kegging equipment help

Commercial kegs are not "owned by the bar " (how would they fill them with beer?). Bars serve brewery-filled kegs.

Your keg is a MicroStar-owned keg, which Brooklyn Brewery leased. Being two years old does not change the ownership of the keg. Return it to the local Brooklyn distributor or contact MicroStar.

 

I'm not a kegger to be able to answer your questions, but I'll suggest that you also post (or do a search for answers) in the Home Bar forum.

 

Assuming the tank and regulator is not busted, they should both be usable. If it is a 20lber, it is a little bigger than most but that won't be an issue if you keep it outside of your kegerator. The couple will not help you for homebrew, but hold onto it in case you want to have something g commercial on tap.

 

You have a primary and a secondary regulator which may or may not work properly, but should be cleaned up and saved. The primary is Micromatic and a good chance it is fine.
Unfortunately the regulator is a male thread, which is not what you want. That's because...

That's Guinness gas, which is a blend of 25% CO2 and 75% Nitrogen, and is abso-fucking-lutely not the correct blend for this beer as it is attached. Assume this bar closed for good reason.
You have a 20# tank (technically not really as G Gas is usually sold by Liters not weight, anyhow) which can be exchanged for a full tank, assuming it's not beyond it's re-cert date. Even then your gas supplier may take mercy or might just be lazy and not check.

You only need the primary regulator for one keg, but a secondary (that is a pass through regulator btw) is nice to have. You have a gas Tee as well. 5/16" ID, remember that. Nice. Good luck getting the Oetiker clamps removed. Oh, you'll see...

You have a Sanke coupler, almost certainly a Sanke D coupler, for domestic kegs. Nice to have but only needed for dispense of commercial brews and no use for a homebrewer.

You have a lot of old beverage tubing. Toss that stuff, don't try to clean it.
You have the "tailpiece" and "beer nut" for the tubing. You have a wall mount as well. Again, for commercial use. None of it is any use to you and probably never will be. It is ordinary in the commercial draft world and absolutely useless junk for everyone else.

You have a sixtel keg (could be a slim quarter but I don't think so. pictures can be a bit deceiving and all) that needs to go back to the brewery, in this case Microstar which is really more of a keg leasing/rental agency. In any event it ain't yours and your possession is something called Theft By Conversion. DO NOT try to scrap that stainless, you will almost certainly get pinched at the scrap yard. Besides ss isn't getting a very good price these days. And it's serious bad karma to fuck with a brewers cooperage. Just don't.

Also, don't bother trying to use a sixtel for homebrew. You can't get the parts for maintenance. It's dangerous. You can't clean it properly. It's not set up for homebrewing. A commercial sanke keg is not something you need or want.

Cheers.
PS
If it were a half barrel, and it has been abandoned, and you contacted the distro, and you contacted the brewery, and you tried and tried but couldn't get through, and you have a letter from Jesus stating such... then you have a nice boil kettle. But that's not he situation.

 

The gas cylinder (which you can presumably exchange for regular CO2) and the regulators would be of value. The rest, not so much.

 

I am not as big an expert as he, but I would imagine even if it doesn't couple with your eventual CO2 tank, you could probably get adapters to make it work.

And yeah, a lot of gas places will just swap out an old tank for a new one, so there's a pretty good chance you could get that tank replaced with a regular CO2 tank rather than the nitro blend.

 

Thank you for the compliment. My partner and I have a healthy side business (side show?) doing draft beer work. It's not all that complex really but like anything there is some nuance.

Yes, you sure can get an adapter. Either way too. N->CO2 or CO2->N. Personally not my favorite solution. One more item to leak. And if you can swap out that G gas tank for a CO2 tank it's not an issue. The tank has value to the gas dealer.
You should check to be sure the regulator is male threaded. It's not a law, but most gas suppliers will put Nitrogen and Nitro mix gas in a female threaded bottle. You might get lucky but probably not. From the looks of the picture it is a male thread regulator.

You will need a CO2 primary regulator. A new Taprite is going to cost about $40 or $50 and it is well worth it.

I know our local Airgas guy wouldn't blink an eye if we brought a current female valve tank and asked for a male threaded CO2 tank in exchange. Keep in mind you'll have to pay for the gas but once you have a tank the refills are not much, and a 20# tank will last an awful long time.

So you got a $80 tank, maybe. And a pass through regulator. Add another $30. Better than a kick in the ass. Oh, and an abused Sanke coupler for when you hook up commercial brew.
Cheers.

 

Take a peek on the neck of the gas tank for the current hydrostatic inspection date. It will be something like 6 _ 11 ("stamped" into the tank): where this first digit is the month and the last digit is the year of last inspection (typically the underscore will be some fine print numbers, shows the inspection station). The hydro is good for five years from this date, the example above is expiring this month. If expired, many exchange shops will tack on the price of hydro testing (anywhere from 30 to 50 bucks). Oh yeah, place a magnet to the tank . . . if it sticks it will have less value than an alum tank (even with a letter from Jesus).

The nitro regulator will likely have some value to a naive nitro-wannabe.

Now that you're going to be a gas-man, shop your local refill/exchange/fire-extinguisher outlets . . . it's likely that prices are all over the board. If you decide you'll be a refill'er (versus an exchange'er) don't be afraid of the hydro date, other than cost it's a simple procedure. I have one tank from the 80's that's pushing beer as fine as you would like.

Check out the Home Bar Forum . . . about all we talk about there are tanks and kegs . . . you know, macho stuff.

 

Maybe not better but certainly more convenient.
My opinion is to bite the bullet and buy a new regulator. They aren't too expensive and the fail rate of regulators is not insignificant. They do go on the fritz for no good reason. If you are the kind that wants to buy a $10 adapter and save on the regulator ok. Or just bite the bullet and get one now. That's my opinion.
I would never consider using an adapter on a commercial job. Never. Seems like a callback waiting to happen.
Cheers.

And btw, that's your gas man right up there so do what he says.