I bought one from morrisons last night and yes they have changed the vent plug on top, but I still managed to get it out in one piece without damaging it. So what I used was a couple of kitchen knifes to get a couple of millimetres gap under it ,then proceed with one of the 2 prong meat forks you use on a joint of meat by pushing the prongs under on either side of the vent bung and then carefully lifting it with a bit of force ,then go to the other side and repeat on all 4 sides untill it did pop out. No need to try and push the centre in as it is impossible.
Good informative video. You are a man of many talents - an archer and a brewer. I spotted your MYBO kit and had to show my wife (also an archer) and she was suitably impressed!!
I threw one of these out last week, if only I had know about this before! I suppose I'll have a make a trip down to the local brewery and pick another one up. What hardships! Excellent tutorial, thanks.
Perfect! I just finished my first mini keg and have another two to drink and also about to start home brewing and got thinking about recycling the kegs so this is just perfect, thank you. Great stuff :-)
Maybe running hot water over the bung might make it easier to manipulate and prevent damage when removing? Just a thought. I do that also when I remove the cap from those whole pepper grinder things.
Good video. Some times when i use the tap the flow of beer stops but i give it a little shake ,and hey presto it shoots out. Again good video and very clear on how to reuse a mini keg 👍
Just about to try this for the first time with 3 or 4 Hobgoblin kegs. The bungs are horrible to get out ... It seems you need to rip off almost all of the plastic and rubber on top, then while holding the remains with pliers, push one side fo the bung into the hole and pull it out sideways. Lost grip on one of the bungs and had to fill keg right to the top with water and keeping it upright, try to catch the floating bung with the pliers and pull it out .... sideways again.
Pete Turner that sounds a bit of a nightmare! I have only reused the kegs with hard bungs a couple of times but I found the easiest method was to use a red hot knife to cut the bung in 2 down the middle and then pull out each half with the pliers. Good luck!
Here's a couple questions. 1. What US brands have this? 2. I have a growler, and love it, but it loses carbonation fast. Could I get the growler filled, and then pour it into the keg? Thanks.
Great stuff! They sell an empty one of these at my homebrew shop for about the same price as a full one from the store! I knew there was something fishy there.
Great informative video. I wonder if you have had any spectacular incidents due to over-priming and I assume you only need to open the top bung once the CO2 is all used up or correct me if I'm wrong ?
Never had any explosions but did have one deform a bit after leaving it in the hot shed for a few weeks! You turn the red bit to vent the top bung when you want to start pouring so it works similar to a mini cask rather than keg in that sense cheers
Hey thanks for this, just what I was looking for. One question, you mention venting a couple of times, is there something I need to do to vent while it’s conditioning or before pouring or am I misunderstanding? Never bought a mini keg before and always usually bottle all my brews (that’s about to change haha)
Hello, I have found some kegs in the back of the shed with the party star dispenser do you think 6 grams of sugar and then some gas would be ok ? For a pale ale ?
I can't seem to find anywhere selling them new (empty) either at the moment so can only suggest buying some full ones and recycling, I believe the Ghost Ship ones still use the rubber bungs which you see in the video. A lot of the other big brands seem to use solid plastic which are a pain to remove and can't be reused
Fantastic tutorial and easy to follow. I do have a question though. I'm new to homebrewing and only really use kits, I often use carbonation drops when bottling - could I use drops and/or sugar? Plus would I have to get a different tap or anything? Thank you!
Thanks! you could use carbonation drops I'm not sure about the dosage though 3 or 4 maybe as a starting point. Not sure what you mean by getting a different tap, it should work the same whatever you prime with
I'm looking to prime a larger inside one of these. I've got the coopers priming drops with my kit. Would you recommend batch prime first or just add 12grms of sugar. I may even invest in the co2 tap.
