Where to find Empty Half kegs (15.5 GL)?

I'm trying to find half Kegs (15.5 Gallon) to make brew kettles out of and use as fermentation vessels. Anyone know of a good place or cheap way to acquire a couple, legally? If there is another thread on this please paste and reply... thank you!

Try searchtempest.com

I think you mean full keg(15.5 gal) or half barrel. A half keg is 7.75 gal.

JRems said:

I think you mean full keg(15.5 gal) or half barrel. A half keg is 7.75 gal.

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Ok... Full keg 15.5 Gal

Since they are the property of the beverage companies, I would start there to obtain one legally.
There are companies that will sell you brand new kegs...they are a bit pricey though. If you want to fork out the money, just place a deposit on one and drink the beer. When you are finished, you have the beginnings of a keggle.
You can also check metal scrap yards, people tend to steel them and cash them in. You can also find them on eBay for the same reason. Again, since they are property of the beverage companies, it is actually a crime to posses one that has been sold illegally.

Check out chicompany.net I ordered one from them awhile ago. It was 90 bucks plus shipping but it is legit. Stainless Steel Kegs : The CHI Company, New and used beverage equipment for Homebrewing, Home winemaking, Soda systems and used Pepsi vending equipment

craigslist always has some but there's always a ton of people after them, at least in the bay area

Makes sense! I actually called a local keg distributor which they are in contact with a bunch of breweries... Hopefully, they can get me a lead on one! or a couple

What is "illegal" about buying a full keg, paying the $50 deposit, and not returning it? Isn't the deposit the price of the keg?

I have 2 kegs that I drink out of, I bought them from 2 different places and exchanged them at 2 different places than the place i brought it from. Is that legal then?

They are the property of the brewery, it is a vessel to transport a beverage to a consumer and new they cost anywhere from $100 - $130. Why would they want to give them away for a merely little fee of $30? Do the math...

I dont know the details of what is legal or illegal... apparently they are property of the brewery which makes sense, so in my case where I want to cut the top off and make a kettle... that would be destruction of property, thus illegal!!! but dont get butt-hurt with it being illegal and legal, thats not my concern...

Just curious how others obtain empty kegs... not really into buying a full keg of beer cause I dont have a way to keep it cold, plus I dont want the beer thats in it... Might have to throw a party or two

Radical_Rick said:

They are the property of the brewery, it is a vessel to transport a beverage to a consumer and new they cost anywhere from $100 - $130. Why would they want to give them away for a merely little fee of $30? Do the math...

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my thoughts exactly

Not a concern of mine either...I bought 4 kegs off of eBay between $35-$65 a piece.

then they should make the deposit $130.00, never had anyone tell me if I dodnt bring it back that illegal...
We used to pay a deposit on bottles... a method to transport beer...

The party idea always works...pick-up some red Solo cups and have people pitch in for the price of the keg. Kills 2 birds with 1 stone.

FWIW, I decided to purchase the my kegs from a local scrap yard and kept the reciept. They are supposed to ensure that their purchases are legal, so I should be safe (again, I did keep the receipt). They sold them to me at the price of stainless, and I figured that this covers my a$$ and saves them from the melting pot.

Just my two cents.

Paying a deposit does not equal buying a keg. The deposit does not transfer ownership of the keg. It IS illegal to keep the keg. Whether you care or not is the question.

IB4TGUIF

I get mine from work (Samuel Adams). When kegs come through with the spears missing, I get permission to take them home. We don't repair them.

I would stop in a local brewery and see if they are willing to sell damaged kegs.

.

HansF said:

I get mine from work (Samuel Adams). When kegs come through with the spears missing, I get permission to take them home. We don't repair them.

I would stop in a local brewery and see if they are willing to sell damaged kegs.

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Side note, I was in the process of applying to Sam as an accountant (Boston office). It was taking too long so I went to bed. I went back to finish my application and the job was filled. I was pissed lol

Anyway, you can get them from a ton of places like craigslist, ebay, scrap yards, breweries, etc. Some times they are really hard to find for a good price. I've been looking on and off and still can't find them. I even tried a few local breweries and still nothing.

