Advice on which new kegs to buy

To preface everything: Hi all, hope you had a fantastic Turkey Day!

Now for the topic at hand. As you can tell from the title, I'm looking to purchase a couple new kegs. I'm relatively new to kegging and already have a used five gallon ball lock that I picked up from Midwest on sale, as well as a five pound CO2 tank and a liquid and gas line connected to a picnic tap/a dual gauge regulator. Over the next few months I'm going to be starting to build a keezer, and I'm looking for a couple kegs to invest in and I decided I wanted to go down the "new" route. After a bunch of looking around and comparing reviews, I figured I would ask you fine lot since I value your opinions and you have all given me great information before whether it be directly or indirectly.

My criteria are as follows:
1. Ball lock.
2. Good quality.
3. Included liquid and gas lines would be preferred.

Ultimately I'd like to get a quality product without spending an arm and a leg, but seeing as it's an investment I am willing to splurge a bit.

I'm currently torn between some new ball locks I see on Adventures in Homebrewing, the Italian-made AEB kegs on kegconnection, as well as the Draft Brewer kegs from Northern Brewer/Midwest. Due to cleaning and draining purposes, I am leaning more toward the double rubber handle so I can store them upside-down easier.

Seeing as I'm sure you have all put together some impressive systems and ran into issues I have not, I was wondering if any of you had some advice on quality, which might be a better deal, or words of wisdom you wish you knew before taking the plunge. Any and all help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

This post is already quite long, but here are some links to the products I mentioned:

AIH kegs: http://www.homebrewing.org/5-Gallon...ulator-2-New-AIH-Cornelius-Kegs-5_p_5124.html

Draft Brewer: http://www.northernbrewer.com/draft-brewer-flex-keg-system

AEB kegs: http://www.kegconnection.com/rubber-handle-five-gallon-keg-ball-lock-new/

Thanks again!

I pulled the trigger on a new torpedo keg today from more beer. The handles aren't rubber but should still allow upside-down draining. Free shipping too. I don't know enough about kegs yet to know what to look for but I think I will be happy. I went with a2.5 gallon and this was a nice unit for the price. There's a lot more options for 5g though.

6.5 gallon > 5 gallon. I love my 7.5 gallon Sankey just because I can max out my 6.5 gallon carboy without having to bottle excess. Looking to eventually ferment in a larger fermentor and will likely pick some of these guys up...

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/mobile/6-GALLON-COMPACT-BALL-LOCK-KEG--P3985.aspx

I hate the rubber kegs with a passion. Well, used rubbers. The new ones might be good... for a time. They eventually wear, stain ****, even fall off. I have three of the single-handled ones and like them. Upside down draining isn't an issue for me as I normally just rinse it a tonne, starsan and store a bit wet. I just bought two of the new Morebeer Torpedo kegs as they're pretty fantastic price-wise, $90 with free shipping. Hope those are good. Maybe after thems I'll swear about dual-handle. The stackability is cool but I'll never use it.

My 2 cents...You'll be building a keezer. Nobody cares or looks inside your keezer except you. Resist the urge for shiny and new. Save your money and find some used reconditioned cornys. They'll be dinged and shmutzed. Who cares. Kegs are simple devices. All you need to be concerned about are the seals and poppets.
In the unlikely event you have issues with your seals, get some of these:
http://www.williamsbrewing.com/OVERSIZE-KEG-LID-SEALING-O-RING-P58.aspx
Personally, I stay away from "kits" and build how you want. You already have the gas and regulator. Buy the lines, manifolds, faucets, shanks, etc. separately to your liking.

I have 4 AIH new kegs, they are great but I'm eyeing a Morebeer Torpedo for my next purchase.

Scriv said:

I have 4 AIH new kegs, they are great but I'm eyeing a Morebeer Torpedo for my next purchase.

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iijakii said:

I just bought two of the new Morebeer Torpedo kegs as they're pretty fantastic price-wise, $90 with free shipping.

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EJay said:

I pulled the trigger on a new torpedo keg today from more beer... I went with a2.5 gallon and this was a nice unit for the price.

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Interesting how many of us are looking at the Torpedos.

EJay said:

Interesting how many of us are looking at the Torpedos.

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Just be aware the Torpedo kegs are sized more like pin lock than ball lock kegs (larger diameter.) Might affect how many you can get in your keggerator/keezer.

Brew on

I also agree with buying used kegs, especially if you are needing to buy multiples. They can be cleaned up with a little elbow grease, but you won't really see them in a keezer.
Spend your savings on good quality faucets, like Perlicks.
That being said, if you are sold on new, I'm partial to the AEB.
I have more faith in EU quality standards than lowest bidder China or India standards. My 2.5 and 3g AEB kegs have nice smooth welds inside with no pits and I've never had a problem with leaks or holding pressure.
AEB kegs are also NSF certified, as are the used kegs.
Maybe the cheaper kegs are built to NSF standards, but they just don't want to pay a licensing fee? I don't know. They definitely don't call them NSF-certified in their marketing.
I'm interested in the small Torpedo keg, but I think I'm going to wait for the early adopters to report back on quality.