Hi Andrew, I wouldn't batch prime as this tends to give too high a carbonation level for kegs (assuming the rest is going in bottles) I prime the minikeg with the 12g and if I am bottling any remaining beer I will batch prime the leftover volume. You will get a much better lager 'fizz' with the c02 tap setups, mini kegs and PBs dont really work that well for lager IMO they deliver more froth than fizz if that makes sense
When you say "start dispensing beer", do you just open the spigot below and the beer is right? Or do you need extra equipment to post-carbonate or push it out? 12g / 5 l sounds very low carbonation. I also use about 5g/1l, so I would have put about 25g in there. If I just use the spigot to get to the beer, will it not be quite "flat"?
towi Torsten Will yes you just use it with the spigot. When you prime kegs and pressure barrels etc you do not need as much sugar to achieve the same level of carbonation that you would with bottles, if you put 25g in you will be serving foam at best and having a burst keg at worst.
Do you need to put the full 5 L into it? I only put 3L into mine as its all I had left, will it still carbonate? Also, how would you clean it out once it's been re used? Thanks
How long would the beer last in one of these if well sealed and not opened after priming for 10-14 days? I know they only tend to last 48 hours once opened though...
assuming your process is all good and hygienic theres no reason that it cant last for months if not longer same as bottle conditioning really just bigger volume
Hi. I carbonate my beer with a syrup of corn sugar. 7grms of sugar per liter. using these barrels what would be the amount of grams so that it does not explode ...? thank you very much. excellent the video. cheers!!!
So can I get this correct you have made your home brew to the full-time that did needs before you can drink it but once you put it into the mini keg it needs to set for a week before you can can use it do you put it in a fridge to chill then
Link in description is dead I’ve just noticed but they are available here: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-Keg-5-Litre-Bung-Free-P-P-/154328808251?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0 cheers 🍻
thanks! once you pop the vent it allows oxygen in so the beer will start staling very quickly most people would recommend drinking within a few days but I have extended that a bit by closing the vent in between pours in the past. Cheers
I have the same question - the original brewer's beer only lasts 3 days from opening (breaking the seal off the top catch) so should we assume the same?? My only concern is that the keg has already been 'opened' but I'm not sure if re-carbonating it re-seals it and then it is 3 days from first releasing the air via top catch
Help ! I dont want much just a good kit which I have found for lager . Tried couple of br ewe was and nice. But I want it crystal clear . The one I did wouldnt carbonate in bottle . I do prefer lager from PB . Could I cold crash with gelatine ,and prime in PB. MANGROVE KACKS LAGER I LIKE AND THATS ALL I WANT . IDEAS APPRECIATED CHEERS PAL
I think they've changed the design of the vent at the top of the mini-keg. On this video and others it looks really easy to pull the top of the vent off (which is still really easy) but then pushing the red bit into the keg seems impossible (and this component is now black). Has anyone else found this? And have you found a way to successfully remove the new-style vent?
Amy Walters hi a lot of the kegs now have solid plastic bungs unfortunately which are not as easy to remove and can’t be refitted. It is possible to get them out but they have to be destroyed in the process, easiest way I found was to use a red hot knife to cut it in two through the centre and then pull the 2 halves out. You can buy replacement rubber bungs to replace the old one and they can then be recycled as per the video
I agree. I think they have changed the design. I have a Klarstein beer dispenser and I had a job and a half trying to remove the top red piece and the bung without completely destroying it. It was a real pan in the ar*e.
Nira at this size the difference will only be just over a gram more for dextrose, so you could do 13 instead but it's not going to make a huge difference either way
Hi. I think that you need to open the top vent just before pouring to allow for flow. Haven't tried it yet but it is in one of the comments. Hope it works. Cheers
Ah yeah you’re probably right! It’s much harder to get the bung out in one piece as it’s more rigid with the centre bit so much more likely to damage bung and or keg that way
@@TheWelshbrewer far enough but if youre going to correct an engineer that has been using NEEDLE NOSE PLIERS since he started with british gas in 1960 makesure you're correct these are needle nose as they have a sharp point the point is just covered with tape
My auto-play took me to this video. I am 10 seconds in and already subscribed. Brewing and The Big Lebowski. My two favorite things.
It's my new challenge to watch all your videos. Thanks for making them.
This is the exact video I was looking for. Thanks Dudes Brews.
Thanks, that's probably the best and most concise tutorial on re-using a mini keg I've ever seen.
