mini kegs

[themadhippy]

so whats the best way of getting these things in a suitable state to receive more beer? I normally use bleach for bottles,is that good enough or will it do nasty tings to them? Anything else more suitable that can be found in a typical town center?

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

What kind of mini kegs?

[themadhippy]

darkstar 5L,the type most supermarkets sell

[BenB]

Are they stainless? They don't feel light enough to be ali.... I opted for caution with my recent mini kegs and used Chemipro Oxi which used to warn against stainless but no longer does so. Oxi followed by a Starsan sanitising after a good old rinse. I suspect some kind of fragrance free oxi product should be in the pound store which would do something similar to the Oxi. In terms of sanitising not sure.

My problem with mini kegs historically has been trying to get the black/red bungs off without destroying them. The grey/stainless bolt ones are much better and easier to remove with some dental floss.

Chlorine based cleaners and Poviodine aren't so good- they can lead to pin-holes in stainless. A blow-out in a mini keg could be quite impressive.

[Andy]

Oxyclean to remove any existing residue, then your sanitiser of choice before refill.

[BenB]

PS I think officially those ones are called "EasyKegs". The difference is the EasyKegs have the built in tap, the MiniKegs have do not and need the separate CO2 injection / tap combo which fits on top. The nice thing is the grey bung/bolt combos fit both.

[themadhippy]

oxyclean it is then,not worried about the life span,they were freebies (with contents) so even 1 brew is a bonus

the difference is the EasyKegs have the built in tap,

thats the badgers,tap on the side and vent on the top

[oz11]

Oxy cleaner & starsan or peracetic acid rinse before filling.

A little LED torch such as this can be useful for inspecting the inside, though it's only possible to see the base properly, but if that's clean the I assume the rest is okay too.

I've thrown a couple out recently as they were getting stained, but they probably had 5 or 6 refills each minimum.