Bargains get expensive

Uh oh. Someone is getting obsessed with this hobby quick.

The local scrap yard had about 6 of these but I grabbed the cleanest one. $36 for 30 pounds of stainless:



Next, four used cornies for $16 each (including disconnects for each) from a local beverage equipment supplier.



I also scored a 20lb CO2 tank on ebay for $36. I mean, great deals for sure but this stuff is really adding up. I still have the regulator and tower to buy.

its the nature of the beast.

Yes it adds up but it is worth it.

Bobby_M said:

Uh oh. Someone is getting obsessed with this hobby quick.

The local scrap yard had about 6 of these but I grabbed the cleanest one. $36 for 30 pounds of stainless:

I also scored a 20lb CO2 tank on ebay for $36. I mean, great deals for sure but this stuff is really adding up. I still have the regulator and tower to buy.

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You can build a tower that looks pretty nice. I saw this one bumped up yesterday

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=7656

In the future, if you want another keg as part of your brewing equipment, just go to a beer store that sells kegs. They'll usually give you an empty one for the deposit cost, and that'll save you at least $10 over the $36 you paid at the scrap yard.

As a matter of fact, I had been trying to work with a keg I was given that already had the top cut out and a bulkhead welded in the bottom, but I decided to just get a new one and do it right with the drain out the side like my other one. So I took the one I didn't want to the scrap yard. They gave me $25 - enough to buy a new empty keg at the beer store! The kegs that aren't straight-sided won't even cost that much.

That is a good deal on the cornies, though. Nice!

Lil' Sparky said:

In the future, if you want another keg as part of your brewing equipment, just go to a beer store that sells kegs. They'll usually give you an empty one for the deposit cost, and that'll save you at least $10 over the $36 you paid at the scrap yard.

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You're not really buying a legal keg then - it's stolen property.

rdwj said:

You're not really buying a legal keg then - it's stolen property.

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It's not stealing, it's "renting indefinately". Besides, the owner wouldn't want it back after the unfortunate mishap that took place with my die grinder whilst in my possession. I'm sure they'd be happier just keeping the deposit money.

And you don't really think the one at the recycler wasn't stolen, do you? Stolen is stolen, regardless of how properly you think you acquired it.

I imagine a lot of what shows up at the recycler is stolen. Since the price of metals has gone up, people are stealing everything and taking it to the recycler. People are even stealing the electrical lines out of homes being built and taking them in for the cash.

It's different in the UK.

The breweries loose a lot of money in lost kegs. Sure the big corporates can take it. But the little guys can't. It hurts them We have keg watch who actively police for stolen kegs. Scrap yards won't touch a keg because they are prosecuted and fined $4000 if they have just one keg. Keg watch repatriate kegs and charge the breweries $10 per keg. The breweries pay an annual fee to be part of the scheme.
In the UK theft is defines as taking without the owners consent or depriving the owner of their property.


Legal kegs in the UK are very rare.
Saying that there are ways. I have eight legal kegs.

Lil' Sparky said:

It's not stealing, it's "renting indefinately".

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No, it's stealing. You can try to justify it any way you want, but that doesn't change what it is. If you're ok with that, there isn't much I can do about it, but most of the people that post here look down on such actions.

rdwj - I'm just curious, do you use kegs? If so, how did you get yours?

Like I said, I could have bought mine from the scrap yard, but I don't think it would've been any different, other than paying more for it.

Lil' Sparky said:

rdwj - I'm just curious, do you use kegs? If so, how did you get yours?

Like I said, I could have bought mine from the scrap yard, but I don't think it would've been any different, other than paying more for it.

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Here's one place to get a "legal" keg.
www.kegs.com

You can also sometimes get "retired" kegs from a brewery.

I was certainly concerned about receiving stolen property and the guy at the scrap yard told me the stripes were painted on the side by the distributor to indicate that they're retired and scrapable. He could have been blowing smoke, but it sounded reasonable to me (kinda like the way the casinos punch holes in their retired decks I suppose).

I totally disagree with the idea of taking a working keg for deposit money. It's the same as stealing cable in that it is somewhat victimless on the surface, but you're passing the loss costs on to the rest of us.

I don't know how anybody could let this hobby get out of control. All you need is a little kettle and a plastic jug...

Bobby_M said:

I was certainly concerned about receiving stolen property and the guy at the scrap yard told me the stripes were painted on the side by the distributor to indicate that they're retired and scrapable. He could have been blowing smoke, but it sounded reasonable to me (kinda like the way the casinos punch holes in their retired decks I suppose).

I totally disagree with the idea of taking a working keg for deposit money. It's the same as stealing cable in that it is somewhat victimless on the surface, but you're passing the loss costs on to the rest of us.

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The paint doesn't mean retired kegs, it denotes breweries and distrbutors. The reality is that anything that gets to a scrap yard is going to get chopped and resold as scrap. You can debate the morality of buying possibly stolen kegs all day long. But I say buying scrap is legal, not really any more secure then ebay.

Here's a nice legal keg... NOT!

Brewpastor said:

I don't know how anybody could let this hobby get out of control. All you need is a little kettle and a plastic jug...

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I think I found a tagline for my signature.

Permission to use your name and quote, Good Pastor?

-walker

Brewpastor said:

The paint doesn't mean retired kegs, it denotes breweries and distrbutors. The reality is that anything that gets to a scrap yard is going to get chopped and resold as scrap. You can debate the morality of buying possibly stolen kegs all day long. But I say buying scrap is legal, not really any more secure then ebay.

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Well said!!! And a little RDWHAHB will do us all good!!!

quote away

I've always wondered how you can tell if a keg is legal. I purchased my keggle (a Budweiser keg) from a now defunct LHBS about 10 years ago. There are no markings or anything on it saying it is no longer the property of Bud.

Why do breweries stop using kegs? To me they look like they would last forever.

RichBrewer said:

I've always wondered how you can tell if a keg is legal. I purchased my keggle (a Budweiser keg) from a now defunct LHBS about 10 years ago. There are no markings or anything on it saying it is no longer the property of Bud.

Why do breweries stop using kegs? To me they look like they would last forever.

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I wondered that when the gorgeous one that Boston sent me showed up on my doorstep (actually, he had cleaned it up). I've noticed, though, that once, maybe twice during the boil, a nearly infitestimal amount of fluid will seep through one of the welds near the bottom of the keg and immediately be burned off. I imagine I lose less than a quarter teaspoon of fluid from this leak per session, probably a lot less than that. It's about the quantity of a small loogie.

What I wonder is if the keg failed a pressure test or something along the way, and it was too much of a PITA for them to find and fix the leak, so it was retired.

Just a suspicion....

the_bird said:

What I wonder is if the keg failed a pressure test or something along the way, and it was too much of a PITA for them to find and fix the leak, so it was retired.

Just a suspicion....

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Sounds like a good explanation to me.

rdwj said:

No, it's stealing. You can try to justify it any way you want, but that doesn't change what it is. If you're ok with that, there isn't much I can do about it, but most of the people that post here look down on such actions.

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Didn't you tell me you were a stoner in a past life?

Dam'n Bird your so discriptive, where do you come up with that S--t from?