Easy Keg 5L

[Pinter]

@Wynne your fitting sounds good - do you have photos?

 

[Wynne]

Here’s a photo.

The components comprise: gas and liquid ball lock bulk head fittings from Malt Miller (horizontal = gas; vertical = liquid), 1/2” bsp stainless steel tee and hose tail and a straight corny dip tube. I bored out the hosetail to accommodate the dip tube as an easy sliding fit with a gap for CO2 to pass into the keg (not easy - required a cobalt drill bit, plenty of cutting fluid and patience) and I cut the dip tube with a disc cutter. It works with a grey rubber bung, like the party star tap, and would benefit from a clip to hold it stable, in place on the mini-keg.

 

[Pinter]

Looks great

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Has anyone noticed a metallic taste when reusing the kegs. I made 10 litres of an extract Cwtch and it was metallic tasting from both kegs.

 

[Oneflewover]

Has anyone noticed a metallic taste when reusing the kegs. I made 10 litres of an extract Cwtch and it was metallic tasting from both kegs.

Yeah I did after the 3rd or 4th time using them. Chucked em assuming that the lining had deteriorated.

 

[Wynne]

I have had a similar problem with taint once with reusing an easy keg - the beer was undrinkable. My experience with mini-kegs has been better and I have had about six uses so far without problem. A better solution (at a price) is stainless steel 5 litre kegs. I have started fermenting in corny kegs and using mini-kegs for short-term storage and transport of beer for sharing.

 

[Leon103]

Yes and on looking inside the lining was going. This was after about 12 months of use. Won't be using them again

 

[Ashman]

Here’s a photo.
View attachment 22299
The components comprise: gas and liquid ball lock bulk head fittings from Malt Miller (horizontal = gas; vertical = liquid), 1/2” bsp stainless steel tee and hose tail and a straight corny dip tube. I bored out the hosetail to accommodate the dip tube as an easy sliding fit with a gap for CO2 to pass into the keg (not easy - required a cobalt drill bit, plenty of cutting fluid and patience) and I cut the dip tube with a disc cutter. It works with a grey rubber bung, like the party star tap, and would benefit from a clip to hold it stable, in place on the mini-keg.

looks great. Are the keg posts 1/4 bsp?

I did have a think that actually a bottling gun might work in ‘reverse’ as this delivers gas , liquid on a trigger valve. The units also tear down for cleaning. I maybe an equivalent just to see if I can tap a keg with it going into a bung

 

[Ashman]

What are the inbuilt taps like on the 5L kegs? Do they auto close or could you run one permanently open on into a beer line and say a party tap ?

 

[Leon103]

What are the inbuilt taps like on the 5L kegs? Do they auto close or could you run one permanently open on into a beer line and say a party tap ?

You can leave permanently open but you will trouble connecting anything to them

 

[Ashman]

You can leave permanently open but you will trouble connecting anything to them

Cheers. What do you or others use as the connector into the bung and or monitor/ manage leaks?

Current setup is a John Guest 3/8 stem x 1/2” barb Code: PI251216S. This then goes into pvc siphon tube to a Sodastream genesis machine. Unfortunately although correct in height I couldn’t quite mount the keg onto the sodastream unit as diameter too great. A couple of presses to dispense but I get a small leak through the bung. The pints were a little frothy but not too bad. Working my way through the Ghost ship to see how it dispenses.

 

[Leon103]

Cheers. What do you or others use as the connector into the bung and or monitor/ manage leaks?

Current setup is a John Guest 3/8 stem x 1/2” barb Code: PI251216S. This then goes into pvc siphon tube to a Sodastream genesis machine. Unfortunately although correct in height I couldn’t quite mount the keg onto the sodastream unit as diameter too great. A couple of presses to dispense but I get a small leak through the bung. The pints were a little frothy but not too bad. Working my way through the Ghost ship to see how it dispenses.

I no longer use these kegs but when I did I used a party star deluxe tap

 

[Victor Churchill]

I just got off eBay a Klarstein 'Beer Dispenser'. Was not clear from the auction listing which type it was; turns out it's the one with an electric air pump to pump out the beer throuh the top tap under air pressure. The guy selling it did say to me that one reason for selling was he did not want to be drinking a whole 5l in 2-3 days...

I can appreciate that with commercial 5l easy kegs of OSH/Hobgoblin etc then air exposure after tapping could be an issue. I am wondering: for my homebrew which is conditioning in 3 5l easy kegs right now, if I chill a keg, then tap it, then let it warm up to ale-serving temperature again,

-will the brew have enough self generated CO2 from the priming sugar (15g/keg) to generate pressure to serve from the top tap without adding air - I am imagining yes for a pint or two but then probably needs pressurising? And once I introduce air...

-will the brew have enough self generated CO2 from the priming sugar (15g/keg) to give a pretective blanket of CO2 to prevent oxidation after air is added?

