Used Keg (cleaning) vs New Keg

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htims05

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I've been doing my research as to what keg I want to buy for my first attempt into kegging. I'm thinking a 2 keg setup so I'll buy 3 of them at once (maybe 4).

In my research I come across a lot of comments about the used ones - some say they are great and just need some cleaning (which the impression I have is a 15min job per keg). A lot of others say that the kegs are so dirty inside and out, the time spent cleaning them is worth just spending $30 extra and buying new kegs?

Your experiences? If you had to do it over again when you were first starting and were a casual brewer (not a bachelor, no parties...really just doing it for yourself) would you go used or new?

Maybe I just start with 1 (buy 2) to keep costs down?
 
The only issue I've had with used kegs is one that had a stuck post. I had to buy a deep socket, wrap my keg in a judo leg hold, and scream vulcan curses before it came loose.
 
moreb33rplz said:
The only issue I've had with used kegs is one that had a stuck post. I had to buy a deep socket, wrap my keg in a judo leg hold, and scream vulcan curses before it came loose.
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That's what I was originally thinking - nothing a little cleaning wouldn't take care of, but some of these comments sound like these things were pulled from the bottom of a lake - it's like 50/50 almost.
 
htims05 said:
That's what I was originally thinking - nothing a little cleaning wouldn't take care of, but some of these comments sound like these things were pulled from the bottom of a lake - it's like 50/50 almost.
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True, of course the other 3 I bought used were A OK and dirt cheap
 
When I got into kegging a few years ago I went ahead and ordered a 4-Pack bundle of ball lock kegs from Keg Connection. These were used kegs but all came shipped holding pressure. All the kegs came fairly clean, one or two had minor dents but not a big deal. I would shop around various keg websites, you can usually find a good deal.

When I first got them, I dismantled all of them and soaked the fittings and dip tubes in PBW and I also filled the kegs with PBW and let them sit over night. I went ahead and replaced all the o-rings and seals for piece of mind, you can buy kits cheap on amazon.

I've never have had to scrub a keg clean, PBW does all the work for me. However, if you ferment in a keg it might be a different story. I would buy used kegs again, but I would always replace the seals. Nothing is worse than checking on a keg only to find out you have a leak and your CO2 tank is empty.
 
I have 16 used kegs, 12 I cherry-picked myself, the last four came in a bundle from AIH and were not as pristine.
But, to the sellers' credit, all of them were gas-tight and none of them needed more than routine cleaning - though I replaced all of the O-rings and gave each one a solid scrubbing inside and out just out of general principle.

Now, the earliest kegs I bought for $25 each and the last were $50 each, with kegs bought at various prices in between, while new kegs were over $100 pretty much the whole ~15 year span. With used kegs now going for ~$50-$60 and new kegs available for $75 I'd be tempted to just go with new. At least the O-rings would be fresh so that saves a few bucks per keg...

Cheers!
 
You could look for deals on Craigslist and if they aren’t too inconvenient to look at, you could personally inspect them.
 
Buy new kegs from AIH. I got into kegging about a year and a half ago.

Initially, I bought the used soda kegs for cheap. Had to clean them and replace poppits, and other parts. Some of them leak from the post and poppets and can be somewhat unreliable even with replacement parts.

I switched to new kegs from AIH and am much happier knowing that all kegs are fully reliable and won't leak. Its worth the extra $25-30 per keg in my opinion to have new ones that are 100% reliable, don't require cleaning disgusting soda residue or replacing parts.
 
I've always preferred used kegs. Most have been reasonably clean, but I'm going to clean them anyway. If you buy new kegs, you need to completely break them down and give them the exact same degree of cleaning to remove, not syrup residue, but manufacturing oils and other residues. When I buy one, I replace everything replaceable: all o-rings, posts as well as poppets, and PRV in the lid (that spring weakens eventually, and the teeny tiny o-ring rots.) I've always been able to do this still way cheaper than buying a new keg. But. There are so few old kegs left in the wild, the ones available are increasingly in a condition -- just regarding the keg body itself -- that is less acceptable. Not just heavily dented, but with the rubber feet and handles separating, etc. I would definitely not buy a keg sight unseen. Inspect before buying and if it's in decent shape, it's worth reconditioning. But I may have bought my last used one judging by what I see at LHBS lately.
 
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I have a collection of new and used kegs. One of my used kegs had some sort of citrus soda and that one took multiple soaking and rinsing to get the smell out. If you go used and they were last used for soda, when you think you have them cleaned close them up for a day or two and check again. They can look and feel clean but the soda smell will keep coming thru.

