Alan's Brewery
Bitburger Mini Keg
I found Bitburger Mini Kegs in the local Makro Bottle Store. These cost R260, but considering that the keg is very similar to those that I had bought at Brewcraft, was fitted with a grey bung and was filled with beer, I thought I would try it. Now R260 may sound expensive for 5l of beer, but if you take into consideration that the mini keg costs R145 and the grey bung costs R15, that means it only costs R80 for the beer if you reuse the keg!
When I got home, I attached the tap and poured a beer.
The Bitburger Mini Keg with the Party Star Deluxe dispensing tap fitted
Normally, on dispensing the first beer after broaching the keg, there is a lot of foam on the beer. With subsequent pours, the foam gets less with each glass. Unfortunately, with the Bitburger, this excessive foaming remained for the whole 5l. No extra CO2 was required to pump the beer, there was sufficient pressure in the keg. The beer was Ok, a rather bland but drinkable lager.
On finishing the keg, I was going to go through my normal procedure of rinsing the keg prior to storage. This is when I hit the first snag - it was really difficult to unclip the dispensing tap. I had to apply much more force than normal to get the clip released. (The second snag was trying to get the core of the bung out of the keg, it really is a pain in the butt, as I have mentioned before.)
On inspection and comparison of one of the kegs I had and the Bitburger keg, I found the problem. The lip on the edge of the can was slightly wider on the Bitburger keg. The lip was also more rounded on the other keg.
Showing the difference in the lip between the two kegs (Bitburger keg on the right)
On further inspection, the pressing of the top of the two kegs is slightly different - the Bitburger keg seems more solidly made.
Showing the different pressings of the tops of the two kegs
The question is: "Would I buy another one?"
The answer: "Probably not."
