Pin lock to ball lock conversion

Just bought four pin-locks.  Looking for opinions as I can’t decide.

Is it worth converting the posts?  Cornykeg.com has conversion kits for like $11.

Otherwise, I just buy a couple disconnects and go to town.  Those will run me under $20 all in.  So half price, or thereabouts, vs. the conversion.

PRVs are for a different day.

Personally, I would only bother with the conversion if you have other kegs that are ball-lock and want them to all be the same, or have some height limitations that would be better with the ball-lock.

One option we recommend at the shop is to get liquid and gas couplers with removable flares on them so you can connect the liquid and gas line to either ball-lock or pin lock kegs as needed.

I wouldn’t bother with the conversion.  It takes me literally 5 seconds to swap out the connector (assuming you’r using threaded connectors vs barbed ones).  I guess I do sometimes misplace the connectors and have to hunt them down which might take another 5 mins…

Weird.  I thought I posted back, but it didn’t appear.

I’ve got a bunch of ball lock kegs, but all my fittings are flare fittings.  So I could go either way.

The $10 conversion kit makes it tempting (as opposed to a $25 kit) but I think I’ll just get the pin lock disconnects.

do that and if a friend wants to bring a pin lock keg over to share you’re all set.

I honestly dont understand the obsession with converting to ball locks.  I like my pin locks, i like my ball locks, why would i want to spend more money to make them all the same.  The other issues is keg makes can have different threads, so those conversion kits may not all be the same.

Which is why Mike Dixon made this excellent reference…http://www.ipass.net/mpdixon/KegThreadSizes.htm .  There’s a wealth of other info there, too.

You’re assuming I have friends…

Bumper-Sticker-I-Used-to-Be-Cool.jpg

The one that I have that was converted has had leaks. I think I have it under control now, but it has been a bother.

I would just get some threaded connectors and swivel nuts today.

Is there much difference in height and width of ball vs pin?  I’ve got a bunch of ball lock but I need several more kegs and pin lock are about 1/3 of the price of new ball locks.  I can’t find used ball locks anywhere.  As has been mentioned, switching adapters isn’t that big a deal. I’d probably just switch two and leave three of my taps as ball locks and try to remember to use both.

As of today, I have all my kegs full and need 3 for kolsch, 2 for wit, 2 for bitter, 2 for irish red and 1 for saison that are all ready to go.  Buying bigger fermenters may have been a mistake…

Pin lock is shorter and wider.

Now that I have these, I think I actually kind of like the pin lock connection better.

Perhaps a dumb question, but do I need to buy a goofy slotted deep well socket to remove the posts?

No I just use a crescent wrench… it’s kind of a pain though… or you could get a regular socket and put it to fit… I just deal with the wrench… It only adds like 2 minutes onto the take apart procedure lol.

EDIT: I should say the only bad thing about the crescent wrench is you have to be careful and avoid the posts so you don’t bend them.  It’s what makes it slightly time consuming… avoiding the posts while avoiding the keg handles as well…

Yea.  I was thinking I should see if I have a deep well and just cut it with a dremel.  Or maybe buy one pre-cut.

I’m thinking about getting more of these 3-gallon jobs.  Love the size.

I agree I really like those 3 gallon pin lock kegs Adventures has right now.  I have a couple myself… Though I think I’m good at 2 because I don’t often brew small batches… occasionally I do brew an 8 gallon batch though which I use one of these for the ‘overflow’

I’ve been splitting batches and playing around with oak, bourbon, dry hops, whatever.

I have keep up with the Joe nses disorder. Now I’m going to have to convert all my ball locks to pins?

Skip the pins and go straight to the firkins.