For me, these 5 liter kegs seem like the perfect device for storage as well as remaining fresh when making beer.
I understand there is a way to remove the top piece of the mini keg with some type of key? Once removed, what do you clean them with? and then how do you re-pressurize the keg?
It is possible to reuse these. Here's how I did it:
http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=21461&hilit=heineken
In my experience, the beers started tasting metallic after the first couple batches. So keep that in mind. It's a short term thing only as far as I can tell. I don't reuse these kegs anymore. But I did for a while. It does work.
I don't believe those specific mini-kegs are refillable; however very similar kegs are offered for homebrew use.
There are a couple different styles offered; some force-carbonated using CO2 cartridges, others are keg-primed with sugar.
Here's a couple examples:
These are very similar in design and function to the beer tender kegs, but are likely incompatible with that machine. However I've seen some micro-brews offered in exactly these kegs (with graphics painted on).
You might consider the "Tap-A-Draft" system, which includes 6 liter PET bottles. These are the same thing that "Miller Light Home Draft" and "Coors Light Home Draft" uses. They are so similar as to be identical in most ways. The TAD is made for re-use, whereas the MHD say 'do not recycle or reuse', but that's just the lawyers talking, I suppose.
I keg/bottle into these exclusively. A five gallon batch fits in three bottles. I'll take one of the three and force carbonate it, then take the other two and bottle condition. Works great, and I don't need to plug another compressor into the grid (the chief of the house lets me put one, sometimes two bottles in the regular refrigerator).
The question of how to pressurize the keg is addressed simply by having a CO2 cartridge holder right on the tap. The tap includes a rudimentary regulator that's not (designed to be) adjustable.
As to the cleaning, I put a warm oxyclean solution in the bottle, with the tap on, and tap open, but stopped-up. I let that sit for a few hours, then triple rinse and then hit it with starsan. No brushing. I think that the smooth walls of the PET bottle are superior to the small creases of steel canisters with respect to keeping things clean.
I'm not familiar with those kegs, so I don't know if they have the ability to connect CO2 to them for forced pressurizing, which would be my first choice. My next choice would be to fill them with a counter pressure bottle filler. My last choice would be to treat them like a bottle and prime your beer with priming sugar, fill your keg and then put the top back on and wait for the yeast to carbonate your keg naturally, this will make cleaning the keg a little more labor intensive and there will now be sediment at the bottom of your keg from the natural carbonation proccess.
I would clean them with PBW or One Step, fill them with hot water and let them soak with the cleaner in them for an hour or so, give them a thourough rinse and then fill.
I'm not sure if this helped, but I figured I would let you know what I would do since no one had responded yet.
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