Future of ball lock kegs?

[amandabab]

So you can't replace the poppets in these. Probably have to replace the entire post if a poppet gets borked up for some reason.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/keg-post-poppet-valve-for-a-e-b-post.html

 

[PondScum]

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/keg-post-poppet-valve-for-a-e-b-post.html

This makes sense. You can't take them out to clean them which isn't a big deal. But you can replace them if they break for some reason.
Thanks!

 

[punk_rockin2001]

Today I talked to a guy that has worked for Coke for the last 30 years in distribution. He said that the corny kegs are still used daily for premix soda. He also said he believes pepsi does also, although couldn't confirm. So at least Coke for sure is still using them and likely they are still being made. Any "shortage" of corny kegs is probably manufactured, I would guess.

 

[BeerguyNC61]

Yea my guess is that whoever started this thread probably knows chicken little and is worried about the sky falling too.😳

 

[LoneWolfPR]

The prices have definitely gone up in the last year or two, but I've never not been able to find them for sale locally or online.

 

[jeepinjeepin]

Today I talked to a guy that has worked for Coke for the last 30 years in distribution. He said that the corny kegs are still used daily for premix soda. He also said he believes pepsi does also, although couldn't confirm. So at least Coke for sure is still using them and likely they are still being made. Any "shortage" of corny kegs is probably manufactured, I would guess.

Yup. I was given a tip about some cornies behind a local gas station. I went there, confirmed they were cornies, and went in to ask about them. They still have the cold plate style draft handle coke dispenser. I think they were pin and ball lock. Seems like fanta was in ball lock kegs and all the other "coke" branded stuff was pin lock.

 

[OntarioBeerKegs]

The thread is a interesting read. My observations on ball lock kegs:

-Used prices did rise as it became a commodity with more demand over the past few years.
-AEB was the only major player making them for the past few recent years and there product was a premium price.
-New prices have come down as other markets (China/India) have started to make products.
-New prices will continue to see downward pressure.
-Used prices are about as high as the market can bear right now (60% of New).
-Kegs have such a long life it is entirely possible there are more now then there were a few years ago.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

My local brew shop has like 15-20 Ball lock cornies just sitting in the back for $50...a bit spendier than they used to be i suppose, but far from a shortage.

Maybe just more here because brewing and beer are a bigger thing in Oregon than most places? Dunno.

 

[d_jabsd]

I lucked out today, and picked up 3 ball-lock cornies from a coworker who doesn't brew anymore. $40 total! Woot!

 

[david_42]

Have to agree, "reconditioned and cheap" kegs are becoming scarce. New ones will be available for a long time.

 

[NailGunGuy]

I would say it's all on supply. My uncle had 15 ball lock cornies left over from when he used to serve Pepsi. I kept 5 and sold the rest to my LHBS. He paid all most retail for them because his supplier was slowing down on the number he was selling. A couple weeks later,50 miles down the road, I heard a Pepsi distributor could not give them away. They had a wear house full still.

 

[xdalisx]

I lucked out an got 8 for free. Split them with a couple buddies and ended up with 3 of my own, just had to clean em and replace the o-rings.


My LHBS sells them for 50 I beleive

 

[MrFoodScientist]

I saw some pepsi ball locks being used for their intended purpose at an outdoor event in Palmyra, NY back in July. I have called and talked with Pepsi reps about renting for an event and they do still rent the equipment to anyone, in fact they were running a promotion at the time that if I were to purchase 3 kegs of soda ($25 each), then the fountain dispenser would be a free rental. I didn't get to keep the kegs, though. I asked if they would sell me empty kegs and he said he would have to talk to his manager, I got no response from him on that. Pepsi reps in other places have told me that they still distribute in them for events and concessions trailers and such, but they don't sell empties. The reason is that Post-Mix soda setups require a water line to run, Pre-Mix setups do not. If someone is running as soda fountain where there's no access to running water, they'll need a pre-mix setup.

<personal speculation>I think the general idea is that they don't see as much usage as they once did. There was a point where most of the bottlers liquidated the excess, but still kept a limited number for limited circulation. Occasionally, as some of their supply wears out, they'll swap out for new, allowing a trickle of used kegs back out into the used market. Nowhere near the flood that occured in the past few decades, but enough that they won't be extinct. IF concessions trailers that have no water access somehow find a way to switch to Post-Mix Bag in Box, then there will be no need at all for Pre-Mix cornies, and at that point, they will slowly die out completely. But so far, there are some situations that still require pre-mix setups, and will still require cornies</personal speculation>

 

[DanH]

Yeah they had a pallet of cornies at a fireworks stand for the fourth so they're still using them in my area as well.

 

[zman]

I headed up a bulk buy here in Denver a few months ago from MC Ever Distributing in Florida. We ordered 247 in total. They may or may not still have them available

 

[zman]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-gallon-ba...347?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c29a3fd43

 

[NailGunGuy]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-gallon-ball-lock-keg-syrup-tanks-/120957697347?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c29a3fd43

I want my garage to look like those pictures.

 

[amandabab]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-gallon-ba...347?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c29a3fd43

and only 100 bucks

 

[bottlebomber]

and only 100 bucks

Is that what one came out to with shipping to WA? I was wondering, since they're clear over on the other side of the continent.

 

[allenH]

I bought my kegs from McEvers Distributing a couple of months ago, although I live close enough to pick them up. The ones in the photo are the grade a, I bought the grade b for $29 each. The grade b kegs have stickers and small dents, but they all held pressure. He let me walk around and hand pick the ones I wanted, they are some really nice guys.
I asked him who he mainly sold to, he said most of his business was to carnivals and fairs where they don't have a reliable source of water. Keep in mind if you go through eBay and the shipping charge is too high, call him and he will try to work something out with you.

