torn between sanke and corny

Im new to this site, and haven't kegged anything yet. I finally got tired of bottling, and the wife bought me a kegerator a week ago so I've been doing alot of reading. I have already tracked down a couple of cornys because I had thought sankey was out of the question. But within the last few days I have been reading that alot of people seem to have less issues with sankey then they do with corny kegs. I think the real reason I am torn is the kegerator is already geared up for sankey, not that it is difficult to change one way or the other. I guess my question is- for those of u out there that have done both, which do u prefer? Thanks in advance

If I used a Sanke for serving, I'd use a converted one (i.e. with a tri-clover fitting lid) for ease of cleaning and things like dry hopping. They are very pricy though. I like my cornies because they do everything I want them to do and they are somewhat cheaper.

Thanks for the quick input, with where I live it looks as though the cost for myself looks to be about the same for me to finish my initial keg setup, from what I have so far. I have a line on sankey's locally, where ill have to deal with shipping, new poppet's, seals and ball locks as well as the Corny's if im going to go the corny route.

corny - they are cheaper and much more versitile

Just make sure the Sanke's you are after are not stolen, like 95% are.

+1

If you have the $, look at getting a kegerator and a double-tap setup. I've got mine with hookups for each style, so I can run both my own brew through the Corny faucet and a commercial keg through the Sanke. Think it was around $400-ish for everything since I got the kegerator off of Craigslist.

I am obviously biased since I sell a lot more Pin Locks and Ball Locks than Sanke kegs, but I much prefer a ball lock or pin lock over a Sanke for homebrew. I also agree with a previous post that the vast majority of Sanke's are stolen from the beer companies and this practice gives home brewers a bad name! I went to a brewers conference recently and one of the things that came up a lot was the extreme cost of kegs not being returned. The deposit people pay is usually only about 20% of the actual cost of the keg to the brewers. Also, brewery's don't take Sanke's apart then they clean them and fill them and most homebrewers do. The problem with that is you are supposed to replace the oring anytime you take the spear out and this rarely happens with home brewers.
Todd

Well I know that they will be legal sanke kegs because they are directly from the local brewery. I was set to pick up Corny's then I started reading about sanke users. I myself am a plumber by trade so it is very tempting to have only the one sealing point to be concerned about rather then multiple points. Seems like day by day I keep changing my mind on which way I want to go...

Sanke without a doubt IMHO! There is a reason the commercial breweries use them, IME they work very well! The sanke keg coupler once locked on the keg is just about bomb proof. I have never read of someone ending up w/ gallons of beer in the bottom of the keezer due to a leaking sanke keg.

For tips on reinstalling the spiral retaing ring try this...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/installing-retaining-ring-sanke-keg-64128/

the majority here uses corny kegs...so when the question is posed, the answer is somewhat predetermined I would guess. Of course opinions and mileage vary....cheers.

Also, sanke kegs come in 1/4 B size, 7.75 gal tall quarters which is a nice size IMO...a bit bigger yet not so heavy you need a crane.

Regarding replacing the sanke o-ring after each disassembly, I have never heard this before? I guess this could hold true for any o-ring on any keg...sure I guess this would be best practice on all kegs, sanke or corny, but I have never done this w/ a sanke keg.

The only downside I have found w/ sanke kegs is that dry hopping in the keg is a bit challenging, I have recently been using long narrow hop bags that will fit through the opening.

There's a reason sankey is the industry standard. I think most people avoid them because of poor availability. So if you can get them, I'd use them.