commercial beer kegs

[andysmok]

When running last night I stumbled across about 12 commercial beer kegs which had been fly tipped in a ditch not far from my house. I am wondering if it is worth picking up a couple of them for possible boiler conversion or maybe storing my beer in instead of using a corny. Does anyone use these kegs for anything practical in homebrewing ? How easy would it be to drill a hole through one and fix a tap and heater elements, cutting the tops off with an angle grinder would be straight forward.

[WishboneBrewery]

technically they are the property of the brewery, http://www.kegwatch.co.uk should be contacted so they can be returned with their owners.
Especially if they are less-multinational Brewers

[andysmok]

Carling, Stella,fosters. Hmmmm, I see it as helping the local council dispose of fly tipping waste! It would be rude not to take a couple........!

[jonnyt]

Daft that they have been tipped as they can fetch £80 each used...

Sounds like a theft of beer to me and getting rid of the evidence, so taking a couple may put you in the picture for the original theft as well.

[ivanmalley]

Also be aware that they usually have RFID tracker tags on them.

[jaff]

Yes beware - with those radio tags the rozzers can nab you from up to 3 metres away!

Those sound like the dodgiest kegs known to humanity. Well, known to Liverpool anyway.

[Kev888]

Seems odd to have tipped them if they were legit.. stainless or aluminium is worth a penny or two, even if they were no longer any good for beer...

But morals aside, the stainless ones are thick, tough and will last a lifetime - if got legitimately you could do a lot worse for boilers and wotnot. Stainless is challenging to work with - it 'work hardens' very easily, which means the moment your drill starts to go blunt or rub the metal instead of cut it becomes harder and you're in a rapid downward spiral. You can drill kegs with HSS bits if you're good and if its not already hardened in manufacture, but TCT drills and TCT hole-saws stay sharp much longer under provocation so these help a lot. The Q-max cutters you see are very good but may be over-stretched by the thickness of the kegs - I've used them on thicker stainless like kegs, and they can work but its out of spec and the cutters can easily be damaged.

The aluminium ones are much easier to work with, but they have a resin/plastic coating inside which stops the beer eating them over time; if this was scratched/damaged some time ago the kegs may have been somewhat corroded inside. If they're not already damaged though, for boilers or wotnot its not really an issue as the PH and contact times are different - there was a scare over ali and health a while ago but I don't give it much cop myself - especially if you don't clean off the surface layer. There 'may' soon be a new scare about the plastic coating on tins (and kegs), as more and more research is being done into that; I've no idea if that'll be any more real or not, though I suspect the kegs would be the least of worries if its comes out badly..

Cheers
kev

[boingy]

They'll have been nicked from a pub yard and dumped when they proved to be harder to sell than expected.

[ivanmalley]

Also be aware if you do "Acquire" them and decide to drill them, that they may still be pressured - even if there is no beer left in.

You will know for sure when your drill breaks through........

[andysmok]

Should I or Shouldn't I???

2 would look great side by side next to my 60L Thermos.......!

Radio tags look to be on the top which would be discarded if I decied to.........!

I'm pretty sure the local police would find it hard to show intrest in a spot of salvage.......!!

[Nofolkandchance]

Its a no brainer man!

[Steve1262]

There's no real reason why casks or kegs need to be discarded except for criminal reasons.
Even if a brewery has gone bust there is usually a legit market for used casks with new start breweries.
Personally I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole unless to inform the police and get their blessing to take them into safe keeping and find out the owning brewery by the colour bands.
You often see them for sale on e-bay but the vendors leave themselves wide open to prosecution by the traceability of them.
Anyone that steals them would have to cut them up, even chip them up to make unrecognisable metal to sell to a scrappers.


This is on Kegwatch's site

Press Release
13th March 2012

KEG WATCH
Four-year Probe to Smash Metal Theft Gang

A lengthy trial, following an investigation codenamed "Operation Arnhem" was concluded at Wolverhampton Crown Court in late February 2012 with seven men convicted of a variety of serious criminal offences connected with theft and handling of stolen keg and cask containers.

Some of those convictions resulted in long prison sentences.

This was a protracted and meticulous investigation over some four years to bring to a successful conclusion. Keg Watch investigators working with West Midlands Police worked extremely hard to ensure this case was thoroughly and professionally investigated and presented in the criminal courts. The trial judge commended the police team. There is no doubt that this case sends a serious and powerful message to anyone contemplating taking and disposing of the brewers kegs and casks.

ENDS

Editor’s Note

Further information can be found by contacting Keg Watch Limited either by telephoning 0808 100 1945 or by visiting the web site http://www.kegwatch.co.uk.

[jaff]

I've heard of a few brewers getting hold of kegs and even seen one or two. The usual story is that breweries only pick up empties when they are dropping off more beer, so kegs hang around if the pub closes or the golf club changes supplier. Clearly not what happened with these ones.

I've always thought kegwatch was aimed at policing the scrap merchants and they seem to have done a pretty good job of removing the grey market.

[Kev888]

Yes they do seem pretty vigilant - I believe they may have joined forums such as/including this and monitor ebay and so on too. Though whilst I once thought they were a charitable organisation, I read somewhere that they can hold the stolen kegs until the brewery pays up - not sure if thats actually true or what the legal basis is for it though, it could just be someone bad-mouthing them.

Cheers
Kev

[WishboneBrewery]

There is definitely a Ransom to pay which general opinion seems to feel like Blackmail to the owning breweries.

Its like this company goes round hoovering up all "Seemingly Unwanted" casks that they were never asked nor autherised to do so, they they charge to have the repatriated!

You see some Breweries adding a printed SIBA sticker to their casks which tells anyone picking them up that they should only be collected by their owning brewery.
Its obviously a sore point with SIBA's members.