where does everyone find their kegs for kettles?

Yeah, so where can i find these used stainless kegs that I see on here? I called the beverage distributors around my local area and they all said that the kegs have to go back to the brewer.

Call a local brewer if you have any. They often sell kegs that are going out of service. That's a legit way.

Well I don't have a brewery any closer that 55 miles from my place. what else?

oldschool said:

Well I don't have a brewery any closer that 55 miles from my place. what else?

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then you pretty much need to go the less than savory (i.e. illegal) route. craigslist works for that.

oldschool said:

Well I don't have a brewery any closer that 55 miles from my place. what else?

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I'd call the brewery and ask if they (or their distributor) make any deliveries near you. And if they do, would they mind including a decommissioned keg or 3 in the next run. Probably fail, but no harm in trying. And they may be able to turn you on to another source (like, wherever their kegs go when they are decommissioned) closer to you.

Berserker_Brew said:

then you pretty much need to go the less than savory (i.e. illegal) route. craigslist works for that.

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So, buying a keg from craigslist is illegal?

dunnright00 said:

So, buying a keg from craigslist is illegal?

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most of the people that are selling them on craigslist are people who just kept the kegs they bought to drink, and gave up the deposit (if there was one). they technically stole the keg from the brewery, and you are buying stolen property. not always, but frequently.

Isn't keeping something, and forfeiting the deposit, technically the same as buying it?

dunnright00 said:

Isn't keeping something, and forfeiting the deposit, technically the same as buying it?

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no, the deposit is just incentive to return it. it is less than the cost of the keg. if people needed to leave a deposit of the full cost of a new keg, no one would buy kegs of beer for parties.

look at it this way, i am under 25. if i rent a car, i need to leave a deposit. depending on the state and car, i have had to leave ~500 bucks in deposit to rent a car for a few days. do I own the car? no, it is just incentive to return the car in good order.

I found 3 of the real old kegs on CL. These are the ones with the "classic" keg shape (no flanges on the top or bottom) and a wooden bung. Are they any good for kettel or will the wooden bung be a major pain?

sorry oldschool, I kind of highjacked your thread with my own question. I just thought it fit so well into your op.

Not my thread, if anything I hijacked oldschool!

I hear what you're saying Berserker, I guess I was thinking it's the liqueur store's fault for not charging more for the deposit. But then I guess no one would get kegs then.

dunnright00 said:

Not my thread, if anything I hijacked oldschool!

I hear what you're saying Berserker, I guess I was thinking it's the liqueur store's fault for not charging more for the deposit. But then I guess no one would get kegs then.

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Also, some states limit by law the amount that a brewery (and thus, the retailer) can charge for a deposit.

Well I guess i was hoping for something more convienient. Guess I'll give upland a call..that's the only one i can think of that delivers near me. I've seen them on ebay and craig's list, they rape you on shipping. I didn't really want to give A/B my money anyway.

i got mine from a local brew pub. just made friends with the brewer and asked.

dang it! I live in a very tiny town. most people drink busch light and think micro brews taste bad. Oh and everyone thinks that all homebrew is dark. What did you all have to give for your kegs?

will work for beer.

I have a super cool Anheuser Bush 5th wheel driver that hits most the bars in my small island twice a week. I have traded 2 sixer in my padded thermo bag for a keg be it a Anheuser or other off brand keg, no money exchange hence no job loss on his part. have collected eleven 15.5 gallon as well two 7.75 gallon pony kegs from him over a 8 month time with a couple that the top or bottom skirt was bent in but will be plasma cut and gtound off clean for my use. They can come in different diameters when milled apart and extended to taller kegs of a higher volume hence no worries on damaged kegs just a diameter match to tig back together. To call or visit the main yard 2 miles away they do not want to deal with the public. One large college is 7 miles away with a friend also an electrician on campus hs run across many left in dorms when students leave and has called the brand on the kegs without pickup success hence after 2 months in storage gives them away.
Millions of kegs as well corny's have gone aboard ships ath the Port Of Oakland with the ships home port in Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand as their home port on the transom. LHBS is available is an instant big rippoff corny's at $46 and higher now.

Check with Matt at the CHI company in northern California but most the time he's out of both also. I found a Jack Danials 15.5 keg grown into a thick ivy fence since 1997 also the last year with their attempt in bier from 1994, brand new condition and a free keeper.

It's a gray market on craigslist the pisser on many is the shipping as for scrap a kegs worth only $24 to $29 in my area with 95% of scrap yards not touching kegs that belong to a company. One dirty scrap yard buys cheap sells high this one only 3 blocks from a 4 year major job site where we cashed in $186K in copper. We went to a family owned scrap yard and friend for a better price 9 miles away worth an extra $18K for our copper. Half to the shop the rest split 5 ways I got $21K or $600 more for the tip on the best price. Paid for my Tig, Mig, two 280 cu/ft owner owned bottles, plasma cutter, added college funds and a trip to Hawaii back in 2002.

