I bought this unit knowing that Heineken was the only beer available for it and that the 5 liter kegs retailed for 18-20 bucks. I only drink a beer or two a day for my heart and 'rheumatism' (Beverly Hillbillies reference FWIW). I also only drink draft. Before this product came along, I was unable to drink a beer every day like I think it prudent to do (while chewing on an aspirin). The draft Heineken makes my medicine hour actually enjoyable. I was already a fan of the beer before becoming aware of the Krups Beertender. Lets Load it Up Get a Heineken mini keg. Discard the pouring tube and associated tapping hardware included with each mini keg. You are now the owner of a Krups Beertender and you will be attaching a Beertender Tube to the top of the keg. The unit I bought came with about half a dozen starter tubes. Replacement tubes available online. You will need one Beertender Tube for every keg you use because they are not reusable. Beertender.com sells them ten for twelve bucks plus shipping. The tubes are integral to the whole system. They have a built-in valve that fits in with the draft handle on the Beertender. The tubes and the machine are designed to minimize maintenance. There is only one small spigot that needs to be cleaned. Removing and installing it are simple (twist on and off). Following the instructions included with the Beertender, I attached one of the Beer Tubes to a nicely pre-chilled keg and slid it into the formfitting inner cooling chamber. A nice bonus of the Beer Tubes is that they have a built-in Heineken logo that fits nicely behind a clear window on the tap dispenser. The idea appears to be that different beers would have different Logos, but the current choice is limited to Heineken (the Beertender.com store doesn't offer any alternative Tube labels) I think this is a byproduct of the international scope of the product. The other beers rumored to be Beertender compatible pressurized mini kegs also just happen to be Heineken owned brands. Beertender.com is an international portal. Perhaps I'll surf the site as a European and see if the online store offerings vary. If so, I would expect that Heineken would, at some point, offer some alternative brews here in the US. Owners of the machine will surely put pressure on them to do so. With the keg now in the cooler and the Beer Tube snapped into place on the tap dispenser, you lock the tap handle in place over the Beer Tube (the tap handle is hinged to open to the left) It's more difficult to explain than accomplish, given that the beer keg, tubes and machine are all being manufactured expressly for the purpose of ease. Notes on Use You must prechill the kegs otherwise the solid state cooling system (minimal but effective) will require something like EIGHTEEN HOURS to get to proper serving temperature. Therefore, the Beertender will likely not clear out five liters of space in your refrigerator, though I note that it is easier for me to store a backup unopened keg on it's side in my fridge than leave an open and partially full keg standing up all the time. I used to dispense right out of the keg while it was in the fridge and there is no way to stop the resultant few drips whenever you stop pouring. Makes a constant maintenance headache storing AND dispensing minikegs out of the refrigerator. The Beertender frees your open minikegs from the confines of the refrigerator and allows you to put a beer dispenser at any available electrical outlet. The Beertender comes with a nice grated stainless steel drip cover in a form fitting plastic drip pan. The cover and drip tray are dishwasher safe. I noticed that there is not as much after drip when you shut off the tap on the Beertender compared to doing the same using the mini keg included taps. Again, I believe this is a result of the Beer Tube design. The built in valve on each tube is very near the spigot of the Beertender. Other Features Tri color temperature gauge lets you know that beer is at temp. red/orange/green Green LED bar chart of remaining beer. Good idea. Bars go down as beer is consumed. Bars begin flashing when down to the last liter of so....in theory. In practice, not so much. Obvious design flaw I mention here is reflected in other opinions I have seem on the product so I know the situation is not anomalous. The problem is that the indicator tends to think you are down to that last liter of beer about the time you get done pouring your second glass. Then it's just blinking Green for however long it takes you to finish off the keg (they advertise thirty days of freshness from open to empty). Given the necessity to have a prechill backup on hand to avoid an eighteen hour chilldown from room temp in the Beertender (10 in a normal fridge btw), knowing exactly when the end is near is really not a problem. This is a feature that either should work a tad better or just been left off altogether. Not a dealkiller for me because I always keep a prechill, but one does tire of seeing the flashing green display and I am considering strategic placement of a sticker of some kind to cover it up (like the one I use in the car to cover the "check engine" light - lol) Overall, the Beertender is a good product for keeping and dispensing the Heineken mini-kegs. Black and chrome design is attractive and the unit itself is only slightly bigger than the mini-kegs themselves. With the removable drip tray in place, the Beertender is about twice as deep as a stand alone mini keg and only a few inches wider and higher. Half the extra depth is because of the front drip tray and the other half is the cooling system molded into the rear of the unit. |
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