to the 5 gallon.

I love mine...got em' cheap at a garage sale.

I hadn't checked out Midwest Supplies yet, but they seem to have more options than other sites I've checked out. This will show my newbieness, but do you still have to let keg beer prime? I was under the assumption that the sugar is there mostly for carbonation, which CO2 takes care of with a keg system.

In a mini keg system you will still want to prime, but at a slightly reduced rate. I have used the tap-a-draft system, and while it claims that you can force carbonate with it, you would be using a large number of fairly expensive C02 cartridges.

Priming a minikeg is only 1-2 tablespoons of corn sugar depending on the remaining yeast and carbonation level desired.

I used to use 5l mini kegs that were "recycled", mainly Köstritzer. I always loved the beer and the kegs were a good deal anyway. I had a co2(cartridge) dispenser(i wish I remembered the name) that worked great!
I still primed the kegs, w/ a little less sugar (as homebrewer_99 mentioned), and then held and dispensed with the co2. They would be good for a day or 2 off of a cartridge, but I'd usually finish them before then.
Definitely have to get a bunch of extra bungs.
The beer should be fairly clear going in and cleaning should be as simple as hot water, cleaner and a good shake/maybe soak. You could bend a bottle brush to fit, but I've never needed to. Sanitize as usual.
See Cleaner/Sanitizer Sticky.
Fill with bottle filler or siphon tube/clamp. Prime and plug.
They were cool because it saved on bottling, but buying the co2 catridges became annoying.