I have 5 used kegs from beverage Elements, I could care less what they look like and since they are all class 2 in condition, they have no real dents just scratches and I got them for $50.00 each...

Your call but I would rather keep all that cash in my pocket, thank you.

In my mind, it is all about your budget, and what you want as your end product.

If you have the cash, new kegs are the way to go, and get the highest quality you can afford. The torpedo kegs look nice, but AEB to me are a standard and trusted.

Like others have said, make sure you are also getting the appropriate serving hardware to go with it. It doesn't make sense to buy new kegs, but have chrome plated brass shanks with rear sealing faucets.

If you have the cash, I would also recommend you look in to John Guest fittings and Bev Seal Ultra 235 tubing with forward sealing faucets (I would recommend ventmatic for a balanced system, and Perlick 650ss if you need to be able to adjust the restriction).

You may also want to look in to getting a spare CO2 tank to make sure you never run out, along with a spare regulator.

So, what exactly is your budget for this upgrade, and what will that budget include?

Firewalker11 said:

I have 5 used kegs from beverage Elements, I could care less what they look like and since they are all class 2 in condition, they have no real dents just scratches and I got them for $50.00 each...

Your call but I would rather keep all that cash in my pocket, thank you.

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+1

No one looks at your kegs, save the cash, because all of the other little keezer bits and bobs is about 75% of your keezer costs.

Double post

Those torpedo kegs are sexy, but I have to agree with the others. I would go the used route as well and putting more of my budget into things like better faucets (assuming you have the standard rear faucets).


One other thing not mentioned, and if you haven't already, take your time and read through the long keezer build thread. There's some great ideas in there, but some are going to work better for you than others. I like the faucet on the collar design as it is the easiest, but that wasn't the most practical for me. I was afraid of bumping the faucets when loading the kegs up and over them, plus I have a 6 and 2 year old to think about.

The faucets on top was what I finally decided on, but I still had to make some revisions. My keezer is a simple four tap T tower on top of the (homemade) lid. I got tired of dragging the keezer out far enough for the taps to not hit the back wall when opening to move kegs and/or grab some bottled brew, so I made "trap doors" out of the top section. The old lid, I had the T in the center. This time I made the top of the lid into two split doors and the T is all the way left. The left door with the T opens to the left and clears the wall no problem. The right door opens to my bottled brews without me having to open the entire lid as before. I thought about an upright, but I like the chest freezer in case I had a leaky keg, then all the beer would be contained within the keezer.


Long story short, plan ahead. Sorry for rambling.

Yesfan said:

Those torpedo kegs are sexy, but I have to agree with the others. I would go the used route as well and putting more of my budget into things like better faucets (assuming you have the standard rear faucets).


One other thing not mentioned, and if you haven't already, take your time and read through the long keezer build thread. There's some great ideas in there, but some are going to work better for you than others. I like the faucet on the collar design as it is the easiest, but that wasn't the most practical for me. I was afraid of bumping the faucets when loading the kegs up and over them, plus I have a 6 and 2 year old to think about.

The faucets on top was what I finally decided on, but I still had to make some revisions. My keezer is a simple four tap T tower on top of the (homemade) lid. I got tired of dragging the keezer out far enough for the taps to not hit the back wall when opening to move kegs and/or grab some bottled brew, so I made "trap doors" out of the top section. The old lid, I had the T in the center. This time I made the top of the lid into two split doors and the T is all the way left. The left door with the T opens to the left and clears the wall no problem. The right door opens to my bottled brews without me having to open the entire lid as before. I thought about an upright, but I like the chest freezer in case I had a leaky keg, then all the beer would be contained within the keezer.


Long story short, plan ahead. Sorry for rambling.

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Do you have any pics of the keezer?

Keg connection.com had always treated me right.

PurdueLuke said:

Do you have any pics of the keezer?

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Some older pics when I got finished with it.






The only thing I've done different is made the left side tilt up to the left so the tower doesn't hit the back wall. The way I had made the top, it was just a matter of adding a couple of hinges to it.

It doesn't look as eloquent as some other keezers here, but it gets the job done.


EDIT: Another thing I forgot to mention. With the tower to the left instead of centered, I have plenty of room for my bottles and Vinator when bottling from the taps.

I will be the dissenting vote here and say to get new kegs. I have 6 used kegs and the damn black rubber gets on everything. So much so I am not allowed to bring them in the house anymore and have to do all of my work in the garage or in the yard. The rubber dust gets on everything. I also have two that will not hold a seal and thus were a waste of money. Sure the vendor says they are "pressure tested" but the damn things leak. I have replaced everything on them and they still leak. I would have been money ahead just buying new kegs when I needed them. Buy new kegs and save yourself some of the headaches of used kegs.

Mark