Cheers 🍻
inspirality thanks for your positive feedback and the sub 😀more videos on the way soon
I bought one from morrisons last night and yes they have changed the vent plug on top, but I still managed to get it out in one piece without damaging it. So what I used was a couple of kitchen knifes to get a couple of millimetres gap under it ,then proceed with one of the 2 prong meat forks you use on a joint of meat by pushing the prongs under on either side of the vent bung and then carefully lifting it with a bit of force ,then go to the other side and repeat on all 4 sides untill it did pop out. No need to try and push the centre in as it is impossible.
Good informative video. You are a man of many talents - an archer and a brewer. I spotted your MYBO kit and had to show my wife (also an archer) and she was suitably impressed!!
well spotted! Yeah brewing and archery are my main hobbies but I try not to mix them too much!
@@DudesBrews you'll be making cider commercials soon :-)
Epic video dude, just started my first brew a week ago, will try this on bottling day. Got yourself a new subscriber.
I threw one of these out last week, if only I had know about this before! I suppose I'll have a make a trip down to the local brewery and pick another one up. What hardships! Excellent tutorial, thanks.
Great thanks - ideal for taking camping in a couple of weeks. Cheers!
Just took a couple camping myself this weekend, they worked great 👍🏻
Perfect! I just finished my first mini keg and have another two to drink and also about to start home brewing and got thinking about recycling the kegs so this is just perfect, thank you. Great stuff :-)
Maybe running hot water over the bung might make it easier to manipulate and prevent damage when removing? Just a thought. I do that also when I remove the cap from those whole pepper grinder things.
Cool tip. Thanks for the lesson👍😃👍
Cheers Mate for this information mate. Am just getting started and I wondered if I could reuse my kegs thanks.👍
Very practical channel this! love it, great stuff 👏
Just what I was looking for! Cheers mate.
Excellent instructions, very easy to follow.
Good video. Some times when i use the tap the flow of beer stops but i give it a little shake ,and hey presto it shoots out. Again good video and very clear on how to reuse a mini keg 👍
Oh just turned the thing on the top and makes it pour out,so i dont need to shake it 🤭
Brilliant. Thanks for this. Always nice to reuse stuff;-)
Thanks for this 👍
Superb video. Didn't know this could be done. Cheere
Just the video I was looking for :-D
Very useful. Subscribed!
Just about to try this for the first time with 3 or 4 Hobgoblin kegs. The bungs are horrible to get out ... It seems you need to rip off almost all of the plastic and rubber on top, then while holding the remains with pliers, push one side fo the bung into the hole and pull it out sideways. Lost grip on one of the bungs and had to fill keg right to the top with water and keeping it upright, try to catch the floating bung with the pliers and pull it out .... sideways again.
Pete Turner that sounds a bit of a nightmare! I have only reused the kegs with hard bungs a couple of times but I found the easiest method was to use a red hot knife to cut the bung in 2 down the middle and then pull out each half with the pliers. Good luck!
Here's a couple questions. 1. What US brands have this? 2. I have a growler, and love it, but it loses carbonation fast. Could I get the growler filled, and then pour it into the keg? Thanks.
Great stuff! They sell an empty one of these at my homebrew shop for about the same price as a full one from the store! I knew there was something fishy there.
Yep I much prefer the recycled option!
Great informative video. I wonder if you have had any spectacular incidents due to over-priming and I assume you only need to open the top bung once the CO2 is all used up or correct me if I'm wrong ?
Never had any explosions but did have one deform a bit after leaving it in the hot shed for a few weeks! You turn the red bit to vent the top bung when you want to start pouring so it works similar to a mini cask rather than keg in that sense cheers
Hey thanks for this, just what I was looking for. One question, you mention venting a couple of times, is there something I need to do to vent while it’s conditioning or before pouring or am I misunderstanding? Never bought a mini keg before and always usually bottle all my brews (that’s about to change haha)
venting is just before you want to pour, the top needs to be open otherwise once the pressure is gone it wont pour any more beer
Dudes Brews ok gotcha cheers mate
Hello, I have found some kegs in the back of the shed with the party star dispenser do you think 6 grams of sugar and then some gas would be ok ? For a pale ale ?
if you have the extra co2 to serve then that would probably work yeah
thank you so much for that...
