Commerical Keg

[Haggy05]

Hi,

I have a question...I am planning on using my home brew system to utilise both home brew kegs and when necessary convert and use a commercial keg.
I was wondering if anyone has any experience in commerical kegs - how long do they last, tapped and kept cold?

Some reports I have heard indicate a fortnight....not overly practical.

Any thoughts/suggestions appreciated.

Regards
Chris

 

[pcmfisher]

Where are you going to get your commercial kegs from? h34r: h34r:

 

[dkaos]

Where are you going to get your commercial kegs from? h34r: h34r:

That's irrelevant. There are plenty of legal places to source commercial kegs. Kegking being one of them.

To answer Haggy05's question, I don't see why they wouldn't last at least a year kept in moderate temperature and purged with C02 and filled, then carbed. It doesn't make sense that they would go off after two weeks. 24-48 hours if a party pump was used, but that's about it.

I'm only just getting into kegging so I may be wrong here.

Cheers

Clint

 

[JestersDarts]

You're irrelevant.

 

[brettprevans]

moving on from the stupid posts....

Clint is right. commercial keg or 'homebrew keg' it doesnt matter. a keg is a keg if its sealed properly. its the beer inside matters. if it doesn t have CO2 in there, it will oxidise. if its a wheat beer and meant to be drunk young then after a while is will be past its prime. if its commercial beer then it will get stale (its probably already a little old).

are you wanting to buy a keg of commercial beer from a hire place or are you wanting to buy a 50L keg and use it for your own beer? either way it can be done (link to google page with at least 5 retailers that hire out kegs. there are also microbreweries that do it also). it just requires differant connections.

for example I have ball lock kegs on 19L kegs, but i also have 2x20L kegs that use a coupler that the same as tooheys kegs. so i cant use tooheys kegs if i wanted.

there is always a way and the equipment/cobnnections you need are freely available,.

also put in your location so people can direct you to local help.

 

[brewmasterz]

moving on from the stupid posts....

Clint is right. commercial keg or 'homebrew keg' it doesnt matter. a keg is a keg if its sealed properly. its the beer inside matters. if it doesn t have CO2 in there, it will oxidise. if its a wheat beer and meant to be drunk young then after a while is will be past its prime. if its commercial beer then it will get stale (its probably already a little old).

are you wanting to buy a keg of commercial beer from a hire place or are you wanting to buy a 50L keg and use it for your own beer? either way it can be done (link to google page with at least 5 retailers that hire out kegs. there are also microbreweries that do it also). it just requires differant connections.

for example I have ball lock kegs on 19L kegs, but i also have 2x20L kegs that use a coupler that the same as tooheys kegs. so i cant use tooheys kegs if i wanted.

there is always a way and the equipment/cobnnections you need are freely available,.

also put in your location so people can direct you to local help.

+1 - Before I started brewing, I bulit a kegerator, with proper keg couplers and taps etc. and hired commerical kegs. If you keep gas in them, no problems what so ever! I bought most of my commerical dispensing equipment form Andale (CUB & Fosters) manufacturer and ebay. Now that I brew as well as dispense beer, it was a little difficult to find home brew kegs that have commercial spears, but if you look hard enough they're out there!! It also depends on how much are you willing to spend..... Still to this day SWMBO does not know how much I have spent!! :blink:

 

[Haggy05]

+1 - Before I started brewing, I bulit a kegerator, with proper keg couplers and taps etc. and hired commerical kegs. If you keep gas in them, no problems what so ever! I bought most of my commerical dispensing equipment form Andale (CUB & Fosters) manufacturer and ebay. Now that I brew as well as dispense beer, it was a little difficult to find home brew kegs that have commercial spears, but if you look hard enough they're out there!! It also depends on how much are you willing to spend..... Still to this day SWMBO does not know how much I have spent!! :blink:

Thanks for the replies guys...one question, why the concern in relation to purchasing a commercial keg? Excuse the ignorance, but is there something stopping me from calling a pub and asking if they sell kegs? Do they generally not sell kegs to the public?

In relation to the assistance re: timeframes for freshness - I appreciate the replies :icon_chickcheers:

 

[Thunderlips]

Thanks for the replies guys...one question, why the concern in relation to purchasing a commercial keg?

That's what I was wondering.
Apparently there are quite a few pubs that will happily sell you a full keg of VB etc, as long as you bring it back when it's empty.
You probably have to pay some kind of deposit on the keg.

I imagine some are thinking that you want to use one for your homebrew.
Most of those kegs you see stamped with CUB, Tooheys etc remain the property of the brewery so if you have one that you have kept you
are in effect stealing.

 

[kelbygreen]

you will find no commercial pub/club will sell you kegs as they are property of the breweries not pubs. Not sure if breweries sell kegs and if they did i would say they are ones that cannot seal anymore or maybe are dented or something as I imagine they are not cheap new and they would want to get the longest posible life out of them

 

[Thunderlips]

I suppose "sell" is the wrong word.

You can "hire" them.
Here's an example.
http://www.hireakeg.com.au/kegs.php

 

[Rurik]

In regards to the 50l keg. You don't buy the keg, you buy the beer in it. When the beer is gone you are expected to return the keg to the place of purchess. The big guys don't sell there kegs, so if you have one they want it back or it is stolen.

 

[felten]

I've read on here somewhere that the big breweries crush them and sell them as scrap rather than selling them whole.