tshinefield

Recipes 

Q1:How many styles (internally or externally) are there of ball lock corny kegs?

Q2: Can I assume all ball lock gasket kits are the same even with these differences below?

My first corny keg has a bent Dip Tube that feeds from the bottom center dip of the keg. My most recent corny that showed up today has a straight Dip Tube that feeds from a divet off one side of the flat bottom of the keg. Also the more recent keg has a ( i am guessing is older) gas in and liquid out posts that require a much larger wrench to remove and tighten than the other corny.

chessking

Recipes 

Here is a nice writeup on kegs. May not be exactly what you want but its a good read.

http://www.tomsbrewshop.com/Keg-Story.html

iaefebs

Recipes 

This is some more info

http://www.dresselbrew.com/Keg_Info.htm

__________________
Here you go, buddy; "Breakfast of Champions."

ChandlerBang

Recipes 

Good stuff.

__________________

tshinefield

Recipes 

Thanks! It's making since now.

CrazyGnome07

Recipes 

Dang, that article was mostly depressing! And that update at the bottom? A bit doomsayer-ish to me. Are corny kegs really going to disappear? Are ball lock kegs so impossible to find? My local brewing store usually has 5 or 6 against the window for only $45..
He said that in 12-24 months the supply would be gone, but he also said that was known since 2009, and its now about 2013, is that an old article? Did something change? Should I be stockpiling kegs?

JRems

Recipes 

I don't know that it is truth. My local pepsi distributor still uses corny tanks, I don't think they know how many are stil being used. There are also plenty of independent distributors still using cornys.

__________________

chessking

Recipes 

I wouldn't get too worried, there are still a lot of kegs out there, but one fact is certain. There is a finite number of used kegs, and as the home brewing community grows, the availability will suffer. However there are a lot of pin locks, as well as new kegs, although these are a bit costly. I have talked to Tom, the guy who wrote that article, and although he is in the business, and wants to sell his stock, he is a solid guy and knows his sh*t. His kegs are clean and functional. Ive got a half dozen of his kegs and no complaints.

I don't think its panic time yet, but if you plan to buy kegs, the price is only going to go up. How soon and how much is anybody's guess. As the price rises, the demand will become more selective, so there will be some stabilization. If your going to buy them anyway, I would consider those $45 Home Brew store kegs a fair deal. Make sure they hold pressure and have a set of replacement o rings handy.

OntarioBeerKegs

Vendor Ads 

Recipes 

There is no shortage of new ball lock kegs and prices have been dropping as more companies start to make them.

Prices will be dropping again this summer since there are new players coming aboard with more NSF stamped kegs on the horizon. Just the pin locks that will be dwindling since there is no new ones being made and a good portion of the old ones get converted to ball lock

__________________
Canadian Homebrew Supplies
www.ontariobeerkegs.com
www.brewpump.com
1 855 KEG BEER

Kolenka

Recipes 

This is something I am glad to hear about. The current crop of Chinese sourced kegs are interesting, but the lack of standard safety certification is what makes me a bit leery of investing in a couple of them. Knowing that there have been some spectacular safety gaffes in the recent past with some products, I'd be happy to find out that they started participating with the NSF folks on the kegs, even if the kegs themselves were already up to spec.