Oxebar PET "Kegs"

[Zoiks]

BKT stocking them bought a couple out of intrigue, despite buying a keg king 10L last week

 

[samale]

BKT stocking them bought a couple out of intrigue, despite buying a keg king 10L last week

Just had a look, the tapping head is sold out. These could solve the problem of taking beer to the caravan

 

[AnimatedGIF]

Just had a look, the tapping head is sold out. These could solve the problem of taking beer to the caravan

Looks like more should be arriving in May.
I was tempted but took too long thinking about it.

 

[Zoiks]

AliExpress is having a flash sale for another week, with free delivery!

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mswPgWi
I know as I got tanked up last night, bought two of them and done £50 on the AliExpress kegland store.

So many random fittings...

 

[Wobbly13]

BKT stocking them bought a couple out of intrigue, despite buying a keg king 10L last week

@Zoiks did exactly the same

 

[LeeH]

AliExpress is having a flash sale for another week, with free delivery!

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mswPgWi
I know as I got tanked up last night, bought two of them and done £50 on the AliExpress kegland store.

So many random fittings...

This is why I always change my eBay password before going on a bender.

 

[gingerneil]

Ive got 2 of the tapping heads on the way from Ali, and received the oxy from BKT yesterday, Its a great size for me and will sit on the compressor hump in my kegarator behind two cornies - so using up otherwise dead space. The 4L would be great too and I'll probably get one of those when the appear.
A question though (more for the 4L I guess...). Can these be used lying down in the fridge? I can see how the serving side would be fine (altho a flexible floating dip tube would be better), but if the gas disconnect is covered with beer, would it maintain pressure with the CO2 just 'bubbling through' the beer into the space?

 

[Zoiks]

Mine arrived today and I feel like that Little Britain Dennis Waterman sketch with them

 

[Ben034]

Ive got 2 of the tapping heads on the way from Ali, and received the oxy from BKT yesterday, Its a great size for me and will sit on the compressor hump in my kegarator behind two cornies - so using up otherwise dead space. The 4L would be great too and I'll probably get one of those when the appear.
A question though (more for the 4L I guess...). Can these be used lying down in the fridge? I can see how the serving side would be fine (altho a flexible floating dip tube would be better), but if the gas disconnect is covered with beer, would it maintain pressure with the CO2 just 'bubbling through' the beer into the space?

Yes they would work lying down I think. I have 5l kegland stainless steel kegs. Silicone diptube which sinks to the bottom. I've found it better with a small weight on the diptube as I found it often floated above the beer line for some reason. I guess a proper floating diptube would work well.

 

[Leard]

Relighting this as I'm interested in these PET kegs as party kegs. How well do the 8L kegs sit in a fridge on their side? And are you able to then serve from them this way?

 

[fluketamer]

i do a lot of minikegging . and a lot of minikegging in PET bottles. i have yet to use oxebar but i use something very similar. 2.5 and
3.5 liter amber PET bottles.

from reviews i have read i think these bottles may be a little sturdier than oxebars. that said these things have a habit of collapsing when not on pressure. like when pouring them out to fast. when this happens they can get weak points and dents that dont come out. from reviews i have read the 8 liter oxebar which is taller does this. just like mine do if im not careful. this is especially true when on there side as the walls arent as strong as the base.

so if they lose pressure on thee side you have a chance of denting.
also i have tried to lay kegs and these bottles on there side.
it can be done
it is a pain in the butt
they tend to roll around
you must have a flexible dip tube
even with said dip tube it can sometimes get pinned up against the side which isnt a problem upright but can be if its the wrong side when laying down (ie the top of the keg where the co2 is and the beer isnt.)
it makes me nervous when the liquid gets anywhere near the gas line or post or growler cap. i like those to stay beer free. for sanitary/ cleaning purposes.
the other issue for me with the 8 liter is its 20 inches tall. not exactly a minikeg. a regular size corny is 23 inches. not much different . thats why i have been holding out for the 4 liter oxebar. which looks like its now available. sort of. most standard fridges are about 20 inches deep so an oxebar 8 on its side would come right up to the door and be tight. i guess you could pin it up agaisnt the back but then it would be a pain to get to hte tapping head.

as you can see i have thought about this a lot.