 

[duckmanco]

The thought of the sub 40 dollar ball lock pushed me into picking up 2 more from my local, bringing my total to 8 kegs for my 4 tap setup. I read somewhere (probably here) that having two kegs per tap was a good idea.... Don't remember why, or what the explanation was, but I'm finally there. And given that I barely needed the extra two kegs when I only had 6, I'm sure that having 8 is perfect for the homebrew overkill lifestyle. Wonder if I need any more?.....

 

[nickmv]

The thought of the sub 40 dollar ball lock pushed me into picking up 2 more from my local, bringing my total to 8 kegs for my 4 tap setup. I read somewhere (probably here) that having two kegs per tap was a good idea.... Don't remember why, or what the explanation was, but I'm finally there. And given that I barely needed the extra two kegs when I only had 6, I'm sure that having 8 is perfect for the homebrew overkill lifestyle. Wonder if I need any more?.....

The idea is that for every tap you have with a keg attached, you have a backup should the keg go dry. That way, you've always got something ready to take the place of the previous one.

In a perfect world, you'd have 8 full kegs, but only 4 in the keezer, and then probably another 4 carboys standing by. When a keg is kicked, the replacement goes in, the empty comes out, and a carboy gets dumped into the empty one. Rinse and repeat.

 

[punk_rockin2001]

In a perfect world, you'd have 8 full kegs, but only 4 in the keezer, and then probably another 4 carboys standing by. When a keg is kicked, the replacement goes in, the empty comes out, and a carboy gets dumped into the empty one. Rinse and repeat.

Correction: in a perfect world, there would be no such thing as a dry keg.

 

[zymurph]

I bought all of my kegs from a guy in Salt Lake City who sells them for $40 apiece if you get 8 or more. He would be a great contact for a group buy, and I know that he has hundreds of them. Interesting historical note: he also claims to be the first person to ever sell them for homebrewing. His name is Art, if anyone's interested: http://www.users.qwest.net/~artsbrew/index_files/Page337.htm

 

[bottlebomber]

http://www.users.qwest.net/~artsbrew/index_files/Page337.htm

Some of the highest prices ever seen... I gues if your a LHBS in Utah you can charge whatever you like though.

 

[BrewLou]

just so newbs don't get confused - some pin lock kegs do come with a purge. you can even get new lids with the purge installed. All of my pin locks have purges.

Correct, I have just not been able to find any locally. My brother has worked for Coke for going on 5 yrs now so I had him start looking out for some and he has come up empty. Havent asked him in a year so maybe Ill send him some pictures of what to look for while perusing the warehouses .

 

[thargrav]

Ball lock kegs are more popular than pin lock kegs with homebrewers and at one time there were far more used ball lock kegs on the market. But as ball locks have sold and pin locks have not the inventory has swung and now there are more pin lock kegs than ball lock kegs available.

But don't believe Midwest - they are just trying to push their pin lock kegs. New ball lock kegs are being manufactured by AEB in Italy. And as used supply goes away, the price of used kegs will continue to creep up until buying a new keg for ~$120 is a better deal than buying a used keg.

Midwest Supplies recently had a pin lock keg promotion, and included this in the marketing email:

"Ball Lock Kegs are soon to be a thing of the past! Most shops are already completely out."

Is there any truth to this? I assumed that both types of kegs would become harder to come by, since soda distributors have switched to plastic bags, but it didn't occur to me that one type would be harder to get than another.

(As a sidenote, II've always been told that ball locks are more common, but based on my casual monitoring of kegs on craiglist it seems to me like they're roughly evenly split. That's a totally unscientific study, of course, but what's the basis for the "ball locks are more common" wisdom?)

 

[iaefebs]

I bought all of my kegs from a guy in Salt Lake City who sells them for $40 apiece if you get 8 or more. He would be a great contact for a group buy, and I know that he has hundreds of them. Interesting historical note: he also claims to be the first person to ever sell them for homebrewing. His name is Art, if anyone's interested: http://www.users.qwest.net/~artsbrew/index_files/Page337.htm

After looking at those prices I'm not surprised he still has "hundreds of them"

 

[thargrav]

I know Art - he runs a small homebrew shop in SLC. $40.00 each for used kegs is not a bad price these days and the price WILL continue to creep up as supplies drop.

And BTW, he is not the first to sell used kegs to homebrewers - I was selling kegs through eBay before he started selling them and there were already others selling used kegs before me. Those were the wholesale $5 per keg, retail $15 per keg days.

 

[iaefebs]

I know Art - he runs a small homebrew shop in SLC. $40.00 each for used kegs is not a bad price these days and the price WILL continue to creep up as supplies drop.

And BTW, he is not the first to sell used kegs to homebrewers - I was selling kegs through eBay before he started selling them and there were already others selling used kegs before me. Those were the wholesale $5 per keg, retail $15 per keg days.

As Archie Bunker would say... "those were the days" When this thread started I was thinking about those days and "cheap" kegs. I have on average $18 invested in each keg. I told the wife that should I die, don't sell these kegs for less than $20. It allowed me to convince her that my spending wasn't outrageous. A few years ago I told her, no less than $25, Then a couple years ago, don't sell for less than $30.The last I told her was no less than $35. Now she realizes I am doing better in the keg business than the stock market. Tomorrow I am going to tell her no less than $40. It would be a steal to anyone buying them because all my kegs are in shape and very clean.