Mini-Mini Keg and Keg Pump

sweet i'll be doing this setup to my mini kegs to force carb and be able to add a 3rd tap to my other wise sanyo mini/kegerator that is normally limited to 2 corny kegs.

As for making my mini kegs easily transferable I take the plastic tops off the new castle and Heineken mini kegs and put them on my mini kegs. here's a pic.

How did you deal with the raw edge when you took off the top ?

Also on the New Castle and Heineken kegs, there is a CO2 charge inside made of plastic.. that's not in the regular ones.. it takes up space and could get loose and not to mention have crevasses so its harder to clean (See the video) .

CDGoin said:

How did you deal with the raw edge when you took off the top ?

Also on the New Castle and Heineken kegs, there is a CO2 charge inside made of plastic.. that's not in the regular ones.. it takes up space and could get loose and not to mention have crevasses so its harder to clean (See the video) .

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the picture of the keg I posted is actually the ones from midwest.com http://www.midwestsupplies.com/mini-keg.html. All I did was with a lil MAN power pulled the plastic handle that presses on to the top of the heineken and new castle mini kegs and then pressed it on to one of the midwest mini kegs. It's actually a perfect fit and makes caring it much easier. Below is a pick of an extra green plastic piece that I pulled from another heineken mini keg to be installed on another midwest mini keg

OH.. missed that.. Thats Friggin awesome.. Can I get a few from you

dawgmatic said:

Well that sure does sound like a lot less work. Like I said in the previous post it would just be a way to avoid any unnecessary splatter, but I guess if you use a vinyl tube to fill your growlers anyway it wouldn't be much of a difference. Plus it would probably be easier to see how full it is.

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The getting it full part definitely

Looks great.

CDGoin said:

OH.. missed that.. Thats Friggin awesome.. Can I get a few from you

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pm me your address and the next time i get a couple of mini kegs of heineken/ new castle to get use out of my beer tender i'll send the plastic handle parts your way.

If you are using a beertender, this may interest you: http://www.instructables.com/id/Krups-Beerteender-Conversion/

This is a lower profile tap I made: http://www.instructables.com/id/5L-Mini-Keg-Tap/

And here is a thread with some other 5L mini-keg resources: http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?t=61167

Enjoy if any of that is of interest, if not..oh well

Absolutely beautiful

Cdburkhart said:

Enjoy if any of that is of interest, if not..oh well

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Actually my first version for the 2L SS Growler was inspired by the Northwest article. The 5L as well.. But unlike ALL the other versions.. they all seem to run on CO2.

Mine is meant for carrying around to picnics and such, thus the hand pump design Also unlike the NW version, you don't need to drill anything.

That all said.. I like your design.. good use of the plastic bits.. I can see how if I flipped it up like mine you could convert it to a hand pump version for parties without the copper and such. Only question is how do you pop the center without making a mess..? The nice thing I liked about having the copper tube is that I use it to pop the plug in.

If I make another one, I may try a combo of the two designs to have it all plastic from the Tee down to the beer.

Frickin' nice I've been looking all over for a beertender conversion like this for months and no luck. Thank you a ton.

Cdburkhart said:

If you are using a beertender, this may interest you: http://www.instructables.com/id/Krups-Beerteender-Conversion/

This is a lower profile tap I made: http://www.instructables.com/id/5L-Mini-Keg-Tap/

And here is a thread with some other 5L mini-keg resources: http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?t=61167

Enjoy if any of that is of interest, if not..oh well

Click to expand...

Gumbys_Brew said:

Frickin' nice I've been looking all over for a beertender conversion like this for months and no luck. Thank you a ton.

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I was thinking if I had a beertender, and a Street Elbow and a few fittings I think you could put the chrome hand pump on the side

CDGoin said:

...Only question is how do you pop the center without making a mess..?

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I have been a carpenter, tinker and a props builder for about 15 years, so I have a fairly steady drill hand...so I was just very careful.

I kinda dig running it off CO2, I just use a 20oz paintball tank and its pretty cheap. Also, I can toss the tank on my cooler and serve the keg that way.

But then again, the rate at which I drink is fairly slow. My wife doesn't drink that much beer, so I can make a 5L last about 3 weeks which is why I went with gas.

Al thought a beer tender with a hand pump could look pretty great.

I meant when you push the white plug in on a full can..? That said you were using Splaten and those dont have the Gray bungs. So not sure how that works on a live keg.

The Gray bungs thou are what you have to use when doing home brew in the kegs. Probably could just push it in with a screw driver then sit in the feed tube.

Oh, I am sorry wasn't quiet sure what you were asking.

Yeah, I will cut the old bung out and use a reusable one and then refill the mini keg with my own home brew.

So you use the kegs after the beer is conditioned and transfer to the keg..? or Condition in the keg..?

I'm conditioning in the keg.. which is where it can get messy popping the white plastic piece of the bung in.

CDGoin said:

Did the "cheaper" model using the 5L cans and plastic pump..

Fairly cheap to reproduce.. will have to break it down and show the design and give a Bill of Materials if anyone is interested.

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Where did you buy the plastic pump?

