Kegland Oxebar Kegs – fantastic plastics

When we start out home brewing, we normally don’t have all the fancy equipment that more experienced brewers might have. It’s a lot of money to spend when you’re just at the beginning of a hobby! So, many home brewers have decanted their brews into reused lemonade or cola bottles as a cheaper alternative to bottles or stainless steel “corny” kegs.

This isn’t the best solution for a number of reasons. The plastic used for soda bottles (polyethylene terephthalate, or more simply, PET) is kept thin and flexible to save on production costs. This means it will let in oxygen over time, which means any beer you keep inside will lose colour and flavour. These bottles are also typically clear in colour, which means that you also risk your beer becoming light-struck, which will bring out unpleasant flavours and aromas from your hops. The thin walls are also very easily creased or pierced, so you only get a few reuses before you have to start again with a new bottle. And they’re definitely not pressure-rated!

The Oxebar kegs solve a great number of these problems. They’re made out of a special nylon and PET blend, which drastically improves protection against oxygen. They’re stiff and strong, enough to hold significant pressures as found in brewing. And the brown tint to the material blocks out UV light to prevent light strike.

But you still get all the advantages of plastic: they’re super-light and easy to store, and just as affordable as you’d expect.

The range includes the original 8 litre Oxebar keg, plus the fridge-friendly mini 4 litre size, and now a full-size 20 litre keg capable of handling a whole batch of beer.

We think the optional tapping head kit is a must-get accessory. It adds liquid and gas posts plus a pressure relief valve (PRV), all just as you’d find on a corny keg, and all compatible with standard kegging equipment. Included with the kit is a flexible dip tube with a built-in filter to draw clear beer throughout.

The included red PRV triggers at 36 PSI, more than enough for all standard brewing processes. If you get the 20L keg, the tapping head kit bundled in free comes with a green PRV rated to 65 PSI, so you really don’t need to worry about over pressures.

One: they’re kegs

With the tapping head added, these plastic marvels are fully functional as kegs. You can pressure-fill them just like a corny keg. You can force carbonate beer in them just like a corny keg. You can serve from them just like a corny keg. Pretty much all the things you can do with other kegs, you can do here.

You can keep beer in an Oxebar keg for up to six months – which should be more than enough time to drink through a batch!

Two: a portable party unit

The small size and weight of these kegs makes them perfect for taking beer over and sharing with your mates. Add on a tap and a mini regulator with CO2 bulbs and you have a complete draft serving system!

Three: alongside a full corny keg setup

We’ve got loads of corny kegs in TMM HQ, but we’ve still found the Oxebar kegs super useful. Say you brew a standard 23L batch of beer – you’re going to have some left over after you fill your regular 19L corny keg. Hello, 4L Oxebar!

Or, say you have a kegerator up and running. Your latest brew is finished and ready to keg, but your kegs on tap haven’t kicked yet. Transfer into your Oxebar kegs, seal them with the screw caps, then when your kegerator is ready, add the tapping head and transfer to your kegs for carbonation and serving.

Four: your cleaning buddy

We’ve found the smaller kegs really handy for cleaning out our keg systems. Simply fill up with cleaner, connect up to your taps or another keg, and you can send cleaner through all your beer lines, liquid posts, disconnects – all the bits that can be a pain to clean – under normal pressures. If you’re using a sodium percarbonate-based cleaner like ChemClean, keep the temperature of your cleaning solution under 45°C: plastic does have some limitations! Or you could use a cleaner like Enzybrew, which works just as well at lower temperatures.

Five: as a brite tank

Some styles of beer benefit from a bit of conditioning before they’re ready to package and serve. British ales, strong dark beers, and lagers alike all get better with a little resting time! But leaving finished beer in the fermenter can be a pain – you can’t brew anything else while you’re waiting, and if your fermenter doesn’t have a bottom dump valve, the beer is sitting on all the spent yeast and trub leftover from fermentation.

Commercial brewers have brite tanks especially for this purpose – a pressure tight vessel where the beer can condition and then be carbonated when it’s ready to package. Enter your Oxebar kegs – this time as your super-affordable brite tank!

Six: a mini pressure fermenter

Sometimes smaller batches are better. Say you want to experiment with a new recipe, or you’re curious about a style but don’t want to commit to a full size brew. Or you want to brew a massive DIPA or high ABV stout and the price of a full size batch is making you weep… scale it down!

We reckon the 8L kegs are just about the perfect size to ferment a 5L batch (oh hey, we do 5L recipe kits!). That gives you a good amount of headspace so you don’t get foamy krausen up into the PRV. You’ll need to add a spunding valve for safety, but then you have a fully-pressure capable mini fermenter ready to go. Same with the 20L kegs: these are the right size for a 15L batch.

Again, always use a spunding valve if you want to try fermenting with these kegs. The other thing you might want to do is to replace the middle part of the white plastic dip tube with silicone tubing (our 6.5mm ID tubing would do). This is more flexible than the white dip tube, so the filter will then sit on top of the trub and yeast as it accumulates at the bottom of the keg, rather than being in the middle of it all.

The 4L Oxebar keg is 155 mm wide and 325 mm tall with the standard bottle cap. With the tapping head kit installed, the height is 354 mm.

The 8L Oxebar keg is 155 mm wide, same as the 4L, and 520 mm tall with the standard bottle cap. With the tapping head kit installed, the height is 549 mm.

The big 20L Oxebar keg is 235 mm wide and 640 mm tall, including the handle. The included tapping head fits under the level of the handle for compact storage.

For safety during everyday use, you shouldn’t exceed more than 58 PSI (4 bar) or temperatures above 45°C. The kegs are rated up to a maximum of 87 PSI (6 bar) for brief periods only.