converted Hoff stevens kegs disadvantages

[frigatebay]

I'm looking at buying a bunch of converted Hoff Stevens kegs. Presently I use only straight side sankeys but cant afford to buy more even at used prices. What should I be concerned about with converted hoff stevens kegs? also do you think customers would have and issue with me using both types of kegs? both of course would have sankey valves.


K
LBC

[Moonlight]

Firstly, they clean on different machines. They fill by different procedures. If you try to fill converts through the valve, you will get nasty high airs.

[burlybeer]

They also take up more space in a cooler (which I would think your customers would be most concerned about) and are generally more difficult to move around, store, stack. I would prefer not using them if I were a distributing brewery.

[schlosser]

Kiernan,

Don't do it! Bars and restaurants HATE them. They don't stack well, they are a pain to move and they take up more room. Not to mention that you need a different style of keg washer. Having both in a particular market would be a nightmare (you may be able to get away with it if you keep them in separate markets, but then you have inventory issues).

I have gotten the question more than once from a bartender / manager about whether we use them and they are always greatly relieved when I tell them that they are straight sided sankeys. And more than once I have been told by Bartenders that they never recommend any product in that style of keg. Why? Because the more they sell the more they have to go and handle those kegs.

Cheers,

Dave

[Tash]

There are different conversions out there. Some have a stainless dip tube others plastic. You have to wash on a hoff stevens keg washer. About the only thing they have going for them is that they are old timey.

As the other posters have stated they are hard to handle and don't play well with others.

You can buy refurb Sankeys from Tosca in Green Bay, WI for under $90 and they are good as new.

Tash

[youngbuckbrewer]

We are a brewery with light distribution and have about a 50/50 blend between Converted and Straight Sided. We have had no problems with them. The only thing on converts is pulling the bung everytime has to be done. We clean them on a IDD and them drain the sanitizer out the bund hole at the end of the cycle and replace it fresh before purge and fill, If I had the money I would definitely buy all brand new SS Sankes, but it just depends on everyone's startup budgets.Besides, if an account complains I explain to them I will switch them out but explain to them that it is not the keg but the quality of the product that is inside!!

Michael Uhrich
Carter's Brewing
Billings, Montana