i wouldnt reccomend side kegging in anything. YMMV

there is a square keg designed specifically for this i dont like it and dont think the pros outwiegh the cons. the spear is proprietary and hard to interchange. the fact that its has so many inaccesible corners makes me thik i could never really get it clean. the price is outrageous

im not sure why they made the 8 liter so tall they should have/ could have made it much squatter which improves any pet keg. the shorter it is the lower the center of gravity. the less likely to tip especially when low in beer. by design PET kegs are a fraction of the weight of SS and when low or empty they have a habit of falling over . especially when tapped with anything heavy.
pet keg thread:
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/kegs-kegs-and-other-kegs.103993/#post-1255796
cheers

 

[gingerneil]

Agree on the shaping of the kegland 8L ones. I have two and they fall over very easily unless at least a third full! By the time you get the tapping head, and maybe a nukatap mini on there, they're very unstable.
I'm tempted by the 4L - after all I only really use the 8L for overflow from filling a corny with a 23L batch. The 8L just happened to be available first.

 

[fluketamer]

short and squat low center of gravity compact size are all very important in PET kegging . and mini keggers. . after all if we had space for cornies we wouldnt be minikegging in the first place.

a list of short fat squat stubby kegs:

ball lock wide mouth

1.75 gallons 11 inches !

1.6 gallons 11 inches!

.5 gallons 10 inches, the smallest ball lock keg. not worth it imo


narrow neck ss

2 liters 8.6 inches these are very small i have a few . if i had to choose iagain i wouldnt have got them they are too smal for the footprint they take up. maybe 4 pints if you are lucky.

the 5 liter 11.7 inches is a much better choice for the space it takes up IMO

PET options

4 liter oxebar - coming in at less than 13 inches with tap . pretty ideal. the thing that started me on my minikegging journey. i really like this thing . it could fit anywhere looks plug and play, somewhat interchangable with the carb caps. its a great option but unobtainable in many parts. AND THE PRICE!!!! . you could just get a bunch of these and one head and prime the rest amd there only like 6 $ .

keggi from brazil 5 liters 13.7 inches with tapping head . not sure if available outside southamerica
my dream keg

and the best of both worlds, light PET keg WITH wide mouth access.

king keg - 10 liters 14.9 inches bordering on a little tall but the wide base looks very stable at any height or fill level.

then theres those one way dolium kegs. with the bag inside im still trying to figure those out.

there are prolly others i am missing

height is very important in minikegging. i am not very handy i keg in unmodified 3-4 cu ft fridges. i dont like cutting drilling or bending the feezer elements. short kegs means no modifications.
sorry for the long post
cheers


.

 

[Leard]

Great info fluketamer. Think I'll hold off the larger 8L PET kegs. I never have that much extra after filling a corny, and if they aren't much smaller than a corny, then I have the same problem of trying to chill them to serve when away from my keezer.

I do like the look of those other smaller ones however. I can't seem to find any anywhere for sale in the UK though. I guess I could just buy a proper mini 5-8L keg/growler that would fit in a fridge or a cooler, but I can't bring myself to pay more for one of those than the cost of a whole 19L corny.

Good thing about winter is that you can bring a whole corny to a party or a friends, and just leave it outside to chill. Need a solution for summer though.

​

 

[Rakey]

I bet cleaning those is a pain in the A-hole. Almost as bad as the chubbies, which I had to buy a special keg cleaner to clean properly.

Referring to the Oxebars, just to be clear.

Enzybrew 10, works at 50-60c, just fill, leave for 45 mins, job done.

 

[Davegase]

Enzybrew 10, works at 50-60c, just fill, leave for 45 mins, job done.

PET doesn't like those temperatures.

 

[borischarlton]

PET doesn't like those temperatures.

Oxebar products are rated to 45c. Fermzilla are rated to 55c. KegKing Apollo range rated to 50c. ENYBREW works a treat at these temperatures.

 

[Davegase]

Oxebar products are rated to 45c. Fermzilla are rated to 55c. KegKing Apollo range rated to 50c. ENYBREW works a treat at these temperatures.

I was going by the guidelines quoted by the guy from keg king in this video at 24 minutes.

 

[borischarlton]

Yes, conflicting information doesn't help!
I would go by the instructions - https://kegkingmediastorage.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/pdf/Apollo+Unitank+-+User+Manual.pdf

 

[Davegase]

Yes, conflicting information doesn't help!
I would go by the instructions - https://kegkingmediastorage.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/pdf/Apollo+Unitank+-+User+Manual.pdf

https://kegkingmediastorage.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/pdf/Apollo+Unitank+-+User+Manual.pdf

Thanks, I've saved that to my library. I would always er on the side of caution.