Commercial 1/6 Barrels? Do distributors carry them?

I emailed Sam Adams (and a few others) about the size of their kegs, since my new keezer has a limited width of 16-1/4" or so, and I'd like to keep a commercial brew on tap along side of 2 homebrews. They said that their 1/4's and 1/2's are fine at 15-1/2", but that they'd recommend a 1/6 barrel....?

Maybe I'm a drunk or something, but I've never bought anything smaller than a 1/2? Even the thought of settling for a 1/4 was feeling kind of weird.... but a 1/6? Never heard of 'em. How common are they? And how many beers will be available in them?

I've gotten 1/6th barrels through good liquor stores. That's probably your best bet.

1/6 barrels are very similar in shape and volume to the corny kegs we use for homebrew. Not real common, but not that tough to find, either.

Sometimes 1/6 barrels are referred to as pony kegs.

sonetlumiere85 said:

I've gotten 1/6th barrels through good liquor stores. That's probably your best bet.

Click to expand...

Yup, thats what I've done too.

So you're saying that some better party stores can order misc. brews in a 1/6 barrel? But obviously selection is dependent on store....?

How many brewers set aside a portion of their brew for these things? Or are they order dependent, filling them only when requested?

Can you say Victory Hop Devil on tap at home.... mmmmmmmmmmm.

Here in Pittsburgh there is a Brewery Called "East End Brewing". I believe they may sell their beer in a 1/6 keg configuration as well as 1/4 and 1/2 kegs. I am not 100% certain, but I seem to remember seeing this offered.

I have recently changed my configuration in my refrigerator by putting a shelf into the bottom so I can get my cornies farther back inside the unit. This allows for 4 cornies now instead of the original 2 I had been set up with.

I still have the drawer below the shelf, so I can store bottled beer in that as well as the door shelves.

Salute!

I can get victory Hop Devil in 1/6 barrels at my local beer store (god bless state line liquors in elkton, MD) or i can take a 30 min drive and get them direct from the brewery (but they charge a 95$ keg deposit at Victory)

BreWirfel said:

I can get victory Hop Devil in 1/6 barrels at my local beer store (god bless state line liquors in elkton, MD) or i can take a 30 min drive and get them direct from the brewery (but they charge a 95$ keg deposit at Victory)

Click to expand...

Sweet.... so there's hope. Just out of curiosity, what do they run?

hop-head,
arcadia also sells in 1/6bl most of their popular beers. the only thing they dont is the specials iirc

HOP-HEAD said:

Sweet.... so there's hope. Just out of curiosity, what do they run?

Click to expand...

last one i got locally was 65 bucks with 30 dollar keg deposit...and worth every penny

Hmmm, I never thought of getting 1/6bbls of commercial brew for my keezer...that's a great idea.

***sound of money flying out the window***

When I only had commercial in my keggerator....I always bought 1/6th kegs. Had two on beers on tap all the time. 15 gallons is a hell of a commitment. Especially when the liquor store I frequent would let me window shop through the cooler just to see what they had. Pick up a sixth of something I never tried....carry to the register....and out the door.....

I was about to get rid of my Sanke adpater, too. I haven't used that thing in years.