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I have a 15.5 gallon keg that has "Bestco Beatrice Nebraska" stamped on the side and on the top it says "JOS Schlitz Brewing Co. Tampa Florida 6-66" Anyone have any idea how to determine if this keg is Stainless or aluminum?? I tried a magnet but it didnt stick, however it didnt stick to my stainless pans either..Thx for any input.

Put the point of a Barlow to it. If it picks up a curl its aluminum, if not ss.

have you tried a knife point to scratch it .. if Aluim it will scratch rather easily .. sorry blue looks like we posted at the same time

A knife point will scratch it but no easier than it will scratch my stainless pans..You cant really cut shavings off like soft aluminum.I will try to post some pics in a few.

Here are some pics..Someone painted it black and it's flaking off..

Top



Side



Bottom

New_moon.. No harm..Barlow good for checking for bondo too.

Tryme: Hard to tell from pics. Some say Aluminum doesn't carry past column, you decide that.
Magnet ain't no good on aluminum or certain grades of SS. Is it lighter or heaver that you expected when you picked it up?

It doesn't scratch all that easy..As for the scratches already on it this thing has been around and been abused...I have thrown it around my garage on the concrete and everything else for 4 yrs..Its pretty heavy (quite a bit heavier than I thought) so even if it turns out to be aluminum it wont hurt my feelings I will make decent $$ scraping it lol....

Old Schlitz kegs are one of the ones where you can run into AL kegs (Hams and old coors also made some AL kegs).

However, that one "looks" to be stainless to me. At least the way that bottom rim scratched. Those look like stainless scratches, which are usually a large majority of shallow scratches. AL will have some very deep cuts and gouges from a keg that beaten up.

put small drop of sodium hydroxide solution on it will react with
aluminium not with ss

Caution Makes -- hydrogen----Causes BURNS

The heaviness, and the sheen of the metal means it is almost certainly stainless.

the weight should give a clue.

s/s and some bung holes to boot. thats cool in its self.. what could an idea man do with a drum like that. ...on its side boiler more room to flash off surface area..perhaps a small continueous unit. its a find for sure

Seems pint did an on the side boiler if im not mistaken with a keg that looked very similar if im not mistaken ..

Old_Blue wrote:Some say Aluminum doesn't carry past column, you decide that.

I think that's really the only issue worth considering in this case.
And how could it get carried over in the distillate? Some kind of volatile aluminum compound that boils as low as EtOH?
Doesn't seem likely...

hit it with a hammer
bong = al
bing =ss

put a grinder to its rim

better watch for pressure though if you start messing with it!!
liable to get a black eye or wet

hint that patch on side "were bung is " is filled with ? remove patch?
then you wold have flat place to put coll um

Dnderhead wrote:hint that patch on side "were bung is " is filled with ? remove patch?
then you wold have flat place to put coll um

The flat spot on the side just has a wooden cork in it which would be easy to remove.

yes it is wood cork but if alter as drill or Wald on you mite have problems
the ones i have two layers of ss with something between

inspeedway wrote:hit it with a hammer
bong = al
bing =ss

put a grinder to its rim

blat = yer thumb

big worm wrote:

inspeedway wrote:hit it with a hammer
bong = al
bing =ss

put a grinder to its rim

blat = yer thumb

Scratch that-

@#$%=yer thumb

I know this thread is 10 years old, but an interesting one at that. I also have an identical keg with identical date. If you still have that keg, and the spear is still in it, I would ask to procure it.

This is a zombie tread, the OP has not been with us for a decade...when you see the "last visited" of the OP you'll see it's blank, meaning he was removed from HD forums for breaking the rules.