5 Liter keg filling/carbonating??

[Botoole560]

Hello. I am hoping to get into kegging my beer in 5 L mini kegs but am not sure how to go about this. Is there an easy way to force carbonate the beer in the 5 L keg, or should I fill the keg with carbonated beer?? (Would the Blichmann Beergun work for this??) What equipment would I need to force carbonate in the mini keg?? I have a pretty good understanding of how I could rig something up, but I just figured I'd check if there were anything already commercially available first.

Thank you

[Mad Scientist]

Check with the net based brew suppy places, most of them stock the parts to use 5 liter kegs. As I recall, most people carbonate naturally in them, but I would imagine you could use a beer gun to fill it, but it seems like a pricey expenense for filling a keg. To use the beer gun, you'd need an existing kegging system, so you would not need these kegs anyway....when I need to take beer with me, I simply fill a bottle with a grolsh flip-top style lid. If I need to stoe this beer for any length of time, I'll sanitize the bottle; otherwise I just fill it straight.

[joshuaarchie]

I know the smaller price tag is nice, but you'll just end up going corny later. Don't buy the kit stuff from the homebrew store. Follow craigslist and find the fridge, kegs and all used and it'll work out to the same price. The mini kegs don't hold up. Any one that says other wise is just trying to pretend it's cool to have a baby set-up. They are hard to clean. Too small for a batch. It's nice and all they fit in your fridge but that's only if you don't store food in there, which would mean your a bachelor, which would mean you have more money, which would mean you can put a kegorator in your living room. I don't know just my thoughts.
Joshua Archie

[Mad Scientist]

Good thoughts there Josh.

[JayShaw91]

http://www.homebrewing.org/5-Gallon-Cornelious-Keg-Ball-Lock_p_21-70.html
$20 keg, with o-rings, plus shipping.

Do stalk Craigslist. You can convert a fridge for a couple hundred bucks.

[Botoole560]

I've actually been kegging, force carbonating, and serving draft beer in my home from Cornies for quite some time, and I have a 4 faucet chest freezer. so I already have all of that stuff, I was just hoping to make some smaller kegs for friends and such. Any advice??

Thank you

[joshuaarchie]

you are going to buy all that set up for your friends....want to hang out? maybe growlers would be the way to go.

[JayShaw91]

That's not a bad idea. If you have a craft brew restaraunt near you they'll sell their beer in growlers. Have your buds buy you some of that, drink it together, then send 'em on their merry way with a filled growler of your stuff. That way you "trade" beer with your buds, at least on their first fill.

Just remember those are 1 gal each, so one fill-up is 20% of a corny!

[Mad Scientist]

Yeah....wow...you'dg that distance and expense for yer friends? You know, i hear there are good job opprotunities in Chicago....

I second the growler idea, but at the cost of 1/5 of a cornie, I'd look for a smaller option, maybe quart or 1/2 gallon bottles that are easily filled. Maybe when they come back for more, you can complain about the high cost of malt and hops....

[Botoole560]

What setup are you all talking about?? I already have the cornelius kegs, all the co2 equipment, the beergun, the kegerator, multiple regulators, I have EVERYTHING for a cornelius setup!! I am not new at all to kegging, I just want to have some of my beer in smaller kegs to take to parties and such. What other equipment do I need for 5L kegs?? (Remember: I already have EVERYTHING for using cornelius kegs!!)

Thank you

[joshuaarchie]

http://www.americanbrewmaster.com/product_info.php?products_id=718
I guess just $72 and CO2 cartridges. and the little kegs, but you could just drink some store mini kegged beer. I guess. I still think if you are just going to a party I'd just take a growler.