How many times have you taken a 12-pack of your brew to a party or picnic to share with friends, only to find that they toss out your bottles or worse, drop gum or cigarettes into them? Don’t they know you spent hours scraping off labels and soaking, scrubbing, and sanitizing those precious amber vessels? Perhaps it’s time to leave your bottles at home for personal consumption. (Only you will truly appreciate that bottle’s value anyway.) 

Before you visualize a 50-pound transportation nightmare or something that you can’t exactly fit next to the milk in your fridge, think about an easy-to-use, small-enough-to-store solution that can be had for as little as $35.

Mini-keg systems are cheap ($35 to $100, compared with $140 to $250 for a new five- to 7.5-gallon Cornelius- or pony-keg system), reusable, and convenient. They hold one to 2.5 gallons of beer under pressure. They’re small enough to fit into a refrigerator or ice chest but large enough to deter premature trashing. There are several stand-alone options on the market. All can be obtained at homebrew supply shops or through mail order.

Tin Mini-Kegs

If you are planning to take a gallon of your brew to a small gathering, the best bet is probably a five-liter tin mini-keg. These are generally of German manufacture (Datograf, Fass-Frisch, and Beer King). These kegs allow the homebrewer to naturally carbonate the beer, just as in the bottle.

Although the kegs can be reusable since they are lined with a food-grade plastic, multiple usage may wear the lining. That means that they will need to be replaced periodically. Also, tapping could cause leaks immediately or within the first few uses. As long as a gentle but thorough cleaning regimen is used — one that includes a food-grade sanitizer such as One Step or iodophor — and you have luck tapping, you will get your $12 worth of use (the average retail price on the tin mini-kegs).

A special two-piece rubber/plastic bung acts as both a keg stopper during carbonation and as a grommet, or seal, once the tap is inserted.

Taps are available from a variety of manufacturers, ranging in both price and quality. A picnic pump-style tap for this mini-keg will generally run in the range of $25 to $35 and displaces beer with air. More elaborate taps, ranging from $40 to $55, push the beer out of the keg with CO2.

The CO2 is provided by eight- to 16-gram food-grade bulbs, the kind you can find in some homebrew supply stores or kitchen supply stores for less than $1 (they may need to be adapted to fit). The smaller bulbs will work but require a special adapter. (Don’t wad tin foil into the bulb holder! This can cause serious problems as there must remain an open vent hole.) The CO2 bulbs do not deliver enough pressure to carbonate the beer by force.

For a continuous drinking session, say a barbecue or weekend event, the Bierzapfer picnic pump by Datograf is perfectly adequate. If you plan to store the beer, you run the risk of oxidation. That is why the CO2 model made by Fass-Frisch or Beer King proves a more versatile alternative.

Sanitation on tin mini-kegs may seem a daunting task; after all, you can’t get your hand through that small opening, and a bottle brush may not reach everywhere inside unless you are willing to bend it. Just as with bottles, it’s best to rinse the keg with water immediately after it’s empty. Flush the tap with water, too. This doesn’t sanitize anything, but it sure does prevent a sticky mess later. As soon as you can, flush the whole assembly with the sanitizer of your choice. This will prolong the reusability of the tin and make your cleaning regimen much easier.

PET-Based Systems

What if you want to double your capacity? Well, you could buy two mini-keg tins, keep one bunged up and tap the other. Or you could invest in a PET-based dispense system such as the Party Pig from Quoin or Medicine Rock’s mini-keg system.

The Party Pig is an increasingly popular option with homebrewers. Amber in color and made of plastic, this 2.25-gallon system uses a pressure pouch to push the carbonated beer out through the “snout” (a valve on the front of the apparatus). The pouch (which recently underwent a redesign to avoid some minor problems with dispense) eliminates the need for CO2 or worse, air, to pressurize the tank. Thus, you can avoid the oxidation problem posed by other mini-kegs and commercially kegged beer used with rental taps.

You must prime the beer with sugar as indicated, seal the PET bottle with the valve assembly, and allow it to carbonate at fermentation temperature for at least a week. When carbonation is achieved, chill the beer and open the valve. Out flows carbonated homebrew, while the activated pouch displaces missing beer like an expanding balloon.

Each pressure pouch can be used one time only, and pouches can be purchased separately for about $4. Suggested retail on this kit, including two pouches, is $38. A one-way “squeeze bulb” needed for activating the pressure pouch is an additional $7.

