Mini kegs.

[chub1]

A mate gave me a couple of mini kegs(5 litre) yesterday which i am going to try out. If any good i will invest in a beer gun which is available to use with them which allows gas to be added via small canisters,like a sparklets bulb.
Any of you guys over in USA or Aus use them?

 

[J A]

A friend of mine has a set up like that. It's handy and nice, but I think it's prone to leaking gas so it's hard to keep stuff longer term and serve it little at a time. I think it's probably great for a party.
I've become very enamored of Carb-caps and 1 1/2- to 2-liter bottles. I can fill up several if I'm emptying a keg and hold them at pressure indefinitely or serve and replace CO2 via my 5# CO2 tank that I use for kegging. If I have leftover from a fermenter that won't fit into a keg. I always run it off into a plastic bottle and Carb-cap it with 30 lbs of pressure and a little shaking. It's carbed immediately and i can tell exactly what the keg is going to be like when it gets ready to drink.

 

[jmcnamara]

Sorry for the thread drift, but JA, do you just have one carb cap? Do you switch that off with the regular cap once it's carved enough?
I've got one of those and it seemed to lose the fizz shortly after I opened it

 

[J A]

No and yes. I bought a 4-pack of stainless ones for $29.99 here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Pack-Carb...208106?hash=item46613eacaa:g:D5kAAOSwUKxYav0w
You can carb stuff up to a high level and then switch out caps. It'll hold just fine for quite a while like that but it needs a fair amount of CO2 in suspension. That only works if it's cold and relatively full - same as growlering out of a keg. I'll leave the carb cap on when I'm drinking a big bottle down over a few days. That way I can pour and re-pressurize it with a shot from the CO2 tank.
It's not an exact science but I pressure to about 30, hold it upside down and shake it up until bubbles stop coming. I usually hold at about 10 lbs after I open it and I just pressurize more when it starts to get flat.

 

[jmcnamara]

Thanks, I'll have to fiddle with mine a bit more then. I just have a plastic one