Pin Lock Keg update

This message is not intended to scare or "drive up prices" or anything else. It is intended to inform, from an industry source. We don't reply to any hate mail.


To all:
Have just been informed that 150,000 pin lock kegs are going to China from TX. Coke plants.
San Antonio, Rotchester NY, Witchita and 24 other Coke plants have and/or are being shut down as Coke moves to consolidate to "mega plants" with larger distribution areas. (what Pepsi has been doing for the last couple of years)

We all know that Ball Lock kegs are just about gone; now it seems that with further purchasing of franchise plants and consolidation of existing plants, pin lock kegs may also be hard to get in the very near future.

We are trying get get at least one container of kegs out of them, but so far it seems unlikely due to the China deal.

Remember, this is just an FYI.
We did a similar notice 5 years ago when Pepsi told us their stock was getting low and all we received was hate mail saying we were ass****s for trying to scare people and drive up prices; well you all know what happened... so no fricken hate mail !

I would like to get into kegging, but don't really have the space right now. As I look at posts from even 2 years ago, the prices of kegs have gone up. Should I try and just buy a bunch of kegs right now, and store them in the attic for future use? What is the easiest to get your hands on now, ball or pin (im assuming pin)

There are an awful lot of fast food, bars and resturants, etc. that will likely continue to use soda kegs; right? Eventually, the kegs will grow old and must be replaced.

Are you saying that the new soda keg production facilities are moving off-shore, or are you implying that soda kegs as we know them will dissapear and be replaced with something else?

Thx...

robertbartsch said:

There are an awful lot of fast food, bars and resturants, etc. that will likely continue to use soda kegs; right? Eventually, the kegs will grow old and must be replaced.

Are you saying that the new soda keg production facilities are moving off-shore, or are you implying that soda kegs as we know them will dissapear and be replaced with something else?

Thx...

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Replaced with soda syrup in boxes, like box-o-wine in sold in liquor stores, etc.. Used kegs are going the way of vinyl records

I went to my local store today and saw the prices on them went up $10 since the last time I was there. The owner said pretty much the same thing...

Guess its time to buy a couple more.

Weird - I did not know that soda kegs are going bye-bye. The initial thread is confusing concerning the point that kegs are leaving the USA. These must be old not new kegs? If Coke is consolidating plants, I assumed this meant pin-locks would continue to be made but off-shore.

Anyway, I bought 2 ball-lock kegs last week and 2 more kegs this AM; the price went up $3 per within a few days!!!!

Anyway, the conversion to the new systems will take time and there must be millions of old kegs that are in use now and that will be obsolete soon. Woudn't the conversion to the new systems create a temporary surplus of older ball and pin kegs that will no longer be needed by commerical bars/resturants, etc.?

I really like kegs and if I had to return to bottles for home brews, I would stop brewing immediately.

...wayyyyyy tooo mucchhhh effortttt to bottllleee!

Means one day parts wil become scarce too. There are always Sanke's. The beer industry standard until BIAB become feasible.

robertbartsch said:

Anyway, the conversion to the new systems will take time and there must be millions of old kegs that are in use now and that will be obsolete soon. Woudn't the conversion to the new systems create a temporary surplus of older ball and pin kegs that will no longer be needed by commerical bars/resturants, etc.?

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Ummm, brother, bag in a box soda has been around for nearly a decade.

Heck, the system itself was in place commercially around the 1950's. Caustic liquids I think.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Ummm, brother, bag in a box soda has been around for nearly a decade.

Heck, the system itself was in place commercially around the 1950's. Caustic liquids I think.

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I worked food service in high school at Busch Gardens and they had the bag in a box system. That was in 93.

floyd242 said:

I worked food service in high school at Busch Gardens and they had the bag in a box system. That was in 93.

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Yeah. I knew it was in use longer for soda industry but couldn;t recollect just how much longer. Figured a decade was safe enough to make the point that BiB is not some new fad taking over. It is established and has made it's way into the adult beverage industry "box wine". Soon, someone wil devise a PET bladder strong enough to pressurize to 3 vols and beer itself will be forever changed.

Did you guys hear that they stopped making toilet tissue?

Anyway, I suppose it does not matter much. If supply and demand dictate a certain price point for old kegs, you will either pay that price or move on to something else.

I did notice a price increase of around $3 bucks on ball locks very recently.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Yeah. I knew it was in use longer for soda industry but couldn;t recollect just how much longer. Figured a decade was safe enough to make the point that BiB is not some new fad taking over. It is established and has made it's way into the adult beverage industry "box wine". Soon, someone wil devise a PET bladder strong enough to pressurize to 3 vols and beer itself will be forever changed.

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domino's pizza had bib systems in 1985. bibs replaced all postmix syrup by 1990, but cornies were still used for premix soda delivery until just a few years ago. now that all of the coke and pepsi bottlers blow their own bottles, they heavily promote the sale of bottled soda where they used to push premix since it costs them more to clean and repair kegs.

the rest of the world still uses cornies for postmix syrup, as bibs are considered too wasteful. old kegs from the us go overseas to be reused, not scrapped out.

Funny, we ship them to China, but import them from Italy!

The new shiny Italian ones look sweet, but are expensive.

robertbartsch said:

Did you guys hear that they stopped making toilet tissue?

<snip>

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I did notice it went up about $3. lol

I got lucky and scored big at the scrap yard, about 16 to add to the 8 already here, all ball lock... I'm hoarding them and the spare parts I took off the busted ones that were there. Locally prices for them have risen and the guy who seems to have the most of them says his sources have dried up. It's true, stock up now if you like to keg. They make great aging tanks as well.