$100 Sanke Keg

I'm looking to build a 15 gallon pot, and I found on craigslist that I can buy an unmodified Sanke Keg for $100. The keg is in good condition, anyone be able to say this is a good deal for a keg or should I keep looking?

HawkATP said:

I'm looking to build a 15 gallon pot, and I found on craigslist that I can buy an unmodified Sanke Keg for $100. The keg is in good condition, anyone be able to say this is a good deal for a keg or should I keep looking?

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I paid $20.00 for mine. It came from Easthampton, MA.

Keep looking. $100.00 would be a good deal if it was filled with beer though. $40.00- $50.00 bucks should be about right.

Deposits on them are 30 bucks. If you can stand to drink a keg of Bud, that's a much cheaper route. Better yet, throw a party and make other people drink it.

BendBrewer said:

Deposits on them are 30 bucks. If you can stand to drink a keg of Bud, that's a much cheaper route. Better yet, throw a party and make other people drink it.

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I am sure LOTS of people here would agree that a $30 deposit on a keg does not mean you own the keg. That keg still belongs to the brewery, and theft is something no one wants to see (especially if the idea came from this forum).

Just throwing that out there. There has to be a better way.

what's the over/under on people crying 'theif'???

If you're going to cut one up, steal it from BMC...

I'm sure that keg was "acquired" the same way as if you were to never return one you put a deposit on. In such a case you might as well save the money and do it yourself instead of giving it to the guy on craigslist.

If you're going to cut one up, steal it from BMC...

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Yeah, most others are 50L anyway. And I am NOT stealing from them. I am borrowing it.

30 bucks is the going rate, no more. You can find one that has been modified for brewing at close to 100 dollars. Craigslist is good. Another source is a scrap yard. The scrap yard may have some laying around because they can't cut them up for scrap anymore. Its a law thing.
Snake10

Stealing or not and moral or not if anyone is interested in calling up a guy that deals with keg losses at a good size craft brewery who would be willing to talk to you about it. If you truly are satisfied with the practice morally, you shouldn't find it difficult to make the call. Let me know if you want to take me up on the offer.

BendBrewer said:

Yeah, most others are 50L anyway. And I am NOT stealing from them. I am borrowing it.

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haha You're not "borrowing" it if you cut the top off. It's stealing rather you want to call it that or not. That being said, I stole my 2 and I sleep just fine at night.

To the OP - You will get varying answers on that being a deal. I call it a crap deal because I know you can "aquire" them for $20-$40 and I have no moral dilemma with it. Others who are more in touch with their conscience or just have money to throw around, might call it a decent deal because let's face it. That is a very large Stainless Steel vessel and SS is expensive.
For reference, Chi Company sells them legally for $90. Not sure if that is new or used.
http://www.chicompany.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=375_38_331&products_id=168

I just drove to a near by brewery and asked if they had any decommissioned kegs for sale and they brought me a palate and said 30 bucks a piece take what you want.

awesome. Take several, sell them on craigslist.

Got one for free from family member and my second one cost $15. Don't know where they came from and didn't ask.

remilard said:

Stealing or not and moral or not if anyone is interested in calling up a guy that deals with keg losses at a good size craft brewery who would be willing to talk to you about it. If you truly are satisfied with the practice morally, you shouldn't find it difficult to make the call. Let me know if you want to take me up on the offer.

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I always figured that's why they used 50L kegs to thwart such a thing.

I have a beautiful Deschutes keg out back but it's just too small.

BendBrewer said:

I always figured that's why they used 50L kegs to thwart such a thing.

I have a beautiful Deschutes keg out back but it's just too small.

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They use 50L since they can charge almost the same but for about 3 gallons less.

I agree with remilard, call up a brewery (big or small) and talk with someone who deals with the kegline. There are always kegs which come back damaged and can no longer be used. Typically they will be willing to sell you a keg or two for what they would get back for scrap (anywhere from $30-50).

I've been calling around and it seems like a lot of breweries are either using a keg management company. Management company or not, the consensus seems to be that a lot of kegs are getting sent of to repair facilities. I guess it's cheaper for them to fix most kegs than to scrap the bad ones. I talked to Microstar, but they weren't able to help me except for giving me the name of a keg repair facility that charged more than any of us would be willing to spend. It's tough doing the right thing.

I ended up putting a $40 want ad on craigslist, and someone sold me one that had been sitting around their house.