Put the word out in your area your looking and $40 to $50 kegs will show up, I found two floating in san Fracisco bay while kayaking that a towed home.

RighteousFire said:

will work for beer.

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Or was that Will Work For KEG or both?

I bought mine from the Keg Police.

Orfy said:

I bought mine from the Keg Police.

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LMAO, when given free kegs they are now mine from a Anhauser Bush driver besides I have never found a tracking device on my old kegs. Sure beats renting with no intentions of returning the empty keg now that's flat not right.
The freedom of living in America.

Berserker_Brew said:

no, the deposit is just incentive to return it. it is less than the cost of the keg. if people needed to leave a deposit of the full cost of a new keg, no one would buy kegs of beer for parties.

look at it this way, i am under 25. if i rent a car, i need to leave a deposit. depending on the state and car, i have had to leave ~500 bucks in deposit to rent a car for a few days. do I own the car? no, it is just incentive to return the car in good order.

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While I agree that fewer people would have kegs @ parties, my wife and I put down a $400 deposit on a Nit/Co2 system and a jockey box for our wedding reception so we could have a "pint" or two of Guinness. Knowing what I do now I could have done it differently. The good news the Guinness was the first to float, far before the BMC did.

I called around to some of the local breweries back before I decided to just go with aluminum stockpots and found that most of the local guys here in the Portland Maine area lease their kegs through http://www.microstarkegs.com/ so even if they had any that were ready for decommissioning, they got sent back to Micro Star.

So, you may try contacting one of these keg management companies and finding out what they do with un-repairable kegs.

A few of the kegs I have they had the skirts at both ends bent in by almost two inches and no way will they be hammered out and end up presentable even with a 8# sledge hammer without making an ugly mess that stainless is tough! Ended up with a Porta-Power using a 1/2" conduit shoe, hardwood maple band sawed to the inner radius at the opposite end of the ram to not damage the skirt then pushed out the damaged areas. This resulted in skirts in better condition that what's seen in service or what members have posted on their keggles at times. Extra labor and time but I got what I needed for my project and not feeling one bit guilty towards the bier or keg manufactures. I asked they gave for dark and stout bier swaps.
"Legal Kegs" sold by Sabco or other manufactures already cut lids with no original lid available with couplings welded for $365 each is too steep for my brewing projects, ebay would of been my second choice if need be
or CHI Company. Seems the supply has dried up like the corny's, buy before it gets worse with plastic and rubber in the future. Good hunting.

Sabco still sells kettles!

http://www.brew-magic.com/kettleindex.html

Orfy said:

I bought mine from the Keg Police.

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Ah, the Nanny State strikes again......end up with a government bureaucracy that costs $100 a keg to protect a $50 keg. We're not there yet, but stay tuned....

And "BrewBeemer: Seems the supply has dried up like the corny's, buy before it gets worse with plastic and rubber in the future. Good hunting."

...and I think this thread provides ample evidence as to why the move to plastic and rubber.......

i would use craigslist. i have no moral qualms about paying 30 bucks for a keg that has been sitting in someone's yard for several years because they are too embarrassed or lazy to return it. It will probably continue to sit there and rust until its usable to no one, or they will sell it at the scrapyard. i say let it live on to make beer

rico567 said:

Ah, the Nanny State strikes again......end up with a government bureaucracy that costs $100 a keg to protect a $50 keg. We're not there yet, but stay tuned....

And "BrewBeemer: Seems the supply has dried up like the corny's, buy before it gets worse with plastic and rubber in the future. Good hunting."

...and I think this thread provides ample evidence as to why the move to plastic and rubber.......

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Wait until some government idiot makes plastic kegs a rare expensive item or passes a off the wall bill or law, only in Kalifornia.

Wine in a bag and now Pepsi doing it with corny's now out of the picture with tons of kegs loaded aboard ships 3 miles from me shipped out of the country I started to think get what I need now for my future brewing needs. Best part was when Matt had corny sales as shipping was $17 a 4 pack from CHI only 110 miles away. After once getting a shipping order tag in my order for a large number of corney's by mistake to a winery in Southern Calififornia as they now ship their wine in corny's vs bottles saving them more money vs glass. I collected more of what I would ever need in corny's. My LHBS had already purchased large orders when on sale and sold many at over three times what they paid by the pallet loads. Buy now I was thinking or overpay later plus Matt at CHI was unloading his last collection of corny's with a couple short on sale offers.

