Ball vs. pin

What’s the difference in ball lock vs. Pin lock? Any major advantages of one over the other? Want to start kegging but need some advice on what I should get to get started.
Thanks

Not sure if one is better than the other. Seems like ball lock is the more common so that’s the way I went. I think the pin lock is a little taller which in my case would make it harder to release in my keggerator because of head room.

I was in a beer store last weekend (Bearding Bottling Co) Blairsville, GA and all of their corney kegs from the local micro breweries were ball lock. I have pin and can’t see an advantage from one to the other, unless you are buying kegs from a local brewery, then ball lock would seem to be a better choice.

[quote=“Brews-R-us”]Not sure if one is better than the other. Seems like ball lock is the more common so that’s the way I went. I think the pin lock is a little taller which in my case would make it harder to release in my keggerator because of head room.[/quote]The pin lock is shorter and a half inch bigger in diameter.

Use a swivel nut at the end of your beer lines (which you should anyway) and your only 5 seconds away from being able to switch between ball lock, pin lock, and commercial taps.

[quote=“Loopie Beer”]Use a swivel nut at the end of your beer lines (which you should anyway) and your only 5 seconds away from being able to switch between ball lock, pin lock, and commercial taps.[/quote]I don’t understand this. Please explain or provide a link. Thanks.

Sorry Greg, here is what I was referring to:

Here is the swivel nut for the liquid line:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/barbed-swivel-nut-k123

Here is the swivel nut for the gas line:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/barbed-swivel-nut-k163

They screw onto your quick disconnects here:
Ball: http://www.northernbrewer.com/ball-disc-1-4-mfl-liq
and

http://www.northernbrewer.com/ball-disc-1-4-mfl-gas

Pin: http://www.northernbrewer.com/pin-disc-1-4-mfl-liq
And

http://www.northernbrewer.com/pin-disc-1-4-mfl-gas

For commercial taps all you need is two of these:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/tail-piece-1-4-mfl

Quick and easy to switch between all of these.

[quote=“Loopie Beer”]Sorry Greg, here is what I was referring to:

Here is the swivel nut for the liquid line:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/barbed-swivel-nut-k123

Here is the swivel nut for the gas line:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/barbed-swivel-nut-k163

They screw onto your quick disconnects here:
Ball: http://www.northernbrewer.com/ball-disc-1-4-mfl-liq
and

http://www.northernbrewer.com/ball-disc-1-4-mfl-gas

Pin: http://www.northernbrewer.com/pin-disc-1-4-mfl-liq
And

http://www.northernbrewer.com/pin-disc-1-4-mfl-gas

For commercial taps all you need is two of these:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/tail-piece-1-4-mfl

Quick and easy to switch between all of these.[/quote]Thanks Josh for putting all that together. This is brilliant! I never thought to do such a thing and I went the expensive route with a conversion kit to adapt a Sanke to ball lock. Thanks for your efforts on this. :cheers:

No prob Greg. Hopefully it will help others. I also bought one of these to gain extra clearance in my keezer:

http://www.amazon.com/Keg-Coupler-Elbow ... B000WJ2ROG

If you look around you can find them a little cheaper.