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It may seem odd that a Homebrewer wants to do this, but my last batch didn't go to plan and then my wife decided to invite our friends round for a BBQ this coming Saturday. I'd prefer to have something on tap even if it is a commercial lager.

Therefore, my question is what are my method options for filling the corny keg with say 5 to 8 litres of commercial lager. Can I start with a 5L party keg for example?

I have a counter pressure bottle filler I made, which might be able to be used in reverse some how? who knows?

I'm hoping someone here can help.

Thanks Alex

EDIT: I'm really looking for a way to get a small amount of beer into the corny the day before it will all be consumed. So commercial keg is too much and too expensive really, hence this post.

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This begs the question: Why not just serve out of the commercial keg? You need at least the sanke keg valve anyways.

I have done this to empty commercial kegs that needed shells returned asap.

Whatever you reason here's how.

Sanatize the corney with a complete fill of sanitizer. Then purge out the sanitizer using c02. This preps the keg for the full with no oxygen exposure to beer.

Connect the sanke beer out to the corney beer out valve. You will have to make this plumbing simply by attaching a black (liquid) ball / pin lock to the sanke valve.

Then attach an open gas ball / pin lock to the gas in port on the corney. So a lock with no tubing, I put some foil over it just to keep stuff from flying into it but is can still release c02 to atmosphere.

Then apply 2-3 psi to the sanke using c02 to transfer the beer. I don't recommend using a hand pump, as this will oxidize the beer.

Sometimes the transfered beer will need to be recarbed once in the corney. This can be eliminated by using a pressure release valve on the gas out of the sanke. Set the corney release valve to 10 PSI and the sanke to 11-12 PSI. Which transfers using counter pressure and has little to no carb loss.

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  • It's good point, I considered buying a commercial keg, but it would cost so much more to do that. I suppose I'm really looking for a way to get a smaller amount of beer into the corny the day before it will all be consumed.
    – AlexS
    Jun 11, 2018 at 15:54
  • @AlexS any commercial kegs will be sanky style. Unless you get some disposable keg. Whatever you choose a tubing fitting system can be made all attachments to the corney will be as I answered still. Jun 11, 2018 at 15:58
  • i was thinking i.e. Paulaner Munich Beer Mini Keg, 5 L as beer source but i dont see how i can use CO2 to push the beer into the Corny? or am i being dim? which is quite likely.
    – AlexS
    Jun 11, 2018 at 16:09
  • @AlexS just use what ever pumping method it comes with. Oxidation should be minimal or not very noticeable if consumed quickly. Jun 11, 2018 at 16:12
  • Ok in that case I think I understand. I'm basically fitting a tube to the beer source and attaching to "beer out" of corny, Although i don't yet see why i need to remove the gas tube from the corny or the comment about the foil?
    – AlexS
    Jun 11, 2018 at 16:18

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