Yeah for only $1,535 base price before shipping or any added tax if applied for those Sabco pre made HLT, MLT and Boil keggles they are way too rich for me when it only cost me 6 six packs plus a couple extra 6'er's as an extra thank you to my keg delivery driver. Labors free straightening bent keg skirts. I can drill, machine and Tig my own kegs, use the saved money for other needed brewing items like the BCS 460, SSRD's, heat sinks and heating elements that are now in storage. The control box will be from my local electrial liquidation supply company pennies on the dollar brand new. I already have enough kegs, pony kegs with 25 corny's in storage. It's a big hit for the newer members just starting out looking for kegs they are the ones that will get the big asking price squeeze. Some of my kegs and corny's have been in storage for over 15 years purchased dirt cheap with extra past brewery project build parts plus friends knowing i'm still looking for kegs.
I'm a pack rat just thinking ahead on someday needed items like the MM3-2 and a BCS 460 controller. Stand, plumbing, valves are common easy to get items later. That someday is now past with the costs going way up with supply and demand. I do not want to be in that pay to the nose position. Call me cheap the stand will be iron not stainless due to 100% electric heating without burnt power coating a problem as well free coating from a friends family run business.

bass-a-roo said:

i would use craigslist. i have no moral qualms about paying 30 bucks for a keg that has been sitting in someone's yard for several years because they are too embarrassed or lazy to return it. It will probably continue to sit there and rust until its usable to no one, or they will sell it at the scrapyard. i say let it live on to make beer

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I offered $30 for an old 150 cu/ft Nitrogen bottle as it was going to the crap yard stored for years in a friends garage. Built by Linde sold around the world as well Germany as it has the Swastika stamp restamped into 4 small squares as one larger square to make it PC. To replace this owner owned bottle would cost me $350 at my LWS store. Good find plus it's history with a plus +10% overfill rated stamping in 59. A keeper no trade in plus a 215 Oxygen bottle with the same history restamp also a plus +10% rated stamping. Then a 260 cu/ft Hydrogen bottle with papers given to me. I live in a small island town, ask and scouts will look.
That Jack Daniels 15.5 keg was a surprise find by my neighbors son cleaning the yard with ivy growing out of control for 9 years. Was told hey you want this keg it's free? Hell yes Jack's out of the bier business no deposit value.

Berkeley campus working construction there were kegs between dorms everywhere years ago for the taking, not cool in a company truck I passed on them besides that would be stealing.

I found mine on ebay and were kegs that small holes in them. I patched them with a small tig weld. I paid $80 each including freight.

Dog House Brew said:

I found mine on ebay and were kegs that small holes in them. I patched them with a small tig weld. I paid $80 each including freight.

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Congrats that's a good find and within reason in price, hell I would pay that much these days if I needed more kegs. It's a bummer as i'm 10 miles from the left coast hence high shipping bills unless within another state. I wish Nevada would pop a big HBS to be tax free vs within Calif. these local HBS think we are idiots and they are the only supplier in the country. I was told take it now or lose it on kegs last month at a LHBS. Walked out empty, scratch them off my Christmas list i'll order out of state as the savings on the tax is may more than the shipping and attitude.

I just put a word out on craigslist and ask specifically for legal/decommissioned kegs. I've gotten several this way. I don't know for sure they are legal, but works for me. I offered $25 a piece.

That's about all they're worth now in scrap. If Craigslist allows kegs to be sold not banned like guns so be it it's legal as far as I care. If you don't agree on the price or buy them someone else will be new happy owners of them.
I get across the country shipping more than the kegs worth with my luck hence my AB driver friend in the past was a great help he only wants some homebrew in the future which isn't a problem. I'll use those 2 liter plastic bottles for samples, no loss if not returned as valve stems are cheap to add Co2.

conpewter said:

I just put a word out on craigslist and ask specifically for legal/decommissioned kegs. I've gotten several this way. I don't know for sure they are legal, but works for me. I offered $25 a piece.

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I just did that - Got one for $25

The guy said it had been sitting on his porch for about five years and he had no idea what to do with it

is it legal? I don't know but AB was never going to get it back anyway

okay, my next question..are all kegs stainless? I'm thinking some of them are aluminum and i will not use anything made of AL.

most are stainless - PM comin yer way...

EDIT - make some room in your mailbox, oldschool...

just cleared it out go ahead

I just stopped at a gas station close by to fill up. When I went to pay there was a keg in the middle of the floor with a hand written sign: "FOR SALE $10"

I asked the attendant, "Seriously?"

She says "Yes. It's a Mexican keg though. You can't turn it in for a deposit."

I said "No problem!" as I hand over a ten and head out the door.

You find good si!

What a good find now spend a ton of
time and money to be PC and return the keg to the
proper owner, yeah right.

WTF, you must press 2 to talk on the phone these days.

Welcome to Mexifornia where day labors hang out
on the street corners during the day and empty your
house at night. "No Engrish" but know they know that a .44 Redhawk
fired at them with your personal property in their hands does mean STOP!

Sorry off topic, oh BTW good find and congrats. You have two more for your
brewery or still on the hunt?

I've yet to find anyone that'll take back a keg without a receipt. Hell, you could take that Bud keg you bought from some guy on Craigslist to the Anheuser-Busch front door and I doubt they'd take it back. So, no. I'm not gonna feel bad, be it Mexican or American. I don't technically own those milk crates I'm hauling my carboys around in either. That doesn't mean I won't use them or lose any sleep!