Finding empty Sanke kegs

[donshizzles]

So in the spirit of morality I am looking to pick up some empty Sanke kegs but only in a legal manner. Problem is I've spent over a month looking in all the suggested ways and have come up empty (no pun intended).

Craigslist - there is not one person selling an empty Sanke in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan or Wisconsin.

Local breweries - I contacted many of the local breweries around me and all of them told me they don't own any of their own kegs, rather they use a 3rd party keg distributor called MicroStar. Smart move on their part but not helping out the home brewer cause any!

Any other ideas?

 

[pen25]

So in the spirit of morality I am looking to pick up some empty Sanke kegs but only in a legal manner. Problem is I've spent over a month looking in all the suggested ways and have come up empty (no pun intended).

Craigslist - there is not one person selling an empty Sanke in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan or Wisconsin.

Local breweries - I contacted many of the local breweries around me and all of them told me they don't own any of their own kegs, rather they use a 3rd party keg distributor called MicroStar. Smart move on their part but not helping out the home brewer cause any!

Any other ideas?

call microstar and ask them if they have any old unused kegs that have been desommisioned. tell them you would like to buy a couple. then go back to cl and post a wanted ad.

microstar contact us

 

[donshizzles]

I've actually done both with no luck

 

[Bobby_M]

Have you checked the stainless bin at all scrapyards in a 25 mile radius?

 

[donshizzles]

Spoke to a few with no luck. 2 of them said they will not even take empty kegs due to the rate at which people steal them and bring them for scrap money

 

[McKBrew]

Not sure what your threshold for spending is, but these are about the most reasonable "guaranteed legal" kegs you will probably find.
Winery Beer Kegs

 

[Bobby_M]

Spoke to a few with no luck. 2 of them said they will not even take empty kegs due to the rate at which people steal them and bring them for scrap money

If you're close enough, it would be worth driving over anyway and just asking if you can check out the "stainless section". There's a big difference between their official policy which they'll promote on the phone and what the scale jockey actually does out back. Yes, it sounds plenty shady and that's why I consider this method of acquisition grey. Bottom line, if it's in the bin, it's getting crushed. Besides, you'd be amazed at how many little trinkets you'll come across at the scrapyard that you can fit into your brewery. Stainless compression fittings, all kinds of copper, tanks, whatever. DIY playground.

 

[MrShake]

I know some here frown on Craigslist kegs... but did you POST on craigslist that your looking for some? Thats how I ended up with my. Guaranteed legal by the seller of course.. hahaah

 

[Orfy]

Not sure what your threshold for spending is, but these are about the most reasonable "guaranteed legal" kegs you will probably find.
Winery Beer Kegs

Those prices seem reasonable. Probably lower than 50 of the new cost and probably not more than double the scrap value.

 

[darkestdays]

Kind of a n00b question, but what are these used for besides holding beer? Do you turn them into a brew kettle of some kind?

 

[SourHopHead]

Kind of a n00b question, but what are these used for besides holding beer? Do you turn them into a brew kettle of some kind?

Kettle, HLT, MLT.

I went to one of the local liquor stores and asked if they had any old kegs and went out back and got 1 under a pile of garbage. Cleaned up fine.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

I got mine at the local scrap dealer. You have to bear in mind that this is not necessarily legal. You have to ask if they actually have the right to these kegs. In my case, the guy offered the information freely. My keg was no longer the property of the brewer or distributor because the distributor sold them to him.

Frankly though, he could have been telling me about the mating habits of unicorns. I would not have noticed. My mind was seeing boiling wort and handfuls of hops flying through a magic wind.....But you CAN get perfectly legal kegs from a scrappy.

 

[Jmac00]

Around my area, there seems to be alot of these for sale on kijiji at the moment....not sure why the increased amount, but hardly ever saw them for sale. Avg they're for sale for about $50...cdn dollars....

 

[velotech]

We buy old kegs from the local major liquor stores. You might even try some of the local distributors to see if they have any old ones lying around.

 

[BierMuncher]

Kind of a n00b question, but what are these used for besides holding beer? Do you turn them into a brew kettle of some kind?

Only if you're really...really handy in the workshop:

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

This was just posted today.

homebrew, Keggle, all grain, 1/2 barrel, brewing,

Just south of Milwaukee.

 

[donshizzles]

I'll have to hit the pavement and hit the scrapyards and local liquor stores. All I need is one, preferably two kegs.
I'd rather not spend $100 on something already put together.

 

[pen25]

i got mine from a guy who said he got his from another guy who was going to make a fuel tank. it had a hole in the top already drilled. was a small hole mind you but was unusable by the brewery. i paid 10 bucks and got it off cl.

 

[RIBeer]

I just found one at my local scrap yard. Yardmaster told me that it would be expensive, especially since the price of stainless has gone up. Cost me $9.90. I let him keep the dime......

 

[Yunus]

There was a guy who posted on here a while ago about selling kegs in the chicago area. He bought a warehouse and there were like 10 kegs in it or something. I'll see if I can find the post.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f16/15-5-beer-kegs-96252/

See if he still has any perhaps.

 

[donshizzles]

Sadly he has sold them all.

 

[IrregularPulse]

I'll have to hit the pavement and hit the scrapyards and local liquor stores. All I need is one, preferably two kegs.
I'd rather not spend $100 on something already put together.

If you don't weld yourself, Look into your local welders pricing for welding stainless and if they can actually handle it properly. You might find $100 isn't back depending on what all's in it

 

[sigmund]

You might even try some of the local distributors to see if they have any old ones lying around.

Good luck with the distributors. All the ones I called around here said the kegs they have are all property of the brewers and therefore can't sell them, even damaged ones.