Mini keg vs bottles

[gibbiem]

Just got a mini keg of Adnams Ghost Ship, one of the 5 litre ones. Absolutely love this beer but for some reason it tastes a million times better from this keg than it does from a bottle. Why is that?

Also, does anyone know if these kegs can be re-used?

Cheers

[hophit]

I was in Southwold at the weekend and bought a keg of their Southtown beer from their shop that they have brewed with Camden Brewery. Very nice.

I guess it tastes better from the keg as it is live still (hence the warning on the side to let it settle for 24 hrs before consuming. I don't think the stuff they do in the bottles is bottle conditioned and I expect therefore either very filtered or pastursed and gassed prior bottling.

I have reused these kegs with my brewferm system (though not a massive fan of that system myself)

I reckon you could reuse those kegs without the brewferm set up though as there is already a tap and bung deal for the top that comes with the keg. I guess you would need to be careful not to overprime the keg though, as you won't want it too fizzy.

[gibbiem]

Yeah that makes sense about it being live actually. It does taste fresh. So when they initially keg the brew do they just add sugar to prime as you would with a bottle?

[gibbiem]

Hmmm, this keg says to let settle for 24 hours, which I have, but there is shit loads of suspended yeast? Poured off over a pint now and it's still the same?

[hophit]

It wont do you any harm, the suspended yeast that is.. Not sure whether they add sugar or what but there must be something added for priming or a bit of residual fermentation continuing.

[timbobist]

I reuse the adnams mini kegs all the time. They are exatly the same as the easy kegs you buy from a homebrew shop. The ghost ship is nice from the mini keg but i think its even better from the can!