Ill-gotten keg fiends

[CrookedFingers]

Good laugh, thanks prince.
I would vote for that !
Should make it a gameshow.
Like 'it's a knockout' with alcohol.


CF

 

[Feldon]

I can see some form of polymer keg in the future to make it less attractive to thieves.

Already happening. The future is one-way PET kegs.

(so steal the metal ones while you can )



Couple of companies making them, eg.

http://www.ecokeg.com/

http://www.petainer.com/Products/Kegs

Although designed to be sent to recycle once empty, I think these might be reusable by homebrewers if collected in good condition and cared for. Might replace for the corny in the future. The bigger ones (eg. 30 litre) would be great.

Edit: sp

 

[Fat Bastard]

(some) Kegs now days are being made with GPS locators... gotta help surely.. but there is still a cost to monitor and retrieve, if one outweighs the other I dunno.

I think if they cared, this would have already implemented it. The big boys would most likely consider kegs to be a consumable item absorbed into the yearly operations cost, and of course also taking into consideration the replacement cost of natural attrition whatever that may be. The one I found was beaten to hell and probably close to the end of its life anyway, hence not worth the effort of collection. They've probably got a team of actuaries that work this stuff out for them, and I'm sure if it was worth the effort, kegs would have gps locators on them already and a team of operatives to track them down.

 

[Pogierob]

Already happening. The future is one-way PET kegs.

(so steal the metal ones while you can )

petainer_keg_family.jpg

Couple of companies making them, eg.

http://www.ecokeg.com/

http://www.petainer.com/Products/Kegs

Although designed to be sent to recycle once empty, I think these might be reusable by homebrewers if collected in good condition and cared for. Might replace for the corny in the future. The bigger ones (eg. 30 litre) would be great.

Edit: sp

I have inspected these kegs and they are basically designed for a single use, the dip tube leaves about half a litre in the bottom of the bladder, you would have to flush out old stale beer, then sanitise, before re-using, this would mean you end up with half a litre of either unsanitized water (unless you pre boiled it and blah blah blah) or sanitiser that would end up mixing with your beer.
you then have the problem of the plastic fittings wearing out as they were only designed to be used once,
you would basically be playing a game of "which **** up will destroy my keg of beer first".

They do make good pots for first year hops to grown in though.

As far as the article originally posted, that I believe is a matter for police because for 17000 kegs to be found in a factory is quite obviously organised crime and not the work of a few drunken jokers walking past a pub.

 

[real_beer]

I believe one way to help slow down the keg theft problem is for existing home craft brewers to promote the many advantages of buying a well designed vessel, or set of vessels to any newly interested person of the hobby in the first place.

When all the keg conversion fever first started the choices available to hobbyist were limited and usually very expensive. Now however there's great choices available of well designed purpose built vessels to suit any budget, in most cases they're lighter and easier to handle, carry, clean, and store. Any do it yourself project like keg conversion for a beginning brewer always........ always ........ always, involves numerous trips to the hardware store and a generous investment of money in tools, drill bits, cutting discs ,lubricating oils, gloves, safety goggles ....... yada yada yada! This also eats up lots of a persons time and energy flitting from store to store getting everything you need. It can be an enjoyable pastime to some of course but the point is its probably better to do a few hours overtime at what your good at and just buy what you need. If you buy entry level vessels and look after them you'll always sell them easily if you ever want to upgrade to better ones later.

I know if I were starting out again the purpose built choices available now would seal the deal for me. It's also a great way to substantially support your chosen Home Brew Shop or On-line Supplier and maybe help keep them in business for the future to offer even more great gadgets as they become available :beer:

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Turning a keg into anything else but a keg is one of life's little joys that you would not wish on your stepmother. Yes the look great, but at the end of the day, its a lot of work and ******* about.








Disclaimer:- If you own a plasma cutter, lathe, TIG, pipe bender, flap wheels, die grinders, a big sheed,...etc...etc.. then It will make the work alot easier

 

[Fat Bastard]

Yep, I've got access to all of that gear and more importantly, the skills to use it.

It was cheaper and easier for me to buy pots than for me to convert kegs, legally or illegally obtained.

Most stolen kegs end up holding up some Bogan's TV in their "man" cave, or as a hangi oven.

 

[Blind Dog]

If I had a Kia Rio with Tapout seat covers then I would deserve to have my wallet stolen.
I guess there's an exception to everything and you just found it.

Seriously you think you'd deserve your wallet stolen?