In terms of it being illegal, don't worry about it lol When is the last time you heard of cops coming after someone that didn't return a keg. The deposit is to cover the cost of the keg. New kegs to the public cost $130+. To breweries that buy them in bulk it costs a lot less. When you buy growlers, you pay a deposit. Do you feel bad keeping those?

craigslist.com

Just go to your beverage distributor. I went to one today and they told me they would gladly sell me one for the price of deposit ($30). I paid and have a receipt. This has been gone over a million times. Do whatever makes you feel comfortable.

cobolstinks said:

craigslist.com

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+1 to that

I was fortunate to find one on ebay a long time ago. My first one came into my possession by a friend who had it in his basement for about 4 years.

My current Mash Tun is a 15.5 keg. Old school big round belly style. Found that on Craigslist. Scrapper sold it to me for 20 bucks.

Also - Sometimes distributors of kegs will sell dinged up ones or old kegs that they find aren't fitting to be used anymore for distribution.

Nail on the head guys! Early this month I scored three kegs from my local distributor @ 40 bucks each... The owner called some of his contacts and they had three really used kegs sent over to his store in about a week... He said they were mine to keep which it even stated on my reciept that this was to purchase the kegs and not used as a deposit.

Firebat138 said:

then they should make the deposit $130.00, never had anyone tell me if I dodnt bring it back that illegal...
We used to pay a deposit on bottles... a method to transport beer...

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That would pretty much kill direct to the public keg sales, you should have seen people whine about it when it went from $25 to $30. (I work part time at a liquor store/homebrew shop) There is an implied expectation of the keg being returned by the use of the word "Deposit" which in this context is "something given as a security".

Since the advent of "one way" bottles, the states that still require a bottle/can depost do it as a litter prevention thing.

had this discussion with local beer/spirits store, mandatory deposit is $30 on kegs there, and if you just dont' bring the keg back, you are out YOUR $30... oh no not $30!!!!

Half keg of ML I think they quoted me $89... + $30, = $119 for a keg

Super bowl is coming up, get one and invite people over, drink the beer... and half a keg to convert into a keggle.

There has been discussion about that on here before. HBT is not a promoter of stealing kegs. It's one thing to buy a keg from someone, but not returning a keg after putting a deposit down is not the same.

h22lude said:

Side note, I was in the process of applying to Sam as an accountant (Boston office). It was taking too long so I went to bed. I went back to finish my application and the job was filled. I was pissed lol

Anyway, you can get them from a ton of places like craigslist, ebay, scrap yards, breweries, etc. Some times they are really hard to find for a good price. I've been looking on and off and still can't find them. I even tried a few local breweries and still nothing.

In terms of it being illegal, don't worry about it lol When is the last time you heard of cops coming after someone that didn't return a keg. The deposit is to cover the cost of the keg. New kegs to the public cost $130+. To breweries that buy them in bulk it costs a lot less. When you buy growlers, you pay a deposit. Do you feel bad keeping those?

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NOT EXACTLY TRUE... while a brewery isn't likely to pay $130 a pop for a bunch of new kegs, they aren't a heck of a lot cheaper than that. For instance, PBST (a company that is considered CHEAP on kegs) recently posted on probrewer.com a price of $119/unit. While bulk prices do go down, you aren't likely to see anything less than $100/unit.

The deposit paid on a keg is NOT a sale price, it is a deposit only. Why not charge a full price deposit? 1) most of the time it is the retailer that is charging the deposit, unless you actually get the keg from the brewery the will NEVER see that money 2) if the deposit were the actual value of the keg it would seriously reduce the volume of kegged beer sold at retail.

If you keep a keg that was not obtained legally, you are in possession of stolen property. It is a simple fact. Further, if you care about beer and the society of beer you would do well to be respectful to the property of the companies out there on the front lines busting their assess trying to further the culture of beer.

Here's this discussion, again. Look on Craigslist. Anything you purchase off CL, EBay, pawn shops, scrap yards, swap meets, etc may be stolen goods. There's always that chance. If you don't want the possibility of owning ill-gotten goods, buy new or directly from the breweries/distributors.