The new skinny torpedo kegs are nice. Depending on your keezer or cooler the small diameter may allow another keg to be squeezed in.
 
It goes without saying (which means that somebody should probably say it) that new kegs become used kegs as soon as they are put to use.

Kegs aren’t hard to maintain but do require regular inspection, cleaning, and replacement of small parts. Doing these things is neither difficult nor expensive, but the fact remains that these things need to be done, regardless of whether the kegs were purchased new or used.
 
I'd go with used. The quality and cleanness of the kegs will depend on the seller. If it smells of soda, replace o-rings and poppets (which is standard maintenance anyhow).

I've had good experience from AIH and KegConnection. KegConnection uses a cleaner that smells a bit like citrus soda, and they provide a free set of replacement o-rings. Minor dents and light scratches. Out of 6 kegs, I have one that I had trouble with the lid sealing, but I replaced the o-ring with an oversized from Williams brewing and that solved the issue.
 
Concerning keg o-rings, it never ceases to amaze me that they sell "Used Keg Seal Kits". Why not just call them "Keg Seal Kits"? If you replace the o-rings on a keg, then they should be "new". Buy them "used"?
 
When I bought my used kegs they were $45 each. At that time new kegs were over $115 each - no way I was going to pay that much. I have had no problems with my used kegs and the inside was easy to clean, the outside a little more difficult. Ended up using a wire brush on my drill press and rocking the keg back and forth under it.
 
I’ve never regretted buying used kegs, but if I had it to do over again I would carefully choose kegs by brand/type. If all the posts, gaskets, and dip tubes were the same, it would speed up cleaning day 10 fold.
 
I have bought several, new & used, ball & pinlock, converted-to-ball & orignal pin, converted some pin to ball lock myself. @501irishred 's point about being the same cannot be overstated--it's a seemingly random crapshoot as to threads sometimes if you *DO* decide to replace a post but there are good sources that help. The only 2 issues I have ever really been bummed about were (1) I received a racetrack lidded keg, not purchased, and it's just a pain; (2) I have now bought two used kegs (out of 17) and have a broken top handle on one and a partial bottom rubber piece on another making it essentially impossible to free stand. Still working on what to do there. Otherwise, I have *NEVER* had leaking issue, and Mr. MissingOneCheek keg may end up with a multimillion dollar wooden base before I'm through with it, relegated to be a fermentation only vessel.
 
And if you're looking to buy kegs, I'd wait a few weeks for black friday deals. Last few years, I've picked up pin lock kegs in past years for $25-30 with free or flat rate shipping.
 
What @lump42 says is troo. If you are willing to have pin lock connectors, the pin locks are way cheaper used, but keep in mind they are a little lower height but larger diameter. If you have a small chest freezer as I do, fitting two pin locks requires some, um, persuasion, while ball locks being smaller dia but taller will slide in easily. Something to keep in mind.
 
I'd say buy New. I have bought both Used and New Kegs. Maybe I've just had bad luck, but the used kegs I have purchased required cleaning and had completely unremoveable stickers on them. New kegs have none of those issues. I still clean a new keg before use to remove any potential manufacturing residues, but that is much easier than trying to scrub out soda smell and replacing all the O-rings. You can trust that a new keg is factory-clean and ready to go. At $30 more, I feel new is worth the price.
 
fwiw, a heat gun makes very quick work of removing stickers.
Follow up with any kind of goo cutter and a rag and you're ready for action :)

Cheers!
 
I found a site (sponsor here) that says they clean and wash their used kegs (also replace all seals) before sending them out. Might be a good option. A few more bucks than others but the others say they just dump and check for pressure, and maybe replace a seal or 2.
 
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I don't care what the outside looks like. Beer doesn't touch it and I can't see it in the keezer. If it was only $30 difference I might go for the aesthetics of a new one, but I can completely rebuild and clean old ones for a lot less than I can get new ones. Except as I noted the supply will eventually run out.
 
Similarly to the forecast price per gigabyte parity between magnetic and solid state media always being "right around the corner" (for the last 20 years) the apocryphal forecast of "the end of used corny kegs" has been going on for as long as I've been brewing :D

Cheers!
 
another thing to consider about used kegs, a lot of them come with a sticker telling you accepting them is willfully receiving stolen property.... i have to look at that threat on 2 out of my 6 kegs, but i got them from morebeer? lol.
 
