Pin vs Ball Lock Kegs

[Piperlester]

I'm curious what the thoughts are on Pin vs Ball lock kegs. What do you prefer, and why?

I'll start - ball lock, narrower and taller making it easier to fit more into a keezer, and the manual vent to let me fix any over-pressurization.

 

[Manufacturedevolution]

Sankey guy here.

 

[lump42]

Pin lock - they are cheaper, and initially I needed them to be shorter to fit inside an old college mini fridge with minimal modifications. Also like that I can't screw up and put the wrong QD on the wrong post. I vent with either an extra gas QD, small screwdriver, or in a pinch my finger.

 

[EDF713]

Pin lock, same reasons as lump42. Cheaper, can't put wrong QD on wrong post, and they fit better in the fridge I'm using.

 

[bleme]

Ball lock. There is only one guy in our homebrew club that uses pin lock and every time we have an event, it is a hassle to get his keg on the club equipment.

Plus, I love my carb caps - and those only come in ball lock.

If my wife is out yard-sale'ing, she is much more likely to run into ball lock stuff.

 

[Toga]

I use ball locks however ball locks were easier to come by when I started kegging and what all my brew friends used. If I were just making my initial purchase now.......I would go the route of pin lock kegs. They are cheaper and the connectors are superior. The only disadvantage is the lack of a pull on pressure relive valve that makes it a bit easier to purge the headspace of o2 vs depressing the popit valve on your gas post to purge. If you want a pull on style prv, a new lid is the answer. I recently bought a bunch of used lids from a homebrew shop with prv's for $3 each to use on some 3 gallon pin lock kegs I converted to ball lock and they worked perfect!

 

[Jtk78]

I have ball locks. They fit better in my kegerator and are more readily available locally to me. I thought about it before I bought, and planned it based on a handful of things, including what my brew club members were using.

 

[BLL]

I use pin lock because I had a buddy with a trailer full of them years ago and I bought 20 of them for 100 bucks. Other than individual cases of availability/cost I personally don't see much difference and I'd be a ball lock man if that's what the trailer had been full of.

 

[bleme]

I use pin lock because I had a buddy with a trailer full of them years ago and I bought 20 of them for 100 bucks. Other than individual cases of availability/cost I personally don't see much difference and I'd be a ball lock man if that's what the trailer had been full of.

That would be enough to convert me to pin lock....

 

[BLL]

That would be enough to convert me to pin lock....

On the downside they were all still full of soda that had to be disposed of and cleaned out, but it was still well worth it.

 

[North_of_60]

I used ball locks in my first kegerator they were great. Made a long distance move and sold my kegerator so I build a new one. I got a smoken deal on 4 pin locks so I built the new one with pin locks. They are fine.

The only thing I miss about the ball lock kegs is the pressure release valve. Like bleme, I like the carb cap, so I have a splitter on my regulator with a ball lock for carbing pet bottles.

 

[BLL]

I used ball locks in my first kegerator they were great. Made a long distance move and sold my kegerator so I build a new one. I got a smoken deal on 4 pin locks so I built the new one with pin locks. They are fine.

The only thing I miss about the ball lock kegs is the pressure release valve. Like bleme, I like the carb cap, so I have a splitter on my regulator with a ball lock for carbing pet bottles.

I forget about the lack of PRVs, but if you got a smokin' deal then snag a couple corny lids with PRVs on them or build a spunding valve and the savings will have paid for it. That's what I did.

 

[deks77]

I use pin locks also, cheap reason also.. I did have one fitting that just about drive me to converting. then I smartened up and bought a new fitting.

 

[grampamark]

Pin locks. They're shorter, cheaper, can't mix up the beer and gas fittings, cheaper, popping off the gas fitting and depressurizing with any small, handy object takes care of no PRV, cheaper. Did I mention that they're cheaper?

 

[North_of_60]

4 for the price of 2

https://www.kegconnection.com/four-pack-pin-lock-keg-bundle/?rfsn=550827.0baf37

They had free shipping when I bought them.

 

[bpgreen]

six of one = half dozen of the other

I started with pin locks because of a sale where they were $17 each, so I bought 2 (I know, but at the time, I thought 2 was a big number). I bought more on sale later (but never @17).

Now that I have pin locks, I have pin locks.

 

[hawkbox]

I went ball lock because I got a good price on them. At least in Canada a good price. Now I'm going to have 15 of them so I don't feel like messing around changing it. my buddy down the road has pinlock.

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

I have both. I took a few pin lock kegs that I just replaced the posts with ball lock posts.
So whatever.

 

[Wreck99]

Ball lock because I can fit 3 in my kegerator and because I got a good deal on them.

 

[S-Met]

I use both. I have flair QDs nstead of Barbs. I can switch from pin to ball and back to pin in seconds. Bonus, easoer to clean QDs and lines.
Other thoughts:
1 - if price is a consideration then get whatever is cheaper.
2 - If you have local friends that have one or the other, being able to swap gear is convenient.

Bonus of pin locks as already mentioned: no matter how drunk I may be, I cannot accidentally mix up the connectors.

 

[Idrum6969]

Pin lock is what I use. I bought four for 20 bucks a piece. I needed the lower profile connection in my keezer as well. I've ran a lot of beer through those kegs. Best 80 bucks I've spent.