I condition in the keg, since there is a whole lot less to clean when it comes to bottling. Someone made the suggestion to use about half the priming sugar and leave around an inch of head space.

I have read about people force carbing with these little ones, but I haven't tired that yet.

Also, I will use the 3 part bung, pictured on left since you can vent the beer, then pull off the top red piece and then push the red plug in. On my current batch I tried out on the grey bungs to see if they are easier to pull out once the keg is empty. The 3-part bung takes a good bit of effort (and my pillars to pull it out). I wonder if you turned the keg upside down and tried to vent with the pull out faucet prior to tapping if that would help relive pressure or just make a bigger mess.

Someone also removed the pullout faucet and learned the hole for it is the same size as the one on top. I have toyed with the idea removing it and replacing it with a three part just to make cleaning and drying easier.

I got the orange bung with my edge star keg conversion kit (what I converted my beer tender with) and they are great with the commercial kegs that don't have tapable bungs since the 'barbed' part is way less pronounced so getting it out is super easy. So I will remove the factory bung (I have heard some use the three part one pictured, but I haven't found any yet) and stick the orange one in, and holds pressure very well.

I know someone mentioned the Heineken/New Castle Keg earlier in the thread, and this may be of interest: http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=90461. I am thinking of trying to modify a bung like he did, but with a pressure relief valve as opposed to a Presta valve. I looked into this prior to what I did and thought about doing it, however I want with the bulkier setup since if left me with more options. But for picnics and travel, I think his system nails it.

I don't know if beer balls are still sold but when I saw this it brought back fuzzy memories of them. They sell the tap for 5$ in the link below. You just need to get the specific bung with 2 holes. Has anybody tried this?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NIB-Vintage-Maverick-Beer-Ball-Party-Ball-Keg-Tap-Pump-/221161005013

Nope Beer Balls went the way of the dodo a while ago.

Thanks for the lesson on the Bungs.. I hadn't even considered it and didn't know the Spaten bungs were reusable like that. So that's great to know.

Good call on venting it first.. not sure why I hadn't thought of turning the keg upside down first and using the spigot to vent before pushing in the bung plug.

I am also surprised no one ever thought to post this to the thread with everyone talking about bungs..

One of these days I will try to write an article on the ins and outs of the 5L kegs.. and all the different varieties of ways that they can be modified.

OH as for where did I get the pumps.. Beveragefactory had best prices but they dont seem to have them anymore. Did find them still available at Micro-matic:

http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/keg-pump-parts-cid-219.html

I think that is a great idea. I think my favorite thing about mini kegs is how flexible they are and how there is not just one right answer, just the solution that works best for your application

Yep.. what I like about my solution is that it seems to be the only one with a hand pump

I must think different than others.

My other "invention" I am trying to get some ideas on and I would love feed back:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/worth-investment-403125/

BTW Please read the whole thread.. before posting. I address many comments earlier in the thread towards the end

So I tired venting the keg by turning it upside down and it worked out pretty well.

I would still do it in a sink and maybe have a towel handy as a a shield.

CDGoin said:

One of these days I will try to write an article on the ins and outs of the 5L kegs.. and all the different varieties of ways that they can be modified.

OH as for where did I get the pumps.. Beveragefactory had best prices but they dont seem to have them anymore. Did find them still available at Micro-matic:

http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/keg-pump-parts-cid-219.html

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I asked where to buy it because everywhere I have found the 3" plastic pump it says the threads are 3/4 18 including the one on micromatic. As I see in the pic you used a 1/2 inch T with it threaded directly in. Are the specs mislabeled or is there something I'm missing?

fluidmechanics said:

I asked where to buy it because everywhere I have found the 3" plastic pump it says the threads are 3/4 18 including the one on micromatic. As I see in the pic you used a 1/2 inch T with it threaded directly in. Are the specs mislabeled or is there something I'm missing?

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Its possible they are the same and different threads that are close enough.

The 1/2" Tee is a plumbing Tee, and its 1/2" IF thread.. which may work out to a 3/4" -1/8 Male. All I know is that they fit, it is a "little" loose when you first screw it in, but in the end its tight enough to work and tight enough to get a seal with the gasket.

Thanks that was what I was thinking but I wanted to make sure.

Just don't over tighten (the plastic ones). The metal ones seem to tighten up perfect and can lift the mini-keg with. The Plastic ones tend to be more delicate, but if you tighten well and hold with the Tee, they don't give you any problems.

I found this thread: http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=90461 and I was thinking about fitting the top bung of the non Heineken/Newcastle keg with a bung and presta valve as he did for head pressure, but use the tap in the bottom that comes with that keg. Kind of combining both ideas. Anybody see any issues with that?

Actually someone posted on this thread a few pages back about doing something similar.

I thought about something like that and ran across someone who said they got a lot of foam that way...

If you over compress mine you can also get a lot of foam.

Best to use it to just push the beer out and not compress it out, at first.

Then at about 1/3 empty you can compress.

Being so small though, unlike a regular keg.. you get a good flow just pushing the beer out. By that I mean hold open the spigot and then pump, instead of pumping for compression and then opening the tap.