I called and called and nobody was willing to, or able to, sell a used or damaged keg. Most of the craft places were using a keg management service, and had a repair shop to fix anything that might commonly happen to a keg. Finally found someone on here who was selling a legal pair.

I'm generally opposed to stealing a used keg by not returning it, but if the deposit is only $30 on a $110 keg, they may want to think about raising the deposit price...

Homercidal said:

I'm generally opposed to stealing a used keg by not returning it, but if the deposit is only $30 on a $110 keg, they may want to think about raising the deposit price...

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One of the local breweries started requiring over $100 deposit for that reason alone. It's too bad we are all so spread out. There's a website that helps facilitate imports and had several companies selling (new?) Kegs from China for $50-80, but there is often a minimum order that wouldn't make sense unless you had some kind of group buy going on. I'll see if I can locate the link later.

While it appears you are as far from me geographically as possible while still being on the same continent...I'd be interested in that info;^)

I went to my local liquor store and asked them about purchasing an empty keg. I was able to buy my kegs for the deposit price ($30) right from the liquor store. I felt better doing this than just "stealing" it. This way I paid the liquor store for the keg with both parties knowing that I was going to keep and modify the keg.

Liquor is state run in VA and they don't have beer. I've contacted some stores that do beer in kegs and I could have been speaking Ferengi.

I got mine at a local scrapyard for about .50 a lb...so about 15 bucks each. Two of them were in excellent shape, the other not so much. They're from a brewery that went out of business 15 years ago...hopefully not a result of folks not returning kegs! 15 bucks or 100 bucks is waaay cheaper than a SS pot no matter how you slice it.

I just paid the deposit on the empties from a local distributors warehouse...

Told him that I wanted to use a couple for home brewing [I didnt mention I was going to destroy them...mostly because he didnt ask] he had no problem selling them to me for $25 each...

He also happen to be a distributor for bottled water in 5gal glass carboys... another 25$ per one of those filled with water, and a nifty crate to keep them in....

The water filled carboy with box surround is a winner...

I've got (2) 1/6 bbl kegs I got beer in and paid the deposit ($30 each). I told them I had a kegerator and would keep them until the beer ran out. They said fine, no problem. 3 weeks later, they said they don't want them back, they had already paid M (as in BMC) for the deposit. Two keg rental places didn't want them back. Normally, the distributors will buy them back for the deposit. I have a B distributor right down the road, but there is no M distributor close. I contacted M distributor and told them the story and that I would I would bring them in for the deposit plus $20.00 (it's 80 mi round trip) for gas. They said they wouldn't pay anything for gas and they wouldn't stop by and pick them up during a distribution route. I don't need/use the kegs, but I feel I've done my due diligence. I'll just keep them and eventually sell them locally.
The above for the people that jump in with comments about stealing, buying kegs from individuals, etc on the threads associated with buying kegs. Wait until you know the story before you comment.

Personally, I can't morally justify taking ownership of a keg unless it comes from either a reputable dealer or directly from the brewery that owns it. That aside...

The website I mentioned earlier is alibaba.com ( link to keg search ). Most of the kegs are either metric sizes and/or require some large orders of 100-200+. I think the prices are probably fair, as they are coming from the manufacturers, however I imagine the shipping from China where most of these are located isn't going to be cheap. I think there was one in there that listed the minimum order as 1, so it's worth giving it a shot. I have a friend helping with repairing my kegs, but if we can't get it to work, I have my name on the waitlist over at CHI and have an email in to homebrewing.org about discounts for unmodified kegs.

For now, I'm continuing on with brewing at friends' houses and doing one gallon batches on my stovetop. You're all jealous, I know

I have three kegs for a total of $30
One for $10 (craigslist)
Another for $20 (craigslist)
Number three, free from the local brewery.

Don't know whether their legal, could care less.

$100 is a rip-off

Keep hunting, and good luck.

Legality is over rater.

I may be young, in college, rebellious, and stupid.... But, I also dont care.
Im pretty sure that Elliot Ness's posse isnt going to be bangin down my door...

Goliath86 said:

Legality is over rater.

I may be young, in college, rebellious, and stupid.... But, I also dont care.
Im pretty sure that Elliot Ness's posse isnt going to be bangin down my door...

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You're in college???

Do they teach you to use spell check?

Sorry I couldn't resist!