Both this system and the one-gallon tin mini-keg system are sometimes known to leak homebrew through the tap after dispense. It seems that residual beer remains in the tube between the valve and the dispense side, dripping once the gravity force overcomes the vacuum created by shutting off flow. A drip tray placed in the refrigerator would help.

Both systems offer advantages over bottling other than larger dispense volume. For instance they can be used as fermenting and lagering vessels as well. The mini-kegs can be fitted with a standard airlock and the rubber stopper provided, and a Party Pig uses a #13 stopper and airlock instead of the valve assembly. They could provide a good testing ground for two gallons of that “experimental” beer you’ve been dying to make.

You still need to transfer the beer out of the Pig to remove the sedimented yeast and trub, which may make the use of your standard primary fermenter seem advantageous. (Also, if you’re using a yeast strain with a prolific kraeusen, you may prefer the additional headspace of an oversized primary fermenter. Keep in mind though, these systems weren’t designed for fermentation. It’s just a perk that some may consider.)

Another mini-keg system comes from Medicine Rock, part of Dakota Supply. This 2.5-gallon, spherical-shaped keg resembles the Coors Partyball, only smaller in scale and designed with the homebrewer in mind.

The tap assembly pumps air into the Rock’s keg, forcing the beer through the tap and into your mug. It is made of food-grade plastic, is amber/brown in color to prevent skunking, is durable, and might offer a hidden advantage over other mini-keg systems: It fits perfectly in your six-gallon bucket (you know, the one you ferment in), which can serve as an ice holder.

Since you are pumping air into the keg, it is best to consume your brew within a few days. However, if you allow the beer to dispense with the force of CO2 (from priming) only, you may be able to draw a few pints before having to pump it up.

The Rock’s keg requires about 18 inches of clearance from the bottom of the keg to the top of the installed tap, so it may not fit in your fridge. However, it should store there until you tap it, requiring only 12 inches of space untapped, providing you can work out arrangements with your significant other. Sanitation notes from the Party Pig would apply here. Don't use abrasives on plastic, and try to rinse the apparatus with water/sanitizer as soon as possible.

The suggested price for the Rock’s system is $24.95 for a keg, tap, Snap Cap, and two seals. Each time you keg up a batch using the system, you need to use about 1/3 cup of corn sugar and replace the Snap Cap seal. Seals run about $2 in brew shops where the system is sold. If you want to convert the Medicine Rock keg to a CO2 system, you would need to order the "Convert-a-Keg" assembly in addition to having a CO2 bottle and regulator. "Convert-a-Keg" gives you a CO2 tap and dispense hose for around $35. You provide the CO2 bottle and regulator.

PET Bottles

There is one other portable solution worth mentioning. If you happen to have access to a CO2 tank and regulator (maybe you own a Cornelius keg but want something smaller to deliver your beer to a houseboat party), you can fill a two-liter PET bottle with your brew either out of the keg or out of the fermenter. Then you can force carbonate your homebrew with products such as the Carbonater ($18) or the Double Drafter ($50). These products provide a coupler between your CO2 line and a standard PET bottle. The Double Drafter also includes an auxiliary regulator, should this be missing from your setup.

Either setup allows you to store your homebrew in the same way you would get two liters of soda in the grocery store. There is no additional tap provided or needed. You simply pour the beer into a glass after force carbonation with the special coupler and replace the cap onto the “soda” bottle.

The downside is that this system is much more vulnerable to oxidation than dispensing from a keg, and long-term storage is not recommended. Since you are storing your beer in a relatively thin plastic bottle, oxygen will transfer through the plastic after several months to a year. This applies to the PET mini-kegs as well but to a much lesser extent because they are constructed of harder, thicker plastic. This phenomenon of gas transfer through a semi-permeable membrane can be seen even with soda, which will go flat after a time even if you don’t ever open the bottle. Nevertheless, this type of system is great for making small batches of beer or soda. Making soda with the Carbonater or Double Drafter is much less risky than gambling on natural carbonation of soft drinks in the bottles using yeast.

For $35 to $100, you can invest in a reasonable system to serve your homebrew, provide a stunning conversation piece, perform lagering, satisfy your yearning for gadgets, and still have enough money left over to purchase ingredients for your next batch!

Sean Mick is the proprietor of Mick’s Homebrew Supplies, Davis, Calif.