Poor misguided fool

You'd deserve to be tarred, feathered, paraded in the cross and rogered senseless by T Abbott and called Malcolm

 

[Blind Dog]

I think if they cared, this would have already implemented it. The big boys would most likely consider kegs to be a consumable item absorbed into the yearly operations cost, and of course also taking into consideration the replacement cost of natural attrition whatever that may be. The one I found was beaten to hell and probably close to the end of its life anyway, hence not worth the effort of collection. They've probably got a team of actuaries that work this stuff out for them, and I'm sure if it was worth the effort, kegs would have gps locators on them already and a team of operatives to track them down.

Actuaries? Mere mortals ask a potential date if they'd like to see their etchings; actuaries ask if you'd like to see your personalized death table. Creeps

 

[Fat Bastard]

My uncle is an actuary.

His career trajectory went from someone with a greasy haircut, a tattoo on his forearm of a skull wearing a flying helmet and googles and a leather jacket who stole motorbikes to a wool-classer, to the Chief Financial Officer of Brambles. He is now retired and quite likes ballroom dancing.

He is a creep to be sure, but he knows how to build a financial model of keg loss over the potential life of the keg fleet.

 

[Blind Dog]

My uncle is an actuary.

His career trajectory went from someone with a greasy haircut, a tattoo on his forearm of a skull wearing a flying helmet and googles and a leather jacket who stole motorbikes to a wool-classer, to the Chief Financial Officer of Brambles. He is now retired and quite likes ballroom dancing.

He is a creep to be sure, but he knows how to build a financial model of keg loss over the potential life of the keg fleet.

Just love the idea of a skull, flying helmet and google tattoo ...

 

[Feldon]

I have inspected these kegs and they are basically designed for a single use, the dip tube leaves about half a litre in the bottom of the bladder, you would have to flush out old stale beer, then sanitise, before re-using, this would mean you end up with half a litre of either unsanitized water (unless you pre boiled it and blah blah blah) or sanitiser that would end up mixing with your beer.
you then have the problem of the plastic fittings wearing out as they were only designed to be used once,
you would basically be playing a game of "which **** up will destroy my keg of beer first".

Never underestimate the ability of homebrewers to adapt, alter, modify, reuse or repurpose equipment items for applications and purposes they were not designed for.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I believe that apart from the brewery workers death in New Hampshire a brewery worker also died in the UK while steam cleaning a plastic keg.

http://www.brewbound.com/news/plastic-keg-safety-under-scrutiny

 

[Weizguy]

I believe one way to help slow down the keg theft problem is for existing home craft brewers to promote the many advantages of buying a well designed vessel, or set of vessels to any newly interested person of the hobby in the first place.

When all the keg conversion fever first started the choices available to hobbyist were limited and usually very expensive. Now however there's great choices available of well designed purpose built vessels to suit any budget, in most cases they're lighter and easier to handle, carry, clean, and store. Any do it yourself project like keg conversion for a beginning brewer always........ always ........ always, involves numerous trips to the hardware store and a generous investment of money in tools, drill bits, cutting discs ,lubricating oils, gloves, safety goggles ....... yada yada yada! This also eats up lots of a persons time and energy flitting from store to store getting everything you need. It can be an enjoyable pastime to some of course but the point is its probably better to do a few hours overtime at what your good at and just buy what you need. If you buy entry level vessels and look after them you'll always sell them easily if you ever want to upgrade to better ones later.

I know if I were starting out again the purpose built choices available now would seal the deal for me. It's also a great way to substantially support your chosen Home Brew Shop or On-line Supplier and maybe help keep them in business for the future to offer even more great gadgets as they become available :beer:

I feel another way to stop the theft and ruination of further kegs is to reuse the already converted pots that are out there. In my early brewing days, I bought a stainless vessel that may have belonged to a brewing conglomerate, with handles welded on, to be used as a brew pot. The top was already cut off and could not be used for its original purpose. The vendor was able to weld the handles on to make the vessel useful again.

Theft by finding is still theft. Just a different charge. selling stolen goods is another charge. I'm surprised that the smaller brewers don't involve the police in these cases more often.
Advertising for sale stolen goods on gumtree would be a pretty easy case to prosecute you'd think.

What's pissing me off lately is the ebay sales of CO2 bottles with BOC/Air Liquide branding/ stickers. As far as I know they cannot be refilled or owned by other than the mother company.
Tried to complete an online form via the BOC site, and they really seem to care less about the stolen bottles, as they know they'll either come back or end up at a metal recycler.

I bought a kegerator with CO2 bottle, which quickly leaked to emptiness once connected (due to a leaky keg, included with the fridge), and as it was a corporate bottle, the lhbs could not righteously refill it.

Since then, I bought a Mykegonlegs bottle on eBait. Good resale value those bottles (6.8 kg size)