2.5 Gallon Corney Keg

Hi,

I am new to kegging and brewing in general. My dad used to have some kind of soda set up and still has the 2.5 gallon Corney Kegs. I think he has three of them. He was going to give them to good will and said I could take them if I wanted.

I personally want 5 gallon ones so that I can keg whole bathces and not half of a batch. I bought it up at the homebrewing store I go to and the guy offered me to trade 2 of mine 2.5 gallon kegs for one 5 gallon keg. Initially that seemed like a fair deal to me, but now that I have looked it up a little bit, it actually completely changed my opinion about the little family owned homebrew store in general.

I guess my question is what is actually a fair deal for these?

Thanks for helping a new guy out.

I might go one your 2.5 kegs for one of his reconditioned in good condition cleaned pressure tested and new Orings.
If yours are in decent condition.
Heck sell them in the classifieds or offer to trade.

Sweet, thanks man. But ya, they have been sitting in the garage for 20+ years so I still need to check them out and see if they hold pressure and all of that. But I am thinking I will probably trade at least one or two of them on here.

But hey man, thanks for the fast response. I guess these are rare, are you looking for one? I will give you right of first refusal for your help. If not I will put it up on the other section in a little bit once I take a look at them.

Any size other than 5 gal is much more rare and sells for more. The 2.5 and 3 gal cornies usually sell used for $60-$90 each, and new ones sell for $100-$120. Depending on where you live and condition, used 5 gal kegs often sell for $30-$50 each. A 1:1 trade is more than fair on your part, and would give the LHBS owner room to make some decent profit. The offer he made you is a rip-off. I'd bet there are people who'd trade you two 5 gal kegs for one of yours.

JBounce said:

Sweet, thanks man. But ya, they have been sitting in the garage for 20+ years so I still need to check them out and see if they hold pressure and all of that. But I am thinking I will probably trade at least one or two of them on here.

But hey man, thanks for the fast response. I guess these are rare, are you looking for one? I will give you right of first refusal for your help. If not I will put it up on the other section in a little bit once I take a look at them.

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Yeah am looking for one. I if it's a ball lock and you will ship it to me. Let me know when you decide a price. I really don't want to give up any of my fives.

Do you have your kegging system set up yet? The reason I ask is because you might want to hang on to one of those little guys. Many of the popular chest freezers have the high ledge with the compressor underneath which steals a bunch room from the freezer and is to high to fit a five gallon keg onto while being able to close the lid. At least that is the way ours is and I would love a little 2.5-3 gallon keg to sit in there so we could have another tap.

I'd keep them. Two are enough for one batch and an extra would be nice to transfer one off the sediment and haul to a party.

JuanMoore said:

Any size other than 5 gal is much more rare and sells for more. The 2.5 and 3 gal cornies usually sell used for $60-$90 each, and new ones sell for $100-$120. Depending on where you live and condition, used 5 gal kegs often sell for $30-$50 each. A 1:1 trade is more than fair on your part, and would give the LHBS owner room to make some decent profit. The offer he made you is a rip-off. I'd bet there are people who'd trade you two 5 gal kegs for one of yours.

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I agree. You could sell those kegs (even here on our "classifieds" section) for $60 a piece, more if you pressure test them first. In good reconditioned shape (new o-rings, cleaned well, and holding pressure), you can expect $80-$90 a piece.

Do NOT patronize that LHBS that tried to rip you off!!!!!! All he has to do is clean them, make sure they're holding pressure, and put on new o-rings (about $4 total) and he can sell them for $90 each.

Keep them! As a new brewer that is huge head start on a functional novelty that has some value. At some point you will likely want to do a small test batch or who knows what.

You will likely find as you progress in home brewing and kegging you fall into one of two categories.
-The person who keeps downsizing and re-buying the same same stuff in cycles. Not sure what you would call that compulsion
-The person who watches hoarders on A&E and wonders when the home-brew episode is going to air. (and if it is going to be him/her)

I vote for you to clean and keep them also. 5 gallon ball locks are becoming more rare as it is. Yours are more valuable like said above.

I think a 1 for 1 trade for 5 gallon cornies is a good deal. If shipping it I think asking the buyer to pay for shipping both ways for the trade isnt out of the question. If you're willing to.part with one still, I would certainly go for this arrangement (1 of yours for one of my 5 gallons and I'd pay for shipping both ways).

divi2323 said:

I vote for you to clean and keep them also. 5 gallon ball locks are becoming more rare as it is. Yours are more valuable like said above.

I think a 1 for 1 trade for 5 gallon cornies is a good deal. If shipping it I think asking the buyer to pay for shipping both ways for the trade isnt out of the question. If you're willing to.part with one still, I would certainly go for this arrangement (1 of yours for one of my 5 gallons and I'd pay for shipping both ways).

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Yeah, I now that I think about it, except for the fact that I want one I would recommend keeping them. If this wasn't my off season for brewing I would probably have bought a new one by now.

Keep them. I could think of tons of uses for a small keg. Test batches, transporting, split batches or used as a secondary for different fruit, oak, etc.

If you decide you don't want them at a later date, go for it.

If you decide not to keep them, im interested in buying or trading with you - but honestly, I agree with previous posters - keep em, replace the orings and use em!