Post
by dmdrabble » Fri Jan 23, 2015 10:41 pm
I bought a corny keg off Ebay with an S30 connector. Probably like a lot of people, I had gone down the budget barrel/kingkeg route and had the hambleton bard gas canisters already. Could be false economy to be honest. I planned to keg a wheat beer and possibly a European lager / pils which are very fizzy. When I finally got my set up with Co2, beer fridge, etc, I had huge problems getting the psi and beer lines right. I ended up buying a new lid and probably paid as much in all for a new keg. Just my opinion, but it's nice to know what pressure you're putting in the keg, especially when starting with gas and keg setup. It was a lot more confusing than I thought it would be.
With my second keg, I fell lucky. Another eBay purchase, but this bloke reconditioned and put in new seals. It came polished, looking like a new keg -apart from a dent. It wasn't Norman, by the way.
3rd keg, even better luck. I was at a golf course and saw 2 sanke kegs in a skip. They had Heineken in them originally The bar manager told me and my boss to take them off his hands. They may be worth a look if you can get one cheap. Just be aware that they need a special tap and can be a right old pain to take apart. Being short and squat, it fits on the ledge in my keezer a treat.
Id go for cornelius keg at first. Don't need to give yourself too much grief. But maybe consider sanke later on.
I'm no expert, but have been through all the set up last year. Unless you are going to dispense low carbed ale, I'd go for full gas set up. You know exactly how much to dial up the psi, depending on what's in the keg.
Summary - Google all the brew shops and you might get a good deal. I'm not sure what the cheaper Chinese / Italian kegs are like. Maybe someone else could chip in. I know they don't hold the kind of corny pressure.
You can get some really cheap old bar taps. I've got a Guiness fosters and Heineken tap. £10 for each one.
Keep checking eBay and set up a notification. Keep a few on a watch list to see what kind of price they go for. And if you get one off eBay, get a reconditioned one. £50/60 might do you.
It's great having beer on tap, but very tempting to trudge down the garden every night for a crafty one or two.
