Procuring a keg

[jzimpleman]

There's a guy near me selling an AB 1/2 barrel keg on Craigslist for $60. I'm hoping to build a 3 keggle setup and since I only have the boil kettle, so far, I called him.

In full disclosure, I have contacted our local AB distributor and they are working on getting me a legitimate "retired" keg but have told me that they are hard to come by.

This guy up the road says that he bought some property with a barn and the keg was inside. It appears to be in good shape, but no one will take it off his hands in exchange for deposit money. Hence selling it on CL.

Thoughts? I don't want to give any credence to someone stealing a keg and I don't want to over pay.

 

[Homercidal]

My thoughts is kegs are supposed to be the property of the brewer or keg handler. Ownership does not transfer with possession.

That said, if he can't return the keg for real, then it would be better to turn it into something useful, rather than let it languish in a dusty corner.

The trouble is we get a lot of people here that try to justify the purchase of a used keg for the price of deposit by claiming that the deposit is enough to cover the price of the brewer or keg handler replacing it. It doesn't. It's meant to entice people to return the keg to the store, rather than sell it to the scrap yard or homebrewers. They can't raise the deposit price high enough to cover the replacement cost because then nobody would rent a keg!

FWIW I have 2 kegs for my HERM system. Purchased one before I knew better, and the second from someone in the exact same situation as your seller. I use them, but I don't love them. I'd really rather have spent the money on a real kettle with straight sides. The domed bottom prevents me from getting the heating element as low as I'd like. And they are heavy. The bottom drain in the HLT may be nice, and I have less concern about heating element placement in that, but the BK is not the greatest. If I did 10 gallons all the time there would be no worries.