TRIPLEMSU

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Just got my hands on 3 sankes...$15 total 5 gallon...will using these as homebrew kegs be the death of me??? I read plenty about it and it seems it's possible especially after I few trial runs...looking forward to kegging Sanke only!!!

Nohup

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They'll work fine. I bought one of the kegman resealing kits, and then just bought the metal rings from McMaster once I was sure they were the same thing.
I bought the rubber o-rings too, but haven't used them yet (Still using the rings that came with the kegs).

One suggestion, if you're going to be using the internal snap-rings, like the kegman kit uses. Get the biggest, heavy-duty snap-ring pliers you can. The little dinky ones you see at the big-box stores are too small for a 2-inch ring. Even the ones that show up on amazon.com are too small.
I had to go to a real hardware store (sears hardware) and buy one that would work.

It's a bit of a challenge to get that ring to seat. You have to push down on the spear a bit. And even then you will usually have to "pinch" around the opening with a needle-noses pliers to get the ring to fully expand out.

If that's not enough. Every sanke tap is different. And a lot of the time, the tap will scrape against the "ears" of the rings when you're tapping. So you have to be a little careful when you're tapping/untapping the keg. Just go slow, and watch what you're doing, you'll be fine.

Oh, and depending on your faucets, you might want to invest in a shut-off valve. I use one when I'm force-carbing at 30PSI. I don't trust my faucets at that pressure, and there's no way with a sanke to shut off the liquid and leave the gas on. Unlike a corny, when you can just disconnect the liquid.

I hope this litany of gotchas doesn't dissuade you from going with the sankes. I love them. They never EVER leak. They're about the same difficulty to clean as a corny, and all the parts are really interchangeable.

Go Sanke and never look back.

pcollins

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Not meaning to hijack the thread but this paragraph brought to mind something that I do often. You can actually just put a dime between the gasket and the tail piece on the beer out line and reconnect. That will do a fine job of sealing up so you can gas without having to worry about your taps exploding.

Nohup

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Very smart idea.
That's a lot cheaper than a $22 shutoff valve..

I'll try that next time I have something to carb up.

pcollins

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I'm going to be trying it tonight myself. I have a one tap set up at home but just got a second coupling head. I'm going to split off the gas line and carb a second keg with the beer line out capped. I can leave the gas on serving pressure and check in in a week.

Huzzah!

TRIPLEMSU

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Nohup i get so confused with all the different things you said above...i for sure want to do sanke kegging only especially cuz i can take my keg extra co2 tank with me to family parties/tailgates/etc...it will woro out but until then i need to learn the sanke the correct way.

i got the kegman kit...so all i need is sanp-ring pliers (heavy duty) correct???

as for rubber o ring...what is that? is that the rubber circle that is between the head of the stem and the spear that goes into the keg??? not quiet sure what that is

i hope the kegman takes a few times to get it down correctly and then after that it will be cake...thats the goal.

i got 5 total sanke kegs from brewer and i am very excited to figure out how to assemble the sanke...disassembly is very easy.

Nohup

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TrippleMSU,

Yes, if you have that kit, you only need a snap ring pliers, And maybe a needle-nose or normal pliers just in case the snap ring needs a little help seating down in the groove.

You're correct about the o-ring. It's that little ring of silicon/rubber that wraps around the spear, and seals it up against the body of the keg. The kegman kit comes with a "replacement" o-ring, that is ever-so-slightly thinner, which makes the snap ring ever-so-slightly easier to install.
I haven't replaced the o-rings on the kegs yet, because they seem to be in very good shape, and I can still get the snap-ring in. So I keep the kegman o-rings around for backup if the existing ones ever start to look worn.

They are easy to use once you get the process down, just practice it once empty, And make sure you can get the tap in after you have it sealed up.

If you've got a bunch of kegs to do, search this forum for the McMaster/Carr part numbers for those Kegman kit pieces. The kits are just a snap-ring and a silicon/rubber ring. (plus instructions and a staple) If you need a bunch of the parts, it'd be much cheaper to just buy the parts in bulk.

TRIPLEMSU

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i had someone tell me that the kit sometimes releases air...is this true?

i really want this to work...i mean i payd $30 for 3 of these...total...so i hope i have my answer.

does it take long to install? in the ring even or does it latch in at an angle??

let me know

Nohup

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I can't see how a sanke could ever leak pressure once it's put together. Everything is so tight that I can't imagine any CO2 pushing past the gasket.
Spray a little star-san around the tap once its pressurized. If there's a leak, that should find it.

As for taking long to install, I hope you're not giving the "kit" more credit than it deserves. It's really just an o-ring and a snap-ring.
You don't really install it. You just remove the old o-ring, put on the new one, put the spear down into the keg, push down on it a bit, and put the snap-ring in to hold the spear down in place. that's really all there is to it. It should go in evenly. But might take some sliding around to get the snap-ring to expand fully.

psbuckland

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You should forget it and sell the three to me for $60!:-)