Beer Kegs?

I recently called a couple of distributors and breweries to inquire abotu purchasing their unuseable kegs for brewing. Although all were very nice, it ended up being a dead end. One distributor said to call the brewey, since they return all their kegs to them. The brewery recommended calling the distributor (??)

She then left the phone to inquire where the damaged kegs are taken and what is done with them. She returned to tell me that they send them to recycling centers, and that they own at least one of said recycling centers. And, that they do not offer damaged kegs for sale.

She made sure to remind me that kegs are not the property of the consumer, but remain the property of the brewery, and that the beer inside the keg is the only thing the consumer is purchasing.

Now, it seems unfair that there is no apparent outlet for an HBer to purchase a keg that is deemed unusable by the brewery, and put to good use. I read online that here in Michigan they have generally raised the price of the deposit in order to persuade people to take them back to the store, instead of the recycling center.

Is my only option to buy a keg of beer and forget to return it to the store?? I'd rather pay fair value to a brewery who cannot use it anymore, but how can i do that?

Is there any other reasonable option for a similar device??

google sabco

If you want to purchase one legally, killian is right. The only source that I can think of is sabco.

check e-bay for used kegs that are already converted to keggles, they save you the hassle of cutting off the top and everything, they come up every once in a while and cost about what a new keg from sabco costs.

I will def check them out. I'd prefer the fun of building one myself, rather than purchasing one already converted. The cost of buying a keg full of beer, then keeping it is not really that cost effective either. Plus, you either have to drink that stuff, or pour it out. Not a good thing either way.

Chico company frequently has an ad at the bottom of threads here. They sell the kegs for much less than Sabco.
I converted a Sanke and it's allright, but I am much happier with my 60qt aluminum kettle for under $70 delivered. Very easy to add the spigot. I drilled a 3/4" hole and threaded the nipple in. There's no top to cut off, no beer stone on the inside, no rolled skirt on the bottom to worry about cleaning or exploding, and the both the total diameter and especially the opening is bigger for better evaporation.

Try some local junk yards instead of recycling centers.

Germey said:

Chico company frequently has an ad at the bottom of threads here. They sell the kegs for much less than Sabco.
I converted a Sanke and it's allright, but I am much happier with my 60qt aluminum kettle for under $70 delivered. Very easy to add the spigot. I drilled a 3/4" hole and threaded the nipple in. There's no top to cut off, no beer stone on the inside, no rolled skirt on the bottom to worry about cleaning or exploding, and the both the total diameter and especially the opening is bigger for better evaporation.

Click to expand...

Yeah, although I don't have my AG system up-- If I was going to drop $70 for a keg, I'd just get an aluminum stock pot as well-- they have a 80qt on that site Germey linked for under $80.

Wow. I think I'd prefer to spend less on a large pot then have a keg shipped. Maybe in the spring I can search the local metal scrapyard. I doubt they would have kegs, but I could probably buy a sheet of stainless or aluminum and weld up a large container to boil in! (kidding)

The brew pot is not a bad buy, really.

Here in San Diego, there are Kegs, empty, for sale on Craigslist all the time for $30-$40.

When I was searching for a keg to cut into a keggle, I asked the brewer at one of the local breweries that I know if he had any kegs that no longer held pressure that he wouldn't mind letting a home brewer have/buy to convert into a boil kettle and he just gave me one for free that was listed as a "leaker"

It sounds like the OP was calling large places to inquire about the availability of old kegs and I think he'd have more success calling smaller places like local micro breweries.

Hope that helps

you know what i dd is just go to your local or close to microbrewery and ask them if they have any kegs for sale, i walkedin and got one in perfect codition for $55.. i just walked right into there office at the brewery.

I just called my local scrap yards. Got 1/2bbl Sankes for $15.00 each. After they asked what I was doing with them they even offered to cut the tops out for me too for a $5.00 fee.

I even found Cornies there too, really cheap some were $10.00, some $3.00. They'd let me pick and choose and swap parts to make useable kegs.