Special Delivery: The Tale of Two Kegs

Ring, Ring

Me:  Hola

Zoe: Your keg is on the front door step.

Me: Sweet!

Zoe: It’s in two big boxes.  How many did you order?!

Me: Two boxes?  Uh, just one, I swear.  Are they both from Kegworks?

Zoe: Yes, are sure you didn’t order anything else?

Me: I don’t think so(Rapidly rewinding brain to make sure…).  Open them up and let me know.

Needless to say, I couldn’t wait to get home and figure out what the hell was going on.  You see, I ordered this:

And got this:

Sorry to let the wind out of your sails if based upon my sheer excitement you were expecting bright shiny kegs and to answer Eric’s question (who I also thank for letting me know about the keg’s availability), no they were not drop shipped from an airplane. 

Yes, these are dull, banged up and painted kegs, but they are very, very special kegs as they are also known as casks.  As some readers of this blog can attest, I am a lover of cask ale, often known as real ale across the pond.  We have been looking high and low for casks for our homebrewing and Eric stumbled across used firkins (15 gallons) and pins (7.5 gallons) at www.kegworks.com.

Kegworks came into possession of a bunch of old, used kegs and were selling them.  I jumped at the offer and placed my order…for one.

Although they look beat up, they really aren’t.  Here is a picture I snagged outside of a pub on the Isle of Wight last summer.  They are pretty close to the same condition:

I contacted Kegwork’s customer service rep to figure out what they wanted me to do with the unexpected firkin and much to my surprise (and thrill), they said keep it.  Thank you very much!

I will have no problem using the pin for my next batch.  In the meantime, I have a lot of reading to do in order to make sure I have it properly cleaned and conditioned for use.  With the addition of the firkin, we will also need to have a collaborative brew to fill the thing up.  I envision a summer party tapping like no other!  Thanks Kegworks, you guys are the best!