Sanke keg purchase and questions

[RichardM]

I'm getting ready to put a keezer together and was trying to decide on corney vs sanke kegs. Do sanke kegs have less flow issues? I ask because a commercial kegerator comes with a certain length of line and coupler ready for the keg of your choice. I'm not sure if they experience foam or flow issues or not.

I have about decided sanke would be the way to go with less O-rings and fittings to leak. Also it would have the benefit of if I wanted to purchase something I liked other than one of my homebrews. I could just lock it in and go.

One problem I've found is there are not many used ones for sale and new ones are expensive. So I looked into the keg deposit at a local beer supplier for a 1/6 bbl and it was $30. So I assume if I built a keezer and just bought the first couple of kegs of my favorite beer I would have a empty sanke for $30 a piece. Sounds like a win/win. Am I missing something? Is there a downside to this?

 

[ancientmariner52]

Just the minor issue of theft of property. The deposit is an inducement to bring the keg back back, not a purchase price. Ask your beer supplier about it.

I'm am NOT accusing you of dishonesty. Many believe that paying a deposit confers the right to keep the keg. It just ain't so.

 

[RichardM]

I was wondering that. I asked the keg store if I bought a keg of beer and paid the deposit what would happen if I decided to get the keg filled at a different store? He said I would just be out the deposit. That's why I was wondering if this is right.

 

[ancientmariner52]

I'm not a lawyer, but I think it goes something like this. As long as you have the intact keg, you are just late returning it, no big deal. But if you sell it , or modify it, now it's theft.

I've never heard of a homebrewer getting in trouble over this. But I have heard of people being arrested when they tried to sell a brewery's kegs to a scrapyard.

 

[RichardM]

I certainly wouldn't be looking to make any money. I looked at it as the kegs are not new and likely been in a rotation by the distributor many times. At 1/3 the price of new it's probably close to what it's worth anyway.

 

[ancientmariner52]

I understand. It's just that if the seller doesn't agree to the sale, it ain't a sale, it's something other.

 

[SleepyCreekBrews]

I've bought new sankes for as little as $80... that's not terribly expensive for a new keg...
by comparison, they sell those old used corney kegs for $50.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I've used sanke kegs for years with success. I find the sanke coupling superior to the corny keg beer and gas couplings.

Ime serving lines on commercial kegerators are typically on the short side at around 5 feet.

8-10 feet works well imo.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

I've used both. Sankes serve far better and work perfectly fine with 4 or 5 ft lines. Get the sanke. You wont regret it.