Or do I just have to bite the bullet and force myself to drink 8 pints in 3 days? Oh tragedy...

 

[Dutto]

........ The guy selling it did say to me that one reason for selling was he did not want to be drinking a whole 5l in 2-3 days...

..........

Poor bugger! Obviously nearly a teetotaller!

I gave up on bottles and 5l kegs. The former were a faff and the latter just didn't seem to last long enough.

I have moved on to 10 litre Growlers and PB's but still keep the 2 x 25 litre PB's for Bitter and Lager in the summer!

 

[Richie_asg1]

These beer dispensers / ruiners are just so close to being right, but just missing the mark. It would be wonderful for someone to combine a unit that takes soda stream CO2, and 5L kegs to dispense through a pipe. I know there are a few mini kegs with a built-in tank, but is not too far away from the real bar set-up is it?
The one-off Torpedos just don't seem right on re-use grounds.

Regarding beer guns - I was looking at this compressor air duster and thought - I could pipe beer through that.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Air-Dust...910467?hash=item5453e72683:g:gLMAAOSwUeVeI2KH
Fit a Tee further down to supply gas to an outer tube and we are nearly there.

 

[Ashman]

These beer dispensers / ruiners are just so close to being right, but just missing the mark. It would be wonderful for someone to combine a unit that takes soda stream CO2, and 5L kegs to dispense through a pipe. I know there are a few mini kegs with a built-in tank, but is not too far away from the real bar set-up is it?
The one-off Torpedos just don't seem right on re-use grounds.

Regarding beer guns - I was looking at this compressor air duster and thought - I could pipe beer through that.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Air-Dust...910467?hash=item5453e72683:g:gLMAAOSwUeVeI2KH
Fit a Tee further down to supply gas to an outer tube and we are nearly there.

Might work. My rig is a sodastream with a pipe connected to the mini keg using a bung and 3/8” to 1/2” barb John guest. I’ve bypassed the pressure release valve as this only works when a bottle is connected. I use the built in tap. The sodastream rigid tube bit is looking at tear downs screwed on so will need to work out the thread size so can hopefully mount the keg directly into the sodastream unit. My gut is it’ll be metric which would be a pain. I could always shorten the tube I guess.

dispensing through a pipe. I though I thought could do this with John guest fittings - 3/8” push to 1/2” barb into y shape 3/8” connector, 3/8 stem to 5/16” push fit, 3/8 stem to 3/16” push fit. Main thought was I think John guest fittings need rigid ish pipes and also can’t run the dip tube through a John guest fitting?

 

[Ashman]

In boredom I deconstructed the tap. Essentially from what I can tell it’s a rotating pipe with hole that rotates in a tube within a tube ;and loads of seals. I’ll look to see if a 5/16mm stem to barb John guest fitting goes in there and pipe it off to a tap. Connecting off the 15mm looks problematic but another option I guess.

Outer tube is I think 15mm. Inner tube actually looks to be 8mm which I think will be 5/16”

 

[Richie_asg1]

There is also now the option of 3d printing which could solve a difficult problem where nothing else will fit.

 

[terrym]

@Leon103 or anyone else who has one of these

A friend has given me used three Easykegs (minikegs?) in good condition, and I have been plodding my way through this thread to see how to get the top vent bung out. Then I came across these photos which you posted back in 2016 from a Hobgoblin keg you had bought, which seems to have an identical top vent arrangement. The advice at the time seemed to be that they are not re-useable unlike the other red and black vents (with a red not black twisty thing and a black not red flange thingy and something in the middle that just easily pushes into the keg so you wash it out later). Certainly the central black thing on mine (and yours?) looks like its in for good.
So the question, is how do I get the bung out, without damaging the keg, and when I have removed it presumably I can then use the other type in its place or a rubber bung type.
And all the kegs I have have bottom taps
Ta

 

[Leon103]

View attachment 26559
View attachment 26561

@Leon103 or anyone else who has one of these

A friend has given me used three Easykegs (minikegs?) in good condition, and I have been plodding my way through this thread to see how to get the top vent bung out. Then I came across these photos which you posted back in 2016 from a Hobgoblin keg you had bought, which seems to have an identical top vent arrangement. The advice at the time seemed to be that they are not re-useable unlike the other red and black vents (with a red not black twisty thing and a black not red flange thingy and something in the middle that just easily pushes into the keg so you wash it out later). Certainly the central black thing on mine (and yours?) looks like its in for good.
So the question, is how do I get the bung out, without damaging the keg, and when I have removed it presumably I can then use the other type in its place or a rubber bung type.
And all the kegs I have have bottom taps
Ta

I removed the black part and then using a hack saw blade I cut several grooves in the red part. This made it more flexible and easy to pull out with a set of pliers.

Stopped using these kegs ages ago though.