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Docjay

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To set the stage here is some info. A friend owns a small resturant here in town. She took over after the previous owners left and reopend after about 6 months of the business being vacant. In her back cooler she discovered 4 half barrel and 6 1/4 barrel kegs that were left by the prevous owners.

She uses a different distributor than the prevous business and has called this distibtuor several times over the past year to come and pick up their kegs. They have refused to do so and will not return her phone calls.

So here is my question. I know the individual breweries own the kegs, since she cannot get any response from the distributor, should she call the breweries to return the kegs, or are they considered abandoned or (can I get my hands on some free kegs? :rockin:)

Any insight is apprecaited and I will error in the side of the law.
 
The morally correct thing to do would be to contact the respective breweries and ask for their advice. Odds are that they would want you to turn them in, but only do so if they agree to refund your deposit (in cash) and insist that they come and pick them up. You could also try the distributor again and maybe they should be the first to call. Now then, if you want to game the system, then just say phuk it and grab the kegs. It would be cool if you paid your friend something for them as IMO, they are a part of what she bought when she took over the business. IMO, and it's only an opinion, I would consider the kegs abandoned once the distributor refused to pick them up and also refused to refund the deposit. The problem is that the kegs are not owned by the distributor, so this isn't really the right thing to do either. Personally, I would grab the kegs and pay the deposit value to your friend. She made a good faith effort to return them and that's that. I would then go to confession and all would be good once again.
 
I would say you should contact the breweries, but if they don't want to come get em and give you(her) a deposit, then they're fair game.
 
I pulled four pony kegs, three 20# Co2 bottles with regulators from the dumpster off a Round Table Piazza fire job remodel. Told to get take the crap home with me. Contacts thru the vendors the contractor had the same results, nothing, time is money dig the crap out of the dumpster I win. We were told fire damaged kegs and equipment are automatically written off as a total loss not trusting their reuse of equipment. Hell just a little soot from the fire one keg sealed full of red wine that was unhurt.
 
I once gave a Budweiser 5th wheel driver two abandoned Bud kegs, in return he gave me three off brand 15.5 kegs one still in new condition a Jack Daniels keg plus a Full Sail 7.75 keg. This has been an old thread with keg returns a couple years ago.
 
if she called them and they didnt come get them, well I would sleep fine knowing that they were being put to use in my brewery.

agreed. thats more or less how I got my 3 kegs to make my brewing system. I was a manager at a local microbrewery for a few years and we had 3 15.5gals sitting in storage empty for ages. distributors never took them when they dropped off/picked up because the brand had been dropped by them. They were taking up space so I took them home and cut em up for my brewery:mug:
 
As of last night I am the proud owner of two 1/2 Barrel kegs and 3 1/6 barrel kegs,

1/2s are Langutias and New Belgium and the othere are Pike and New belgium, was thinking about using the 1/6ths as secondary fementors or maybe just fill em and use a sankey coupler for enjoyment.
 
Go get the kegs and cut the tops off of them. They won't want them back then.
 
Go get the kegs and cut the tops off of them. They won't want them back then.

Or the bottoms and invert using the filler as a center drain, think and cut once
kegs are harder to get these days.
I like your 1/6 kegs, lost out on 8 of 'em a "I didn't know" thing as freebies.
Hell I would of paid him some green.
 
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