Lawrence Brewers Guild

Hi, i'm new to the forums and I just had a few questions for you veterans out there. I just got done building my first kegerator setup using an old 12ft cu. freezer. I've been searching around town for a place that fills up c02 tanks and have had no luck at all. Also is their a place in town that sells filled cornelius style kegs or that your able to order from. Any suggestions are much appreciated. N1000

welcome.........

Kirk Welding shop over off Haskell, i think E. 28th St. will fill your co2 tank. They exchange actually........Freestate will sell you a 5g corny full of beer.......The Guild is selling 5g cornies for 10 bucks apiece and Freestate will fill up your keg upon order!

Do you mean Free State will fill a keg that I bring in?

philip wrote:Do you mean Free State will fill a keg that I bring in?

actually, call and order your keg on Mondays, bring in a empty corny and pick up a full corny. You can still keep the exchanged corny for your homebrew needs....

For "normal" folks (non-brewers, folks without kegging systems, et al), they charge a deposit and send you on your way with one of their kegs, tap, & CO2 kits. They prefer to do it that way for ordinary folks. The deposit is like $100 bucks, if memory serves. If you have a kegging system, you can just get the keg full of beer, but there's still a deposit on the keg. But that's for normal folks...

Membership has it's privileges.

The brewers down at Free State are very cool guys.

Assuming you ask someone who's been there a while and knows the deal (ideally one of the brewing/managerial staff), they'd probably be willing to do a keg exchange with you -- assuming your kegs are in good shape (good seals, not all beat/marked up, etc). You bring in a quality, empty keg and walk out with one of theirs to keep full of Free State beer. They're not cheap though -- usually 35-45 dollars per keg, depending on the beer (again, if memory serves). Last time I did that was for St. Patrick's Day this year. And don't worry, their kegs are as nice as yours (unless they're brand new or something).

Option three, which I can't confirm they even do, would be to bring in a sanitized keg and have them fill it for you right there, as if it were a growler -- the only trick there would be coming in at a time when the staff isn't getting slammed so that someone will be able to run in the back and fill your keg. I'd call in advance on this, because I've never done it and don't know what times would be best, etc. In fact, I'm not even sure they DO this at all -- this is just theory. I'd be sure to come in while someone from the brewing staff is there, and not busy. They might also want you to come to the back door to do this (located in the alley).

Hope this helps!
Matt

I would be very surprised if they would let me, or anyone, bring in their own keg to be filled. That would present a possible contamination issue for them. I know 75th Street in KC will not allow it for this very reason.

Does anyone know if Free State has any Sankey kegs? I use Sankey kegs for all my homebrew so my tap system is configured that way. Not a big deal if they don't, I'll just reconfigure one line to ball or pin lock, whatever they use.

I don't see the difference between a swapped keg and them filling your personal keg...where's the contamination risk? Nothing is intering the system only leaving and that's after they sanitize the heck out of the keg. Sounds like an excuse to me.
I think someone brought up the quality of keg needing to be in good shape if you are going to swap one out without a deposit. I looked at it this way when I took in a keg...am I taking a keg thay I would want to get back? If not then it would be a good way for them to eventually stop letting keg swaps happen.

Mostly they just dont have time to fill a keg while you wait. So just call on Mon. and get a day scheduled that they can have a keg ready for a swap. If you trade a workable keg, that is your deposit. Just pay for the beer. Then both parties still have kegs to put back into circulation until the next time you want a Freestate keg.

Phillip --

To answer your question, their five gallon kegs are all ball-lock.

Their 15 gallon kegs are probably sankey though... I'm not certain. But that would be an entirely different discussion when it comes to exchanges vs. deposits, etc. I highly doubt they'd do exchanges on them, and they definitely won't fill your keg on site.

Matt

philip wrote: Does anyone know if Free State has any Sankey kegs? I use Sankey kegs for all my homebrew so my tap system is configured that way. Not a big deal if they don't, I'll just reconfigure one line to ball or pin lock, whatever they use.

No, they use Hoff-Stevens.......and ball locks as Matt mentioned.

I have taken a couple ball locks into Freestate, no problem. Just call them up on Monday, tell them you want to get beer and you have a ball lock corny to exchange.

Clint turned me on to this. It's so much easier.

I agree with others, don't drop off a keg you wouldn't want back. It not fair to Freestate, it drives prices up to refurb them (if they can be refurbed), and if it becomes a pain the arse they will stop doing it.

Which means we'd have to buy hoff-stevens taps for our keg fridges.

Blind Tiger will also do the same. Again, you need to make arrangements first. Though I have gone in during the day when John Dean is around, given him the keg and had lunch there. It was ready by the time the check was ready. Exception, not the rule.

75th Street will not take cornies in exchange.

Thankyou all for the replies! Who do we get in touch with about buying the corny kegs off of the guild? I would like to buy atleast 2 of them? Also my C02 tank is a new one and never filled. So I dont quite want to exchange it yet. Does anyone know of a place in town that will fill up a 10lb tank at a reasonable price. Thanks all your knowledge of kegging is saving me a ton of time and $$.

N1000

Kirk Welding in Lenexa will refill it. I was just there yesterday with my nice shiny 20 pound tank and they refilled it. I went in at noontime. They tend not to be too busy at that time.

N1000 wrote:Thankyou all for the replies! Who do we get in touch with about buying the corny kegs off of the guild? I would like to buy atleast 2 of them? Also my C02 tank is a new one and never filled. So I dont quite want to exchange it yet. Does anyone know of a place in town that will fill up a 10lb tank at a reasonable price. Thanks all your knowledge of kegging is saving me a ton of time and $$.

N1000

Get ahold of Sean (Cyburai on the forum) Hes the LBG Pres. and has the kegs at his place........

As far as co2 refills, the reason i didnt buy a nice shiney one was because Kirk in Lawrence doesnt fill on site and i didnt want to drive to KC. But, a shiney tank can most the time be had on an exchange most the time. Might check that out before driving to KC.

Yeah, I am the one to talk to about kegs.

Also; if you really want to have your tank filled and tank returned to you (same tank, instead of exchange), I can handle it. I work about 6 blocks from the Kirk Welding in KCMO.

Just give me a heads up. I can drop it off in the morning and pick it up in the afternoon.