http://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/minikeg-starter-kit-p-293.html Myself and my buddy have been weighing up getting some of these for quite a while. While bottling day is not a huge headache by any means, it does grow weary, especially if you are brewing regularly. On the surface these mini kegs look a ideal for someone in our position. We don't really have the space to start getting in to kegging or building a kegerator. For bigger beers I think we will most likely bottle, but for our everyday beers it might be a good bet. I'd love some first hand feedback on these things. Cheers! Graeme
I have used these on several occasions, mostly for making a dry-hopped version of a beer I was bottling for parties, and never had any issues. Its a little bit of a pain to get a hop sack with whole leaf hops out of the top of them, but it is worth it. I mostly serve them around 55 degrees, so that they simulate a dry-hopped, cask-conditioned beer, after the beer has been in there for about a month. Follow the directions for priming amounts, you are always better off going a little lower to aviod a huge mess. Also, rinse out as soon as it is emtpy with hot water.
I used them at the beginning of my all-grain brewing "career" for the same purpose. The first batch of pale ale I ever brewed came out tasting like a decent cask-conditioned bitter. Needless to say, I was hooked on brewing after that.
I looked into using steel mini kegs in the past, but was told that there are a limited number of uses you can get out of them. Apparently it's due to the repeated insertion and removal of the tap. It cracks the opening eventually. Something to be mindful of.
