What can I do with a Plastic PubKeg ?

[Blue-Frog]

OK I got me a Plastic PubKeg...now what can I do with it?

I would love to keg... never kegged before & so I have no gadgets...
don't mind using natural co2 buildup to push it out with... what equipment do I need to get ahold of to get that of "I'm a kegger" sort of feeling?

 

[Newsman]

Hmm... Most of us around here use soda kegs... the PubKeg uses a commercial (Sanke) tap connection. You'll need to figure out how to fill your keg and cap it. Also would be good to have CO2 to help purge air from the keg and help seal it good. On the other hand, if you're going to naturally carb the yeast will help get rid of the O2, by using it to reproduce, but it's still a good idea to purge the keg with CO2 if you can.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Even if you carb naturally, you're going to need co2 to ensure it keeps it carb through the serving life of the keg. Look at the threads discussing over carbing on co2. The process is take the keg off co2, pull the PRV to purge and sample to taste. That's essentially what you'd be doing if you just use the natural yeast co2 to carb. The yeast is no longer active at serving temps, and you're bleeding off the pressure every time you pull a pint. Plus, you're never going to be able to balance the system to get consistent pours.

 

[charliehorse]

With a Sanke connection, you can push liquid in, just like it comes out. Think about the connection for a minute... on the fitting, there are 2 tubes attached: one for gas and one for liquid (this goes to the tap). As long as there is nothing blocking the gas line, you should be able to gravity feed the liquid though the liquid line. You can also use this technique to clean it. That said, this is a system that is a lot more complicated than most homebrewers are prepared to handle and can get expensive pretty quickly.

As Newsman said, most homebrewers use soda kegs. There's a reason for this. Simply put, they are a lot easier to use. The other reason is that they are less expensive to do legally. That pub keg is owned by the brewery or by a company who leases them to the brewery -- even if you paid the $25 or $50 for the deposit.

 

[Homercidal]

Honestly, I don't think the cost of adding the equipment to make that thing serve beer is going to be worth it.

You *could* use it as a fermentor, though.

 

[Blue-Frog]

interesting responses...
hummm

1.
I will have to build a system one part at a time. CO2 can come later.
In the mean time, I suspect I could purge with a piece of dry ice... (?)

2.
Didn't understand much of this. What is PRV?
"...balance the system to get consistent pours"?
Are you talking about getting a constant CO2 level between pours rather than a falling CO2 level with each pour?

3.
??? I am talking about the normally one way, huge, plastic soda bottle like "pubkegs"... it looks like what you said is more for the metal reuseables

4.
Well, you may be right. But I am in Japan and the metal soda kegs are perhaps not so easy to find and are not so cheap as back in the states.
I was at an event the other day and beer was being served out of a giant scuba bottle type thing. I was just wondering what all I would need to pour just as I had seen it being used.... that would at least be cool!

I am on the lookout for soda kegs... but cheap ones are not　free! .

OTOH Fementing in them sounds good....

 

[LandoLincoln]

OK I got me a Plastic PubKeg...now what can I do with it?

I would love to keg... never kegged before & so I have no gadgets...
don't mind using natural co2 buildup to push it out with... what equipment do I need to get ahold of to get that of "I'm a kegger" sort of feeling?

First of all, I should mention that I am very much biased against sanke kegs and sanke equipment. Compared to the corny kegs, sanke tap kegs are a huge pain in the butt. The sanke taps are really expensive (around $40) compared to the corny keg taps (around $12), the kegs are harder to clean, and they're harder to get the tap to seat correctly.

And I once owned a PubKeg that I had in my basement filled with beer and for some reason the beer got infected and one day I noticed that the beer was leaking out from the top of the connection so I hooked up a sanke connector to it and WHOOSH! The beer came out like a freaking fire hose! I emptied the entire keg without even hooking up CO2 to the thing, and it had extra CO2 to spare! It was a giant CO2 bomb sitting in my basement and that was pretty scary. I haven't used any PubKegs since.

But if you really want to move forward with it...

Minimum requirements:
(1) sanke "D" tap (or "coupler")
6' 3/16" ID beer line
(1) picnic tap