Keggle bought on Ebay woes.

I purchased this DIY keggle set off of ebay, the seller said the top would be cut out and holes drilled appropriately AND the weldless fittings would be shipped with the keg.

The keg was delivered with everything promised, all was great until I saw where he drilled the holes.




I measured 3inches from bottom of keg. I tried putting the weldless fittings in place, they were the same as you would get from Bargain Fittings. Because the holes are so low, they run off down the rounded edge at the bottom of the keg. I can't quite seem to get things tight.

Also the other hole is drilled right ontop of the keg vent. I'm just confused and upset at this. I admit I overpaid for this because I wasn't patient enough to find a keg and drill the holes myself.

Anyone think this is redeemable?

EEK...

You can TRY and get a plug to seal them up but im not sure how much luck your going to have wit the edges so close.
Might have to get someone to reweld them shut and cut you new holes.

OR. Submit a claim to ebay and ship it back if its not what your expecting. I agree the holes should of been cut way higher. Hes prob not a homebrewer and did not realize his mistake.

Yeah, send it back. Weldless fittings will never fit the contour. And even if by some miracle you got them to seal, they will get extremely hot.

Ain't no way that the weldless fitting will work in the 2nd picture. You'll likely get blue flames licking the side of the pot from the keg hole, and it'll burn your silicone fitting to ashes in no time.

MC

Thank you all. I reached out to the seller yesterday through Ebay and I haven't heard anything from him yet. Worse comes to worse I'll do a claim on it.

Frustrating

You might have better luck having couplings or tri clamp ferrules welded in. Have the vent hole in pick 2 welded up while you're at it. Agreed you should get what you pay for but I'm not sure there is another way to get those holes to work correctly with weldless fittings.

Did the seller post pictures or have a detailed description of the keg? Maybe if the seller had multiple units, they didn't ship the exact one that you thought you were getting?

I agree with whatdyisit, you may be able to salvage it with welded fittings if you can't work something out with the seller. If the seller misrepresented it, then eBay should be made aware of the problem transaction.

Get some jb weld from lowes, they make a putty that you mix together like playdoh. I did a similar thing and it patched up like a charm.

^ No.

Cheers!

JonesSoda6 said:

Get some jb weld from lowes, they make a putty that you mix together like playdoh. I did a similar thing and it patched up like a charm.

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How's the JB-Weld Ale?

MC

Here is the original listing on Ebay. For the record this is not Ebay's fault and I'll continue to use their services.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230897014581#ht_689wt_1397

Aside from the fact the keggle in the picture is completely different from what you seem to have received?

Am I crazy? In the listing that keg doesn't seem to have much contour at the bottom at all, whereas mine it's pretty significant.
Currently in talks with the seller. Thanks for the opinions everyone. It's hard starting out and this stuff just makes it super frustrating.

Wow, that is a lot of scratch for a $40 keg.

Honestly it is non reactive and never cracked or gave any off flavors. If you are looking to salvage a keg then give it a shot, to the homers out there you are simply speaking out of your behind. Its $4 and if it doesnt work then so be it, worst case you are only out an extra $4 when you drop it off at the scrap yard.

^ A swing and a miss.

A half-assed patch to salvage a half-assed keg is no bargain imnsfho, son.

Send the thing back and start over, or be prepared to spend more than what was paid to fix it right...

Cheers!

Send it back, you can find a 15g kettle with welded bulkheads for less anyways, or buy a scrap keg, buy the angle grinder and punch, and the bulkheads, and still come out ahead.

Im astounded you paid that much for a keg

Yea you got ripped off, bummer!
Send it back and give a negative feedback then have a few brews!

abarker8541 said:

Im astounded you paid that much for a keg

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Well, the OP did say that some number of weldless fittings were included. The ebay listing shows ball valve / sight glass / etc.

Anyone who has labored over a keg removing labels & old adhesive, buffing/polishing, and then the joyless job of drilling through SS knows that you only save money if you don't value your own time. For the record, I've built 7 keggles so I'm firmly in the DIY/cheap camp These days, I'd be happy to just buy one ready-to-go if I had the $$$.

Regarding the hole placement, yes that looks like a problem.

IMO, you got ripped. If the holes were placed OK, it would have been an OK deal. Since they were not, its pretty much useless. The keg doesn't look like its polished up, just cleaned up. IME, that's far easier than trying to polish one up. If you're in my region/area, I'd say return it and we can connect up to build on up. I have the tools and a good keg source. We can install the fittings you want, where you want that way.

Well the polishing and hole cutting yes. That takes time. And i guess we could start the discussion of the legal aspect of the keg, but i dont wanna start that BS. But 240 for a keegle come on now.

passedpawn said:

Well, the OP did say that some number of weldless fittings were included. The ebay listing shows ball valve / sight glass / etc.

Anyone who has labored over a keg removing labels & old adhesive, buffing/polishing, and then the joyless job of drilling through SS knows that you only save money if you don't value your own time. For the record, I've built 7 keggles so I'm firmly in the DIY/cheap camp These days, I'd be happy to just buy one ready-to-go if I had the $$$.

Regarding the hole placement, yes that looks like a problem.

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It almost makes me want to sell my kegs because I'm sure I can get $400 a piece on ebay.

Cha ching!!! I just started "polishing my keg" but im nit finished yet, and already it looks better lol

Bobby_M said:

It almost makes me want to sell my kegs because I'm sure I can get $400 a piece on ebay.

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Same here!
I just started my three keggle build and I wont have that much in all three never-mind just one......

You can make a keggle in about an hour if you know what your doing. It's not as time intensive as you may think. What takes the most time is the polishing but if your more about functionality that doesn't matter. If you have the proper tools you can build one for under $100, including the keg, and have exactly what you want. I understand that you may not be as handy or want to put in the time but thats ALOT of money for that Keggle. What did you pay for shipping if i may ask?

BeerguyNC61 said:

Same here!
I just started my three keggle build and I wont have that much in all three never-mind just one......

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Let's compare apples to apples. OP's keg came with

• SS ball valve
• SS weldless bulkhead for valve
• SS / polycarb sight glass with markers
• 6" face 1/2" NPT thermometer
• SS lid
• Shipping for all of the above

Unless I didn't understand the OP, these things were included. I'll bet you couldn't get that list for under $100 shipped. I'm not saying the OP got a steal, but it's not that bad. Now, if you are running out and buying step bits, Greenlee punches, angle grinder / discs, flap pad for finishing, ....

Not everyone has the desire and space and tools to get that job done at home. What then?

Just file an item not as described claim through eBay. He claimed you could use it for a boil kettle and that hole placement obviously proves you cannot.

I doubt you could even mount the sight glass. The bulkhead fitting would come off the keg at a weird angle due to the curve, and the sight glass probably wouldn't stay parallel to the keg.

I needed to move a few weldless fitting around on my keggles. I was easily able to patch the old holes with JB weld with no troubles at all. I originally covered the hole with a piece of foil tape left from the roll that I used to attach the insulation to the outside of the keggle. Worked great.

I think if I needed to move something, I'd sooner get a cap/plug for it than trust the JB weld.

I cant believe nobody mentioned just drill out the hole and pay a welder to install 1/2" SS coupling. All is not lost, just spend $20-40 for a quick weld job and $6 on a coupling.

^ I can't believe you missed posts #6 & #7, Sparky...

Cheers!

I guess i missed that one. What ever happened with this situation?