Why not? (mini kegs)

[boydak]

I have never kegged before.

With that said....... Ther is a local Brew Pub (Gritty McDuff's) That sells small one gallon kegs of beer. They have a rubber stopper in the top and the spigot near the bottom is plastic. Could those be cleaned and reused?

 

[Chello]

Do they condition the beer in them or just fill it up from the tap when you buy one? From your description is sounds like a large growler-like item the pub sells, which needs to be drank fairly quickly after purchasing.

 

[llazy_llama]

If it's letting out beer without displacing it with CO2, it's going to go stale rather quickly. That wouldn't be a problem for a heavy drinker (such as the llama) but for someone who like a pint or two per week, it's not going to cut it.

You could probably rig up a CO2 bulb, but it would cost about the same to just buy a new mini keg. Long story short, if you're planning on drinking a gallon at a time, it would work. If not, it will make your beer stale.

 

[mmb]

Sure they can be cleaned and reused. You can even build CO2 tapping systems for them and push the beer with CO2.

The Northern Brewer Homebrew Forum • View topic - New design for DIY 5L mini keg taps (Lots of Pics)

 

[SumnerH]

If it's letting out beer without displacing it with CO2, it's going to go stale rather quickly.

That is occasionally an advantage; these little 5L kegs are a _great_ way to do cask-conditioned real ale at home. That's about 10 pints per mini-keg.

You have, what, maybe 5 days to drink them as real ale to see the daily flavor progressions from oxidation (maybe 4 would be ideal) before they start to go "bad"?

If you get the ones with the little tap built in, that's gravity fed real ale in a manageable size for 1-2 people.

 

[homebrewer_99]

HELL YES!!! I've been using mine for years.

If you get the ones with the built in gravity tap then you won't need to buy a CO2 cartridge tapper.

Prime with corn sugar at 1 tablespoon, that's TBS, not tps (teaspoon).

 

[boydak]

Thanks. I beleve they are gravity feed taps and drinking that much brew in a weekend should be no problem!