Kegs that is.
I currently have a small set up, and need more corny kegs. I just bought my third, when I was shopping for that one, one vendor offered me four as opposed to the two I was asking for, but I thought that was overkill.
As a newish brewer, I don’t want to find myself with a dozen kegs that I have lost interest in filling- I doubt I’ll ever lose interest in emptying them. 
So just wondering what an average brewer has on hand?
Better to have them and not need them…
:cheers:
Usually double the amount of taps you have, but given the fact that most soda taps use bags in boxes now, get what you need before they’re all gone.
I only have one tap at the moment, which is a little inconvenient.
I’m envisioning a bunch of empty kegs filling up the garage and an angry wife.
How many kegs are in your cellar?
Btw, I think I can pack three kegs in my little fridge, so I’m guessing four kegs is the magic number?
You can have to many at one time I had a 100 kegs then cut that in half to 50 five gallon and 16 smaller ones. Now I have 9 five gallon 3 two and a half gallon and 2 three gallon kegs and it still may have to many.
But since they are becoming harder to find and more expensive I’ll just hang on to them.
[quote=“chuck”]You can have to many at one time I had a 100 kegs then cut that in half to 50 five gallon and 16 smaller ones. Now I have 9 five gallon 3 two and a half gallon and 2 three gallon kegs and it still may have to many.
But since they are becoming harder to find and more expensive I’ll just hang on to them.[/quote]
WHAT??? Thats crazy! :shock:
+1 Twice as many kegs as taps works well, but its nice to have spares. And you need some smaller kegs for your portable setup.
I have six on tap and two on reserve… but that’s because I have an extra five-pound CO2 tank with a wye adapter so I can keep them carbonated for when I fry a keg in the kegerator. I also couldn’t fit any more kegs in my extra fridge, so that’s part of it.
This is good advice. New ones are still being made but they are rather pricey and by some accounts, not as good as the older ones. The supply of good condition used ones at decent prices will eventually dry up.
I was kind of lucky…the first time I had my co2 tank filled (23 years ago), the place that filled it gave me six or seven ball lock cornies, gratis. They said “…you want these? You may as well take them, the owner (Pepsi/7-Up) has abandoned them…”
Now they sell them for $45.
I actually bought and sold about 900 kegs at first I payed $4.50 to $5.00 for them the last time I bought any they had gone up to $12-$14 those were the good old days.
I did however buy about 40 kegs for $10 ea last fall but the lids had been kept off and they were stored like firewood outdoors.
The birds sure loved to build nest in them it took me forever to clean them up.
Now you know why I had so many kegs.
Tap handles anyone that’s what I collect now I have 146 and counting 24 of which are Leine’s canoes 10 small and 14 large.
Too many is not enough.
I just got in on a bulk deal where they were $25 apiece. I bought 10.
I use them for fermenting, cider, mead, etc.
I have 14 or 15 five gallon ones and a 2.3 and a 3 gallon. I had them all full at one time as I was brewing like crazy in anticipation of moving and not being able to brew for several months.
It seems like the right number, but the guy I got most of them from has a few more to send my way.
I have a 2 tap kegerator and 4 kegs. 2 flowing and 2 backup. I started with 3 kegs but soon realized a 4th was needed. Twice as many as the number of taps you have sounds like a reasonable answer to your question. I second it.
I’d agree that 2x the number of taps is a good place to start but I find it is also highly dependent on how long a your tapped kegs tend to last. I ended up with 3x the kegs I do taps since during the summer when we’re doing a bit more entertaining kegs go far faster and I wanted a bit more reserve to account for that. Also having more kegs helps me make sure beers have plenty of time to condition before I need to put them on tap. It also allows me to brew in spurts when I’ve got time and not have to worry about brewing right away when a keg empties.
Another thing more kegs was nice for is being able to alternate different beers even though I’ll brew 10 gallon batches at times. For what ever reason I don’t like having the same beer on tap twice in a row.
I’m guessing most people find the right number of kegs to have by just seeing what works for them. I just kept buying more kegs until I could comfortably brew at the pace I wanted yet kept up a comfortable pipeline of beer.
Right now I utilize four and I think that is a manageable number but ideally I would like six…or six hundred…
I have 14 5 gal kegs. I have a 4 tap bar. They are rarely all full. I keep 4 on tap, 5-6 filled in the storage cabinet and have a couple clean ready to go and a couple empty waiting to be cleaned at any given time.
Paul
nothing wrong with beer sitting around in kegs, just like a giant bottle, or carboy
2x the number of taps you have works well for me 6 kegs three taps. when the brewery is running at the pace i like to keep i am pulling and refilling kegs as soon as i empty them. so a few more would be nice to take the pressure off of refilling them as soon as they empty. plus they are nice to age big beers or lager in. i need to get a few more before they are all gone.
I just picked up for used 5 gal cornys from work for free! My boss has a hook up with the Pepsi guy.
