akthor
Well-Known Member
Don't overlook local auctions, especially the ones who specialize in restaurant liquidations. You know a restaurant goes out of business and a company hired by the bank comes in and sells everything off down to the bare walls.
I am a fermenter(s) and a control panel away from getting my 1bbl brewery up and running. By far the hardest part is sourcing properly sized fermenters ( I don't want to split batches ) that I don't need a bank loan to get.
A close 2nd not in cost but in difficulty to find is sourcing 1\2 bbl sanke kegs. I once had 20+ cornys but sold them all but 3. I don't want to have to fill up 6 cornys with every batch. My dairy cooler I got to use as a kegerator will hold 5 or 6 sankes or 5 sankes and a corny or 2. I want to have 6 taps upstairs at the bar. So I need at least 6 1\2 bbl kegs. I had one.
Even when I find co-workers and neighbors who have an empty keg kicking around they won't part with it they are afraid the beer distributer will come looking for it so they gotta return it.
But I happened across this restaurant auction doing a search for "kegs" in trusty ole Craigslist. I ended up getting 5 - 1\2 barrel sanke kegs for a little under $250. That's $50 a keg. Since my other options were to buy kegs of beer and drink the beer to get the keg for about $130 a keg including the deposit. Or buy new or used kegs online. Price varies but with shipping it's wayyyyy more than $50 a keg I'm pretty stoked! They also had a 1\6 bbl sanke that went for like $20 and 6 cornys that were in a storage rack that was pretty cool that went for a little under $250. This was an online one so it was easy as pie. Bid, won the auction, then went to address on the pickup day and paid, got my kegs and headed home.
Just thought I'd pass this on I would never think that a restaurant auction would have kegs. You'd assume the beer distributors would pick them up when the place went out of business??? But this auction was in Minneapolis and a couple of the breweries the kegs came from were right in the city too so I don't know? But I'm happy they were there.
I am a fermenter(s) and a control panel away from getting my 1bbl brewery up and running. By far the hardest part is sourcing properly sized fermenters ( I don't want to split batches ) that I don't need a bank loan to get.
A close 2nd not in cost but in difficulty to find is sourcing 1\2 bbl sanke kegs. I once had 20+ cornys but sold them all but 3. I don't want to have to fill up 6 cornys with every batch. My dairy cooler I got to use as a kegerator will hold 5 or 6 sankes or 5 sankes and a corny or 2. I want to have 6 taps upstairs at the bar. So I need at least 6 1\2 bbl kegs. I had one.
Even when I find co-workers and neighbors who have an empty keg kicking around they won't part with it they are afraid the beer distributer will come looking for it so they gotta return it.
But I happened across this restaurant auction doing a search for "kegs" in trusty ole Craigslist. I ended up getting 5 - 1\2 barrel sanke kegs for a little under $250. That's $50 a keg. Since my other options were to buy kegs of beer and drink the beer to get the keg for about $130 a keg including the deposit. Or buy new or used kegs online. Price varies but with shipping it's wayyyyy more than $50 a keg I'm pretty stoked! They also had a 1\6 bbl sanke that went for like $20 and 6 cornys that were in a storage rack that was pretty cool that went for a little under $250. This was an online one so it was easy as pie. Bid, won the auction, then went to address on the pickup day and paid, got my kegs and headed home.
Just thought I'd pass this on I would never think that a restaurant auction would have kegs. You'd assume the beer distributors would pick them up when the place went out of business??? But this auction was in Minneapolis and a couple of the breweries the kegs came from were right in the city too so I don't know? But I'm happy they were there.
