Kegging Conundum

[Nathan]

Hello Ohio Valley Homebrewers! I'm new to the area and was referred to your group by a friendly email I received from someone familiar with you guys It seems like you've got a good thing going here and are much more active than the group from my previous hometown. That's all good to see!

Anyways, I can introduce myself later if anyone is interested but I'm now dealing with what I call the "Kegging Conundrum". I've been brewing for a few years now and am kind of growing weary of dealing with copious amounts of beer bottles. I gave several cases of bottles away to fellow brewers before I moved out this direction and at this point only maintain one case of Grolsch-style swing tops. I'm not a huge beer drinker so bottles work great. I can disperse my craft beer to friends and have an easy way to store beer for me. I did acquire a Ready-Whip freezer though that I've wanted to turn into a kegerator. Here's the conundrum:

It seems silly to me to keg 5 gallons of beer, pay to constantly have that cooled and probably have most of the beer go bad before it can be consumed. So, I've been looking at the prospects of the 5L kegs. Does anyone work with these and what's your experience been like? I kind of like the idea of these 5L keg dispensers:

http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbee ... BD5L.shtml

But, I'm not sure if the typical 5L kegs found in homebrew catalogs will work with that dispenser. I've pretty much determined they won't work with the new Heineken BrewTap. Well, I await feedback and can't wait for some responses!

[Dwayne_Delaney]

I wouldn't worry about a 5 gal. Corney of beer going bad, I routinely rotate several kegs in and out of my refrigerator. The only real enemies of beer are oxygen, light, heat, and my pint glass. I have kept beer in kegs for up to a year with no problems. Just make sure that there is a blanket of CO2 on the beer and keep it at room temperature.

[jefrey3]

I used 5 liter kegs at first. The only problem I had was that I was never sure I got them thoroughly cleaned. I never had any problems, but I switched to cornies pretty quickly.

The 5L kegs sold at homebrew shops should work with that dispenser.

3 gallon cornies are available. They cost more than 5 gallon cornies, but they may work better for you.

[john mills]

Nathan- I can help you with your excess beer problem. I'm more than willing to store your beer and make sure it doesn't go bad. I'll even pick up the beverages at your house, no charge!

I have run across cornies as small as 1 gallon, but the price is quite extreme. Necessity is the mother of invention. Maybe you can run across a retired welder (or one that likes homebrew) that would be willing to cut down the 5 gallon cornies into a smaller size for you.

[sirgiovanni]

I've got a half dozen of those little kegs. Nothing I do to try and improve them makes the beer remotely as good as just serving from the 5 gallon keg. Also, as others mentioned, I really don't think you'll have to worry about it going bad. Just put a couple taps in your kitchen, it solved the problem for me.

[Nathan]

Ok, it seems like maybe 5L kegs are a bad idea which is alright. I just want to make sure I'm making the right decision when it comes to deciding which way to go on keg equipment. For all of those who have suggested helping the situation out by drinking beer, we might just be able to work something out too!

[sirgiovanni]

Bud if you are convinced 5 gallons is too much to keg, how about this link? Each keg is only 1 case of beer. I just didn't go that route because it's basically the same price as going 5 gallons.

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/2_GALLON ... 65C109.cfm