Hi mate,
Have you got any links to buy these mini kegs? I can’t find any apart from ball lock kegs. Cheers buddy
I can't seem to find anywhere selling them new (empty) either at the moment so can only suggest buying some full ones and recycling, I believe the Ghost Ship ones still use the rubber bungs which you see in the video. A lot of the other big brands seem to use solid plastic which are a pain to remove and can't be reused
Fantastic tutorial and easy to follow. I do have a question though. I'm new to homebrewing and only really use kits, I often use carbonation drops when bottling - could I use drops and/or sugar? Plus would I have to get a different tap or anything?
Thank you!
Thanks! you could use carbonation drops I'm not sure about the dosage though 3 or 4 maybe as a starting point. Not sure what you mean by getting a different tap, it should work the same whatever you prime with
I'm looking to prime a larger inside one of these. I've got the coopers priming drops with my kit. Would you recommend batch prime first or just add 12grms of sugar. I may even invest in the co2 tap.
Hi Andrew, I wouldn't batch prime as this tends to give too high a carbonation level for kegs (assuming the rest is going in bottles) I prime the minikeg with the 12g and if I am bottling any remaining beer I will batch prime the leftover volume. You will get a much better lager 'fizz' with the c02 tap setups, mini kegs and PBs dont really work that well for lager IMO they deliver more froth than fizz if that makes sense
...you have clean fingers; bravo !!! ...what is about the pressure ; is there any problem !?
When you say "start dispensing beer", do you just open the spigot below and the beer is right? Or do you need extra equipment to post-carbonate or push it out? 12g / 5 l sounds very low carbonation. I also use about 5g/1l, so I would have put about 25g in there. If I just use the spigot to get to the beer, will it not be quite "flat"?
towi Torsten Will yes you just use it with the spigot. When you prime kegs and pressure barrels etc you do not need as much sugar to achieve the same level of carbonation that you would with bottles, if you put 25g in you will be serving foam at best and having a burst keg at worst.
Dudes Brews hey there! So 12g and it would be ready to pour beer in 48hours maybe?
Great video any idea if you can re use perfect draught kegs thanks
How does it get the fiz in it surely it will be flat. And is this beer in the other container already done and you were just filling the keg up. ?
Do you need to put the full 5 L into it?
I only put 3L into mine as its all I had left, will it still carbonate?
Also, how would you clean it out once it's been re used?
Thanks
How long would the beer last in one of these if well sealed and not opened after priming for 10-14 days? I know they only tend to last 48 hours once opened though...
assuming your process is all good and hygienic theres no reason that it cant last for months if not longer same as bottle conditioning really just bigger volume
Great vid cheers, the little glass you used to put the priming sugar in, was it from Healey's cider farm by any chance? Lol
haha it is indeed well spotted!
Spotted that too. If you've got one, you know haha
Hi. I carbonate my beer with a syrup of corn sugar. 7grms of sugar per liter. using these barrels what would be the amount of grams so that it does not explode ...? thank you very much. excellent the video. cheers!!!
at this size it will be about the same as normal sugar so I'd stick with about 12g total in each barrel
So can I get this correct you have made your home brew to the full-time that did needs before you can drink it but once you put it into the mini keg it needs to set for a week before you can can use it do you put it in a fridge to chill then
Fantastic vlog as always I’m definitely going to give this a go but just in case I damage the bung where can I buy replacement bungs from? Cheers 👍
Link in description is dead I’ve just noticed but they are available here: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-Keg-5-Litre-Bung-Free-P-P-/154328808251?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0 cheers 🍻
Thankyou 👍
Great video where would I buy the spare bungs from? I’ve searched eBay but to no evail
they used to have them on brew uk but I can't seem to find them myself at the moment, will have another look later
Great video. I know it depends on the beer but any ideas how long it would last in there once open
thanks! once you pop the vent it allows oxygen in so the beer will start staling very quickly most people would recommend drinking within a few days but I have extended that a bit by closing the vent in between pours in the past. Cheers
What a great idea thanks, out of interest how long do you think the beer will last inside these?
I have the same question - the original brewer's beer only lasts 3 days from opening (breaking the seal off the top catch) so should we assume the same?? My only concern is that the keg has already been 'opened' but I'm not sure if re-carbonating it re-seals it and then it is 3 days from first releasing the air via top catch
can you use these kegs for lager home brew or will it be flat and how long does it last in keg
Got a mini keg of Jaipur which is like this, can't wait to a) drink it and b) recycle some homebrew in to it! :D
Hi Dude,
How much sugar or how many priming drops (Dextrose) should I put in the 5 liter keg?
