Keg bulk buy - anyone interested?

[Tilt]

This Trade Me seller in ChCh apparently has a couple of hundred NZ made 20L ball lock cornies to sell.  He's doing cheaper prices for bulk lots ($75 per keg for a lot of 12). 

Is anyone in Auckland interested in banding together to do a bulk buy?

[mattd2]

I'll put my name down as a possible for 2 or 3. Look pretty good, I assume that relief valve is screwed into the top and not permanent (well I would hope so anyway).

The look like 1/6th kegs with the tops modified.

[Kelly Milligan]

I quite like the look of these, might be keen on 2 as well. Sounds like it's possible to get new seals and stuff from somewhere in NZ too.

[Liam Callaghan]

Worth digging deep for that price mate, awesome to have the capacity to make more and leave it to age.  Especially if you get a long weekend and time to knock out a mass of beer in one go.  The kids wont mind going without presents next xmas once they see the smile on your face!

You can never have too many kegs.

[TBone]

I'd be interested... but have a couple of questions. 

Would the parts in these be interchangeable with corny kegs... I'm thinking of having to maybe replace some of the gasket parts like orings and gaskets and such in the future. It would be a pain if you needed specialized parts...

I'd be in for 4 if everything works out.... let me know!

[Pilgrim]

These are Firestone kegs. The lid O-rings are the same a corny kegs so no problems there. The posts are completely different with the Corny Kegs having male on the keg and female on the post, whereas Firestones have female on the keg and male on the posts. There are plenty of sites on the web that sell replacement posts and popet valves. Firestone kegs are approximately 1 litre bigger than Cornelious kegs. I have five of each. Steve Plowman still has a lot of Corny kegs for sale at Hallertau and I bought eight in November for my son at $75 each, so make your choice. Personally I prefer Corny kegs as I've never had any problems with the posts sealing but I've had quite a few problems with the Firestone posts leaking. The Corny keg popet valves fall out when you remove the post and so are easy to clean whereas the popets on my Firestones are held in place by a circlip and have to be removed with a pair of needle nose pliers. A bit more work. You can increase the capacity of either if you want to by shortening the gas dip tube. I've done this on all of my kegs.

[TBone]

Thanks for that Pilgrim! 

I'm thinking I might go the Corny keg route... considering I can get them here in Auckland. 

Cheers!

T

[Tilt]

Thanks Pilgrim - this is great specific info. 

I'm glad you chipped in because, based on what you're saying, these might present a few inconveniences - and at the very least some graft and cost to make them work properly and convert them over to being compatible with Cornies.  

With your mix of types - do you think theres any practical difference having the whole keg stainless (handles/collar included) over the plastic/ rubber end caps on Cornies?

In the end - if we can take a bulk order to Steve and get the same price minus shipping costs then I know where I'd rather spend my $$.

So....anyone interested in a bulk buy from Hallertau?

[TBone]

Tilt... I'm in! 

[Kelly Milligan]

Even more interested in corny's at $75  a pop! count me in for 2-3 :)

[Pilgrim]

"With your mix of types - do you think theres any practical difference having the whole keg stainless (handles/collar included) over the plastic/ rubber end caps on Cornies?"

Not really, the Firestones are a little taller but unless you're really cramped for space that shouldn'r make any real difference. The Corny lid hole is a little easier to get an arm down for cleaning.

[Richard Jack]

I'd probably be keen for 1 more.

[Kelly Milligan]

I need to withdraw my interest in this for now sorry mate. Happy kegging!