I’m a homebrewer, not a collector of homebrewing hardware. I’m more concerned with function than appearance, so the cost savings of used vs. new is what determined my choice of kegs when I got tired of bottling.

Obviously, the bling factor is important to some. It’s all a matter of personal preference.
 
Robert65 said:
There won't be any smell residing in the stainless steel. If there's a smell its coming from rubber parts that were not replaced, as they all should be.
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I was able to finally get the smell out of it but it took like a week of repeated cleaning and rests before I could not smell anything any more.

I am pretty sure all rubber was replaced early on in the cleaning process, could be I am just a lousy keg cleaner.
 
bracconiere said:
another thing to consider about used kegs, a lot of them come with a sticker telling you accepting them is willfully receiving stolen property.... i have to look at that threat on 2 out of my 6 kegs, but i got them from morebeer? lol.
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Remove the stickers!! I don't think soda companies use kegs any more. At least not much. They use plastic bag containers.
 
bracconiere said:
another thing to consider about used kegs, a lot of them come with a sticker telling you accepting them is willfully receiving stolen property.... i have to look at that threat on 2 out of my 6 kegs, but i got them from morebeer? lol.
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Back when the original owners (Coke, Pepsi etc.) actually owned and used them, yeah, it was the same as it still is with Sanke kegs. A deposit was paid, but it was stolen if not returned. But the soda industry has long since relinquished them, and they have all been legitimately sold through multiple salvage/wholesale /retail distributors on the way to us. You can stop looking over your shoulder (as if you were anyway! [emoji57] )
 
ba-brewer said:
I was able to finally get the smell out of it but it took like a week of repeated cleaning and rests before I could not smell anything any more.

I am pretty sure all rubber was replaced early on in the cleaning process, could be I am just a lousy keg cleaner.
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I don't know what would hold onto any smell. Stainless steel will not. I have had things go bad in stainless containers with a terrible rotten smell. A quick clean and the smell is gone.
 
kh54s10 said:
I don't think soda companies use kegs any more.
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The last Pepsi bottling plant to use cornies was in Florida, and closed down in 2015 IIRC. Chi Company bought the entire contents of the plant, kegs, dispensing equipment, everything, and you can now buy kegs from them by the 40' shipping container for dirt cheap if you want!
 
those stickers aren't easy to remove.....lol, the only problem with them, is when i was 20. i actually did steal one...which if there was a way to do it, now that i'm 41 and a responsible adult, i'd gladly give them $100 for.....(but i scraped the sticker off the stolen one :) so i don't even know which one it is)
 
bracconiere said:
those stickers aren't easy to remove.....lol, the only problem with them, is when i was 20. i actually did steal one...which if there was a way to do it, now that i'm 41 and a responsible adult, i'd gladly give them $100 for.....(but i scraped the sticker off the stolen one :) so i don't even know which one it is)
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Are you talking about corney kegs? If so why would you want to pay $100 for a used one. They go for between $45 and $60 depending on where they are being sold.
 
kh54s10 said:
Are you talking about corney kegs? If so why would you want to pay $100 for a used one. They go for between $45 and $60 depending on where they are being sold.
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$100 or thereabouts may well have been the value placed on them by the soda distributor when they let them out with a security deposit. Just like Sanke kegs for brewers, the value they needed to secure was replacement value.
 
kh54s10 said:
Are you talking about corney kegs? If so why would you want to pay $100 for a used one. They go for between $45 and $60 depending on where they are being sold.
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Robert65 said:
$100 or thereabouts may well have been the value placed on them by the soda distributor when they let them out with a security deposit. Just like Sanke kegs for brewers, the value they needed to secure was replacement value.
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i'm with robert65....because that's what they cost new....and yes, corny keg, there was a small shop that left them out back...i was actually driving, and unconscious at the time of theft.....but i woke up with a new keg, and a story from my then heroin addicted girl friend telling me what happened....
 
I buy new AEB kegs now for 2 reasons:
1) The last used keg I bought looked like a tank ran over it in WW2. And the website said "gently used" or "almost new" or something. Last time I bought a used one.
2) All my replacement parts are identical. I don't have to worry about which lids fit which kegs and which posts have which threads.
 
Robert65 said:
The last Pepsi bottling plant to use cornies was in Florida, and closed down in 2015 IIRC. Chi Company bought the entire contents of the plant, kegs, dispensing equipment, everything, and you can now buy kegs from them by the 40' shipping container for dirt cheap if you want!
Click to expand...
How cheap are we talking here? :rolleyes:
 

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