I agree that if you are serious about the hobby and you plan to Homebrew for life, then save your cash and aquire your equipment the legal way one piece at a time. I planned my new build over a year ago in my mind and hear is what I have so far (see pics). I went to the SABCO website and clicked on contact us and then I emailed one of the sales people and said that I would like to buy 2-brand new 15.5 gallon kegs with a perfect 12" opening cut out of the top of each and can you quote me a price? I was quoted $180.00 each plus shipping. I ordered them both and they will last me a lifetime. These kegs are heavy-duty with beautiful welds and they are made in Germany. I plan to polish my to a mirror finish. Just my personal opinion and I am not judging anyone on how they aquire their kegs. Cheers!

wailingguitar said:

NOT EXACTLY TRUE... while a brewery isn't likely to pay $130 a pop for a bunch of new kegs, they aren't a heck of a lot cheaper than that. For instance, PBST (a company that is considered CHEAP on kegs) recently posted on probrewer.com a price of $119/unit. While bulk prices do go down, you aren't likely to see anything less than $100/unit.

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It also fluctuates with metal prices, back a couple of years ago when there was a metal shortage new kegs we up around $150.

wailingguitar said:

The deposit paid on a keg is NOT a sale price, it is a deposit only. Why not charge a full price deposit? 1) most of the time it is the retailer that is charging the deposit, unless you actually get the keg from the brewery the will NEVER see that money

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The retailer has to pay a deposit to the distributor, they just pass that along to the end customer. On the Anhauser Busch receipts the truck driver prints out it is still called "cooperage", or at least it was the last time I had to sign for 38 kegs of swill. I assume that a non-brewery owned distributor has to put a cooperage deposit down with the brewery. Possibly for internal accounting purposes a brewery owned distributor may have to as well.

wailingguitar said:

If you keep a keg that was not obtained legally, you are in possession of stolen property. It is a simple fact. Further, if you care about beer and the society of beer you would do well to be respectful to the property of the companies out there on the front lines busting their assess trying to further the culture of beer.

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Word

There's another thread somewhere on here (I'm willing to bet more than 1 thread) where this is already discussed a million times.

The BevMo near me said they have slightly dented ones all the time that I can swoop up for $40.

camiller said:

I assume that a non-brewery owned distributor has to put a cooperage deposit down with the brewery. Possibly for internal accounting purposes a brewery owned distributor may have to as well.

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True, I misspoke myself in my post, apologies!... it's an issue that gets my dander up and I didn't fix an omission. What I should have said was something along the lines that breweries are forced by the market to take a low deposit from distribution, retail sometimes claims a higher deposit. Maybe a retailer gives you 30 days to return the keg or you forfeit the deposit. Retailers, in this case actually make money by NOT getting the kegs back. This is the money that the brewery never sees.


Further;
Deposit or not, it hurts the brewery... they could easily stand to lose $100-$120 per keg that doesn't make it back to them. Let's say a brewer loses 5% of it's cooperage per year (A/B estimates they lose 10-15%). Let's assume this is a medium/small brewer maybe doing 5k bbls draft/year. That is 20k keg rotations out in the field. Typically the figure for determining # of kegs required is 3 per rotation, so that is 6667 (ooo!) kegs this brewery needs. We can guess they will lose 333 kegs in a year. 333x(a conservative loss of $100/ unit) is a $33,300 loss per year from keg theft alone. Think about that number folks, that's hell for a small business! Do you REALLY want to be a part of that?...

I say we make a documentary film and post it on here as a sticky. "why to buy a keg: a brewer's tale"

DouglassBrewer said:

The BevMo near me said they have slightly dented ones all the time that I can swoop up for $40.

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That’s what I asked the liquor store owner that sold me the Keg... My words "Is this keg legit because it won’t be returned in the same condition as you sold it to me", he said "They're yours" and gave me a receipt to prove it!

Taken into account, yeah kegs are lost/stolen, but they do have a life expectancy. If a keg is returned 20-25 times it would be safe to say that it has paid for itself probably twice. The ones I got were beat to hell, dents galore, which they were still functional and probably would have been sent off to get refurbished after another 5 or so returns. If they are beyond the point of repair then they probably get returned to the manufacturer by the brewer to be made into new kegs or scraped. Breweries know that kegs go thru wear and tear and will have to be replaced at some point.