Thanks
10-12g Sugar not sure exactly how that translates to drops but I'd guess 2-3?
@@DudesBrews Thanks Mate!
How do you take the plastic handle off the top to fit into one of those mini kegerator machines
They just clip onto the rim on my ones so just lever off the clips
Great video, noticed the MYBO box 🗃 are you a Archer as well 🖖
Well spotted! yes I fling a few sticks although haven’t shot for ages for obvious reasons sadly
Help ! I dont want much just a good kit which I have found for lager . Tried couple of br ewe was and nice. But I want it crystal clear . The one I did wouldnt carbonate in bottle . I do prefer lager from PB . Could I cold crash with gelatine ,and prime in PB. MANGROVE KACKS LAGER I LIKE AND THATS ALL I WANT . IDEAS APPRECIATED CHEERS PAL
I think they've changed the design of the vent at the top of the mini-keg. On this video and others it looks really easy to pull the top of the vent off (which is still really easy) but then pushing the red bit into the keg seems impossible (and this component is now black). Has anyone else found this? And have you found a way to successfully remove the new-style vent?
Amy Walters hi a lot of the kegs now have solid plastic bungs unfortunately which are not as easy to remove and can’t be refitted. It is possible to get them out but they have to be destroyed in the process, easiest way I found was to use a red hot knife to cut it in two through the centre and then pull the 2 halves out. You can buy replacement rubber bungs to replace the old one and they can then be recycled as per the video
I agree. I think they have changed the design. I have a Klarstein beer dispenser and I had a job and a half trying to remove the top red piece and the bung without completely destroying it. It was a real pan in the ar*e.
Nice!
Great video. Poonted here following CheshireHomebrews recent video. What size and where do you get the replacement bungs? Cheers.
cheers! as far as I know all the bungs are the same size, brewuk have them for about 50p each i think
If I was using dextrose to prime would I still use 12g or would I use more or less
Nira at this size the difference will only be just over a gram more for dextrose, so you could do 13 instead but it's not going to make a huge difference either way
What’s the attachment you used on the tap?
Bottling wand
Tried this and the beer came out really slowly from the tap so I had to abandon most of the cask. Some kind of blockage - anyone had this?
Hi. I think that you need to open the top vent just before pouring to allow for flow. Haven't tried it yet but it is in one of the comments. Hope it works. Cheers
Do you know if you can do this with the brewbarrel kit
I haven't seen those kits myself but from pictures online it appears to be the same type as in the video so you can probably reuse them yes
hi great video mate, but miss how much sugar u put in, cheers Graham.
thanks 12g is the usual priming rate
thx mate, i kept going back, i thought u said 12g, just seam to little, cheers Graham.
legend!
I am the great cornholio! I need TP for my bunghole!
I like Old Speckled Hen. Brewed a clone once.
A thinner Nick Frost???
you need a automotive pickel fork type of tool
Legend
I really want to give this vid a thumbs up as it totally deserves it but it's at 666 so I dare not mess with the devil...lol...I'll sub instead
You allready put priming sugar in the beer. Why would you add more sugar to the keg?
no I didn't prime the beer before hand, in the video I mention that the remaining beer to be bottled will be primed separately
@@DudesBrews ok thanks
Can't you just take the whole lid off?
Simon Duffy there is no lid they are sealed cans
I think he's talking about the bung and red plastic pieces.
Ah yeah you’re probably right! It’s much harder to get the bung out in one piece as it’s more rigid with the centre bit so much more likely to damage bung and or keg that way
Need tepee for me bong hole
Meh he he
They are called needle nose pliers not long pliers
Pajsj Bshsjqu there actually called snipe nose pliers🤨 if your going to correct some one make sure your right 🤪
@@TheWelshbrewer far enough but if youre going to correct an engineer that has been using NEEDLE NOSE PLIERS since he started with british gas in 1960 makesure you're correct these are needle nose as they have a sharp point the point is just covered with tape
or you could try using a mini-keg that can easily be refilled, like www.kegsmiths.com
He is fingering the bung...