Hey all, thinking of legging for the first time. My kegerator has the normal commercial fittings, not the corny keg. Is it easier to change the fittings or just use an empty commercial keg. Doesn’t look too difficult to disassemble and sanitize the keg. Trying to weigh the pros and cons.
I would factor ease of cleaning into the equation…shanked sixtels may prove a bit more difficult to get certainty in cleaning.
Yup, and disassembly of the keg to get the spear out is a PITA if you don’t have the right compression tool to allow you to get the spring clip (a.k.a. the jesus clip) that holds the spear in free.
You don’t have to disassemble the whole sanky keg though. You just need to build a recirculatiing CIP cleaner (which can be done easily with a submersible pump and extra tap). Just make sure you are buying your sanky kegs and not stealing them via a keg deposit (which is no where near how much the keg actually costs.)
The cost to buy new sanke kegs and the cost to buy used corny kegs isn’t so far apart that corny kegs are a clear answer. Corny kegs are a lot cheaper than they were a few years ago at the height of homebrewing but sanke kegs have come down a lot and it is a lot easier to buy sixtels and smaller on the homebrew market. Sanke kegs are still a little more expensive (but still cheaper than new ball lock corny kegs) but some with the benefit that you can always mix in commercial kegs on the same connection and if you want to take your kegs out out of the house most people with kegerators or even hand pumps can hook up to your keg no problem. If your budget is a little tighter and/or you do not ever buy commercial kegs then buying used ball lock kegs is probably the better option.