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The first item most consider when
buying a corny keg is cost. A new quality 5
gallon keg will easily be over $100.00 and most homebrewers will buy at
least two kegs at a time. With freight you are looking at an easy
$250.00 or more for two new kegs! Used kegs can be had for quite a bit
less. Look around and you can find used kegs in the $25.00 range. But if
you plan on buying used, I suggest that you buy soon because the cost of
used kegs keeps creeping up as the supply continues to dwindle. Not too
many years ago used kegs could be had for $5.00 each and I predict that
used kegs will be as high as $50 - $75 each within 2 - 3 years.
The next item to consider is
reliability. New kegs are, well, new!
Everything in and on the keg starts at day zero. This includes the keg
itself, closure lid, poppet valves and seals. A new keg is set to
reliably store your beer for many years with absolutely no attention
from you other than cleaning. The average used keg is now over 30 years
old. Sure, it’s a stainless steel tank with a stainless steel lid but
you don’t know the state of the poppet valves or pressure relief valve.
And even though they are all stainless steel, some tanks eventually
start leaking through a pinhole or cracked seam. Also, some older
pressure relief valves are no longer available which means that some keg
closure lids can no longer be rebuilt.
The third
item to consider is - where has the keg been?
You know where a new keg has been – it was just manufactured and nothing
has been stored in it. At least not until you poured your beer into the
keg. But most don’t realize that the soda industry isn’t the only
industry using Corny kegs. They are used in other food and chemical
industries. Just about anywhere someone needs a small sealed holding or
overflow tank; someone has tried and is still using a corny keg. It’s
unlikely that you will ever get a keg that was used in a chemical plant,
but unless you know for sure that your used keg was retired from a soda
company, it could have been used in a car wash to hold & dispense
detergent or to spray bug spray, herbicide or window cleaner.
The fourth item to consider is
the value of your time. A new corny keg is
good to go right out of the box but you will put hours into used kegs
before they are bright and shiny inside and out. And if you are unlucky
enough to have a keg with a bad poppet valve you’ll spend more time
buying, replacing and testing parts before finally filling you used keg
with beer. |
