This is probably an overly-specific question, but no one’s ever let me down here before!
If you have your own “keg” (say a Cornelius “keg” used for soda syrups and by homebrewers, holds 5 gallons), can you just walk into a distributor or brewery and have them fill it?
Yeah, I have my reasons. Mostly because all of the keg rental places here only give you a friggin’ 48 hour limit. I don’t know about you, but it takes me a lot longer than 48 hours to drink two cases of beer! Plus I already have everything I need, including various corny kegs.
I’m in Michigan, where the MLCC may or may not prohibit consumer sales, although I don’t know if they regulate beer. Sigh.
For all this I ask.
http://www.michiganbeerguide.com/issue_content.asp?page=backissue&tid=4&id=79
That may contain your answer. Gotta take demanding, whiny kids to dinner. I didn’t read it very well. Good luck.
'Course, I do have the time to discourse on the word “growler.” It goes back to the late 19th century. While it certainly refers to the container which was used to hold beer at the time(a bucket), the origin of the term is hotly contested and by no means settled in etymological circles.
History just keeps going, and going, and going…
Can’t you just eat one keg return deposit, then you will have a empty one to return w/i the 48 hrs from that point on.
So what’s the proper usage limit for an unpasteurized keg?
My thoughts are that a beer distributer will not have the means to refill your keg. However, if it’s the same type they use you may be able to work an exchange program (also many states prohibit distributers from selling direct to the public). Only other possibility I can think of would be having it filled at a micro-brew house, but that may not be the brand you are looking for (and if it’s not the keg design they use they may not be able to refill it either).
I’m not sure what the standard process is at the brewery for refilling kegs. Do they first go through some type of flushing and sanitizing process? If so, the brewery is not going to assume the liability to forgo that process for your keg either.
Upon further research, kegs most definitely go through a flushing and sanitizing process at the brewery prior to being refilled.
I couldn’t find any specific Michigan statutes, but my best advise would be to find a local retailer (not distributer) that will allow you to exchange kegs instead of having to put down a deposit each time you need a new one.
Here’s your answer, Balthisar.
We’ve filled up cornelius kegs at brewers when they’ve co-operated with our homebrew club to produce a batch for the club. Members showed up with kegs, and paid for what they took, first come, first served. That takes a lot of pre-organization though. Most distributors probably would not accomodate you.
Why not just take a keg of beer and transfer it to the cornelius kegs yourself? Then immediately return the keg for the deposit. The beer will keep, if you have a keg refrigerator, and of course you already have the mechanism to keep it carbonated. The whole process can be as sanitary as you like.
In Kansas, distributors and large breweries (not counting brewpubs) cannot sell directly to the public. That’s why beer is taxed three times (40%).
I don’t know specifically about Michigan.
A bit of a story: In Kansas, they have instituted a bizarre newish law that requires all kegs to have a keg tag. If your keg doesn’t have a keg tag, it can be considered stolen and you can be fined and or arrested. This would be fine, if the tags were durable. However, it was someone’s bright idea to make them out of paper. It is also (afaik) illegal to throw away a keg. This makes no sense.
End story.
It does seem like it would be logical to just fill your own kegs from the rented keg and return it within the limit.
What’s the logic behind a limit, anyway?