2 styles of pin lock kegs?

[leahy268]

Hi,

So long story short I bought 2 pin lock kegs on the weekend off a guy. Rang the LHB shop today about what else I needed to get and was told that there are 2 different styles of pin lock kegs. If they are older than 2 years then he thought they would be the 'old' style and cost about $60 each for the disconnects.

Now I may not know what I'm searching for but I can not find reference to 2 different styles of pin lock kegs.

So the question is how do I tell the difference? LHB seemed to think there wasn't a lot of difference to look at them..

Thanks

Warwick

 

[sp0rk]

Tell him he's dreaming
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/PAIR-CORNELIUS-PIN-LOCK-KEG-DISCONNECTS-DISCONNECT-HOME-BREW-BEER-KEG-GAS-LIQUID-/111573549996?pt=AU_Barware&hash=item19fa4d43ac

 

[mr_wibble]

A good start would be to post a photo of both types

I use these style of pin-lock disconnects:

http://kegking.com.au/magento/keg-couplers-and-keg-disconnects/keg-disconnects-home-brew/pin-lock-disconnect-gas-grey-mfl-thread.html


I've only ever seen this type of pin-lock disconnects, but maybe I'm living in ignorance.
You can change the posts for ~$20 each, maybe he's talking new posts + disconnects for $60 / keg.

 

[leahy268]

No he seemed to be telling me that 1 had a smaller flatter oring on the post or something along those lines. The closest reference I could find was for Mytton Rod/Rheem style kegs. Can't seem to find a good picture of the posts though to know. My kegs are both the same and to me look like every other pin lock keg advertised anywhere.

 

[leahy268]

I will take a photo of mine when I get home and see if anyone can tell me which I have..

 

[AntonW]

Having been through all this reasonably recently, I can tell you that there are two different types of pin lock kegs, and they do use slightly different o-rings. They also have different thread sizes for the posts.

Here's a handy guide: http://www.cornykeg.com/store.asp?pid=37604

They also have pretty good prices for the conversion kits, although you need to get a few to make the freight worth it, and you'll need to use a freight forwarder like shipito.com.

Hope this helps.

 

[leahy268]

Hmm thanks for that Anton. Will check when I get home.

 

[AntonW]

But, yes there are a few different types of pin locks.

http://www.andale.co.../pin-line-valve for example.

There's also an outfit in sydney that make these sorts of things - often for agricultural purposes. Sprayers and stuff.

 

[AntonW]

no worries. Finding fittings can be a pain.

 

[leahy268]

Ok so as per the pictures. Done on my phone. So I don't know how they will have come out. Both rubber tops are slightly different but the posts measure exactly the same by my micrometer. Does that help anyone?

 

[leahy268]

Ok so I had another look tonight.. One of the kegs says Firestone on the bottom of it and the other says cornelius on the side.

So does that mean that the disconnects are different and I can't actually use the same ones??

The posts look identical and every measurement that I take of them shows them as being the same.

That will be a bit of a pain if that is the case..

Maybe conversion to ball lock is the best way if it's going to be like that..

 

[cow77]

As far as I know is the pinning the same, but the thread of the post (the connection of the post to keg) are different).
If you stay with pinlock, there is no problem, but if you change them to ball-lock, you will need two different conversion sets.

 

[leahy268]

Well that seems a lot less disastrous than the lhb was trying to tell me. Even if I did have to convert them to ball lock it was lesa disastrous.

Can anyone confirm that I'm good. I just don't want to buy some disconnects that I can't use and then need to convert them anyway. .

 

[jonnir]

Can you walk into the LHBS with the kegs and try the disconnects?

 

[Blind Dog]

Not sure where you are, but I suspect your LHBS is talking out his / her arse. I had 8 pin locks with 5 different styles of posts and the standard pin lock disconnects posted above fitted everything just fine even though the posts were not interchangeable from keg to keg. I've converted them all to ball locks now, mainly for convenience

 

[leahy268]

Thanks for that. I won't be going into the lhb shop for ajy of this on principal. Might just get a couple of fittings online and hope for the best.

Really don't like being given misinformation like that though.

 

[jonnir]

What misinformation? I think I read your original post as he "thought"

Without seeing them hes given you the best information he can

 

[leahy268]

Rang the LHB shop today about what else I needed to get and was told that there are 2 different styles of pin lock kegs. If they are older than 2 years then he thought they would be the 'old' style and cost about $60 each for the disconnects.

Anything older than 2 years cost $60 per disconnect doesn't seem to be correct at all. Hence misinformation.

 

[MHB]

Actually he (the LHBS) is quite correct
There are two types American and Australian, the American ones are the ones on the kegs pictured in post #10, they fit the disconnects pictured in the link in post #2. These only started turning up in Australia a couple of years ago.
The older Australian pin-lock fittings are made by RR Taylor and fit the Australian Rheem, Mytton Rod and SSTPV kegs that are still in production, These are the expensive fittings that your LHBS was referring to, before anyone goes trying to get them from RR Taylor, you can't Andale are their distributer.
Here is the RR Taylor catalogue View attachment turret_catalogue_2013.pdf

Mark

 

[leahy268]

Ahh ok. So now that explains a whole lot more. Although every reference I found listed them as mytton rod/ rheem kegs rather than calling them pin lock.


Thanks for the genuine info Mark. Although all the pictures I could find of mytton rod/rheem kegs looked a lot different. No rubber top and bottom for a start. I dunno maybe they come both ways. Like I say new to this.

Must say though I am glad that I didn't end up with a couple of duds like I thought I may have for a while.