In an effort to help a local restaurant and procure some excellent beer for my basement bar during the apocalypse, I'm considering purchasing a previously tapped sixtel of BCBS. I would assume the restaurant has treated it with the respect that it deserves - so with that said, is this a wise move? I probably wouldn't want/need to tap it myself right away, and given it's a stout would probably want to sit on it for a while. Would it be expected to last if dormant for a couple months, or not because it's already been tapped?
If you have the ability to keep it cold and you believe it was not abused at the restaurant the keg should be the same as if it were new, excepting that it is older. A keg can be tapped and untapped and it makes not difference to the beer. BCBS is 14.7% ABV and can take a lot of abuse, so it is a bit different than a typical keg but that does not mean room temp storage. And I would never assume the keg was treated with respect, because a lot of places are really truly clueless. Who is responsible for the deposit? Be sure the restaurant is licensed to sell you a keg. State and Local law varies but generally restaurant establishments buy from wholesalers and are not typically licensed to sell kegs to customers. So check to see if they are licensed or just throw caution to the wind. How full is this previously tapped keg? It might not be a deal at all. Cheers
Still working on the details - but the dude I spoke to on the phone thought only ~five eight ounce pours had gone out (it's a family restaurant, so probably not a lot of folks looking to pay $12 for eight ounces of a 15% stout). He also told me that they paid $240 for the keg from the distributor. So still working out the details - hoping they'd take $200 for it all things considered, but I have an empty sixtel I could throw in if I needed to. All that said, the intention of my post was to determine the viability of doing this. I do have space in my kegerator that I could fit it in there while not tapped, so would be keeping it around 42 degrees. Sounds like it could work out nicely for everyone - thanks for the feedback!
You can tap and untap a keg without issues. As long as they've kept the keg refrigerated, and as long as you do the same, it'll last. Enjoy that BCBS, and props for helping out that restaurant.
