Ebay'ed Kegs--Yes or No

I've noticed there are a ton of really cheap kegs on Ebay and I was considering buying some. I'm a newb and have never kegged my bear though, so I was nervous about spending money for the wrong thing. I know I need ball lock (right?), but how tough is it to sanitize? Does it really matter if the kegs are used? Should I steer clear of Ebay altogether?

I've bought all of my kegs used on ebay. When you get them, fill them with hot water & oxyclean and let them set for a couple hours, then rinse thoroughly. That should get all of the old soda nastiness out. It's also a good idea to disassemble them completely (posts, dip tube, etc) and replace the o-rings.

I had to wait about a month to actually get mine... That was over the holidays and I paid for the cheapest shipping and they came CA to NY. They were cleaner than I expected and came with orings. To clean and "rebuild" four kegs took me about 4 hours in total. They were about $25 each shipping included. Compare that to kegs from AHBS costing roughly $42 each. How much is your time worth?

If you email the guy directly you can save the ebay fees. [email protected]
(I'd say go for it.)

i believe there is a seller right now selling 4 pin lock kegs for 80 shipped. hold on, let me find the seller...

actually, the auctions have already ended, but the seller is: dianah5331, so keep a watch out. i believe they also had ball lock at some point.

Go with ball-locks (Pepsi style).

Watch out for shipping costs. The new thing is to sell something for $10 and then tack on $50 for shipping.

how do you fit a bear in a keg...

www.homebrewing.org has them for $18 a piece. I've bought about 10 kegs from them. The sales support folks are nice and corrected a shipping problem with few questions. You might call them before placing your order to make sure they have kegs in stock.

http://dallas.craigslist.org/for/255682400.html. $17.50 ea, Pepsi style.Try these guys .I have sent an email yesterday to find out where they are located due to being close to where i live. But I'm sure they can ship.

bummerkit said:

how do you fit a bear in a keg...

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Coax it with beer!

Whelk said:

I've noticed there are a ton of really cheap kegs on Ebay and I was considering buying some. I'm a newb and have never kegged my bear though, so I was nervous about spending money for the wrong thing. I know I need ball lock (right?), but how tough is it to sanitize? Does it really matter if the kegs are used? Should I steer clear of Ebay altogether?

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Here are kegs from $15-$18 a piece.

Good luck,
Wild

I ordered a whole 3-keg setup that includes 5# tank, 3 kegs, 2 gauge regulator and all the fixin's from www.homebrewadventures.com. I think it came to $160 or so. The kegs were in great shape, smelled like pepsi when I opened them but came with some pressure, so I new they were good. Took me about 3 hours to figure it all out and get my first keg batch kegged.

Adventures in homebrewing is the only place I buy from anymore. My LHBS charges 25 bucks for single handled with bad o rings, I buy from www.homebrewing.org and they send me the double handles with free o rings. Greatest deal going right now. I too had a great experience with the sales staff.

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Here are kegs from $15-$18 a piece

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I ordered 2 of the $18 ones on 1/23 they came in today, looking good ( some dents )
As Ernist would say
they' re " Hot,Fast, add Cheep" Vern

does anybody know how much homebrewing.org charges for shipping???? on there $18 kegs

they have a shipping calculator. just add as many as you want to see how much shipping is for. then put in your zip code.

It's even harder to put the bear back in the keg once he' out. I suppose you could do that with beer too?