MORAL OF THE THREAD: You can acquire Full Kegs (15.5 GL) from your local Distributor or Liquor store as long as it is understood by the selling and purchasing party that payment is not a deposit.

If the Brewery is taking losses greater than expected on their transportation containers then they would just raise the deposit of their kegs to offset that cost. No business is going to sit back a watch their customers take their profit!!!!

3PegBrew said:

I say we make a documentary film and post it on here as a sticky. "why to buy a keg: a brewer's tale"

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Probably could been a chapter in the book "Freakonomics"! The rabbit hole goes deeper on this subject... I'm sorry no company is going to let money get taken from them...

Dekowski411 said:

That’s what I asked the liquor store owner that sold me the Keg... My words "Is this keg legit because it won’t be returned in the same condition as you sold it to me", he said "They're yours" and gave me a receipt to prove it!

Taken into account, yeah kegs are lost/stolen, but they do have a life expectancy. If a keg is returned 20-25 times it would be safe to say that it has paid for itself probably twice. The ones I got were beat to hell, dents galore, which they were still functional and probably would have been sent off to get refurbished after another 5 or so returns. If they are beyond the point of repair then they probably get returned to the manufacturer by the brewer to be made into new kegs or scraped. Breweries know that kegs go thru wear and tear and will have to be replaced at some point.

MORAL OF THE THREAD: You can acquire Full Kegs (15.5 GL) from your local Distributor or Liquor store as long as it is understood by the selling and purchasing party that payment is not a deposit.

If the Brewery is taking losses greater than expected on their transportation containers then they would just raise the deposit of their kegs to offset that cost. No business is going to sit back a watch their customers take their profit!!!!

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Just because a distributor or retailer sell you a keg, doesn't necessarily mean they have the legal right to. Some may not even realize this, but that isn't much of an excuse (legally speaking, it ISN'T an excuse). They may or may not be doing this with the brewery's consent. If they do not have the brewery's consent, then both the "seller" and the "purchaser" are dealing in stolen goods. This is NOT a victimless crime.

Breweries can't realistically charge deposits for the value of the keg, the vast majority of distributors wouldn't carry their brands. There have been pushes to get distributors to accept higher deposits, but they simply won't do it. Believe me, breweries would like to have a full value+ replacement expense deposit... they would like to, but the market won't allow it. SO, the industry ends up eating thousands and thousands of dollars each year because some irresponsible, dishonest people think they are "entitled". I say SHAME on anyone that knowingly allows this to happen and turns a blind eye.

http://probrewer.com/vbulletin/archive/index.php/t-3480.html

http://www.plastickegs.com/

Plastic Kegs...

See the industry responded to the issue... which the plastic kegs are probably cheaper and they will most likely charge the same depost for the plastic ones as they do the steel kegs.

Again businesses won't let customers, or whoever, steal profits... it's stupid business!

Oh yeah, polymers are better insulators but they do break down under extreme heat. Problem solved... I'll take my blind eye elsewhere!

in addition... the profit margin for keg beer is significantly greater than that of bottled, canned or any packaged product. Maybe the breweries have a blind eye too!

True, the profit margin on draft beer is significantly higher than that of bottled beer. HOWEVER, this isn't an indication that draft beer is overpriced so much as it is an indication of the high cost of bottling beer. By charging what the market will bear for bottled product, the brewer is forced to take an EXTREMELY low margin. The only way for bottled beer to be profitable is to sell in extreme volume. Draft beer, which is a fractional amount of sales for most breweries, serves to balance the relative profit loss on the bottled product. If you take a look at margins across a wide range of industries, you would find that brewer's margins on draft beer sold through distributors is still relatively low, and bottled product laughably so.

Recyclable plastic kegs are a possible solution, but many in the industry from the brewers through final retail have issues with them... some logical, some not so.

Theft is a fact of life, the brewers don't like it, but there is little recourse. The market drives their business, if distributors won't pay in higher deposits (and for the most part they WON'T), brewers are forced to accept their terms. It is the nature of the beast. They have two choices; hike prices up to the level at which they can cover the loss (risking loss of sales) or take it in the rear.

So, Dek, if you think you understand the brewing industry so well and can help them make/save money, how about you go out and do some consulting? Let's see what the people out there facing this every day have to say about your ideas...