Transporting beer over to the UK in Minikegs

[Dr Horrible]

There's a few of us out there who have started messing around with minikegs, thought this might be useful.  My sister was getting married in London and asked me to do the beer for the reception, which I was delighted to do, but would have to take into account transporting the beer over there as well as serving it.  I haven't used cornies at all so wasn't too keen on using them for the first time at something like that, so I decided to go with minikegs as I had just done a batch using them that went fairly well. It also involved moving less equipment, as I had decided to do four different beers and everything needed to fit into the boot along with all my wife's gear for the wedding, so less was definitely more!
I was worried about how the transportation would go, so on the advice of johnrm I had a keg of beer in my boot for a few days to see what would happen.  What I found was that the beer was very foamy when poured.  I thought this was mainly due to the CO2 canister being used so I decided that when I was tapping off the keg in future I wouldn't connect the canister until needed.  I also tried to get the bungs for the kegs with the spring loaded relief valves fitted, but between all the local sites could only get two, so I was going to have to make do.
The actual transportation went fine, no problems with the ferry (or customs!) or the drive over until my GPS failed in central London, but that's a whole other story.  We eventually got the beer safely into fridges (the minikegs do seem perfectly sized to fit into most fridges) the night before the wedding, so the first part of the mission was complete. 
The day of the wedding, I tapped the kegs and didn't use any CO2 to start but I still had serious problems with foam.  I even had a still cider which had a healthy foamy head, which actually worked out great. The only kegs that didn't have a problem were the ones with the relief valves fitted, so I think I can see why they were all sold out!  Although I was really annoyed with the foaming, everyone at the wedding were pretty relaxed about it and they were all happy enough to pull their own beers from the kegs, and in fairness the kegs are very easy to use from that point of view (apart from one or two!).  Also I don't think anyone got any yeasty pints, it tends to settle out on the base of the keg and doesn't really get picked up.
I think for anyone thinking of doing anything similar, the minikegs are very space efficient, but I would really recommend fitting them with the spring loaded bungs or otherwise leaving them to settle for a couple of days after transportation (my trial keg settled down in about three days).  And seeing as I now have a bundle of kegs and taps (although I did leave half with my new brother-in-law for his brews) I'll definitely be sticking with minikegs for the near future.

[johnrm]

Good info Dr H, gald to see that it worked out.
Is the BIL a convert now?

[Garry]

Sounds like my kind of wedding 

[Dr Horrible]

The wedding was great crack, everyone loved the beers.  I went for mostly light, easy drinking styles so as not to put anyone off  - a very bland blonde, a light wheat beer, a sweet still cider and the foreign extra stout that I entered into monochrome (which would have been my favourite of the bunch).   The brother in law is actually the guy who got me into brewing and he had two pale ales (The Grooms Pale  - great name! and the Brides Brew). As you'd probably guess, the blonde went like gangbusters, followed by the wheat beer, the cider and then the pales - only one keg of the stout was used, which made my brother in law even happier because he loved it so he got to keep the extra for himself - additional wedding present I guess.

[molc]

I've got a few mini kegs, but when I pour, it's either too foamy or not enough. I just can't seem to get the right balance. Any tips or tricks for how to set the gas? I usually open it half way until it stops hissing, then pour and turn it back off until my next use.

[Dr Horrible]

I find that you need to have the supply completely off when you first tap the keg -  don't even connect in the canister- the carbonation in the keg is enough for your first few pours.  When that flow starts to die off, you slowly start to bring in the gas just enough to get flow out of the tap if you're looking to keep the foam down or a bit more if you're looking to increase it, although the way you pour will also affect it obviously. 
I also found if you do it this way the canister will do you for most of a second keg.

[molc]

When you say the way you pour, got any tips there? I usually just press the lever fully down, otherwise I just seem to get a lot of gas and not too much beer. Also, even though I put 12g of carbing sugar in, the first few would not come out without some c02 from the cannister...

[Dr Horrible]

Well I suppose you should make sure you're fully carbed up first because you really should have the pressure in there at the start to get a few glasses- I find the trick with the filling a squished plastic bottle and waiting for it to expand a great indicator (I prime first and then fill from a bottling bucket whereas it sounds like you add sugar directly). 
You shouldn't be getting any gas out the tap at all until the keg is empty, as the dip pipe is submerged in liquid, the gas should just go into the top of the keg and be pushing the surface of the liquid.  I's say there's something wrong with your tap, possibly a leakage somewhere.  Check the dip pipe is screwed on tight to the tap, and any other connections where the gas might be getting in.

[molc]

Yeah I think something has gone wrong somewhere on the line alright. This keg is nearly empty, so once it is, I might take the wrong thing apart have a look at it all again. Good to hear of someone elses experiences and it helps to narrow it down.

[johnrm]

Have you bottled and kegged from the same batch?
Are the bottles over carbonated?
Are you using the same priming method and the same conditioning temp?
Are you priming in the keg? Force carbing?

What is your serving temp?
What are you serving with? Picnic taps or pub taps?
Are you using a length of beer line?
Is the beer line warm?
Is it kinked?
If you have a keg chilled and it is still foaming, try shaking and burping the keg to degas.

I am not familiar with these kegs, but do Cornies and have had similar issues which are generally addressed by one or more of the above.
Take a Picture of your setup, stick it up here.

[molc]

Hey Johnrm, pretty much the checklist of things I need to go through alright. I have bottles from the same batch, so I'm going to do a compare and contrast this evening and see what is going on with it all. This is just giving me the kick I need to figure it out, rather than just grumbling when I pour so far...

[johnrm]

Persevere and you will find the answer grasshopper.