half barrel keg fermenters

So im wanting to do this




So first I can weld steel really well but stainless its not going to happen soon. So I was thinking using 3/8 inch stainless nuts and bolts and o rings to make legs mounted a weldless deal. Does any one have suggestions on where to get o rings or can I just use normal rubber ones? I know I don't need high temp ones but I didn't know if there would be problems since they would be in the beer post fermentation...

Or any suggestions to make this work better.

And where could I get lids to go on top?
Or where can I buy 4 inch tri clamps like they have on sabco fermenters that I could get welded on top?

Thanks for the help

Instead of affixing the legs to the keg, why don't you just weld the legs in such a way that they cradle the keg with adequate cross backing underneath. If you really wanted to get into it though, get dump valves mounted to the bottom. Which would require welding stainless. But that would be sweet and a very cost effective alternative to conical..

I've thought about dump valves but have also read that you need a good angle on bottom for trub and yeast to slide down.

Turn the keg upside down, tri-clamp your dump valve to the existing opening. Although i would have to agree that it will prob not be nearly as effective as a conical. Also, you could prob just build the legs more like a table that the keg sits on, which could also be made of wood saving money.

Why not make stands out of steel with 3 legs that fit inside the bottom skirt of the kegs? They won't need to be attached to the kegs at all and it will save space.

I was thinking about doing the same thing, I have three kegs just sitting around. But my concern is the capacity that these hold. These can hold roughly 12 gallons with adequate head space? I would like to be able to ferment at least 15 gallons.

I ferment in sanke kegs but I don't have any legs attached or anything like that. I just removed the spear and put a cap on the top with an airlock / blow off tube. Cleaning them takes some extra care but I've got a good system for cleaning now. I get about 12-13 gallons of finished beer from each batch.

maida7 said:

I ferment in sanke kegs but I don't have any legs attached or anything like that. I just removed the spear and put a cap on the top with an airlock / blow off tube. Cleaning them takes some extra care but I've got a good system for cleaning now. I get about 12-13 gallons of finished beer from each batch.

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How large of bath sizes are you putting in each ?

maida7 said:

I ferment in sanke kegs but I don't have any legs attached or anything like that. I just removed the spear and put a cap on the top with an airlock / blow off tube. Cleaning them takes some extra care but I've got a good system for cleaning now. I get about 12-13 gallons of finished beer from each batch.

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Same here. I also use a spunding valve instead of an airlock sometimes for pressurized fermentation, so keeping the keg intact is important to me for holding pressure (not to mention cheaper and easier).

kickflip_mj said:

How large of bath sizes are you putting in each ?

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I typically make 12 gal batches, and either ferment the whole thing in a 1/2bbl keg, or split it into two slim 1/4's and pitch different yeasts. The 1/2 bbl kegs can hold more, but my brew system is pretty maxed out at 12 gal. For ciders I've done up to 14 gal in a 1/2bbl keg.

I ferment in mine as well already. I do 10 gallon batches which is actually 11 with trub and yeast lost. I'm just thinking of a cool and cheap way to make them into nicer fermenters. I like the idea of flipping it over.

What type and size fittings do I need to fit the sanke tap?

I'm wanting to wrap them in copper lines and make them glycol chilled eventually. I think they will be economical and awesome

josterhues said:

I ferment in mine as well already. I do 10 gallon batches which is actually 11 with trub and yeast lost. I'm just thinking of a cool and cheap way to make them into nicer fermenters. I like the idea of flipping it over.

What type and size fittings do I need to fit the sanke tap?

I'm wanting to wrap them in copper lines and make them glycol chilled eventually. I think they will be economical and awesome

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What part of your plan do you think will be an improvement? Not trying to dissuade you, just curious.

A 2" tri-clamp fitting fits perfectly on a standard type D sankey neck. You'll likely need to either trim a standard tri-clamp gasket, or make your own gaskets out of silicone baking sheets or similar material though.

josterhues said:

I've thought about dump valves but have also read that you need a good angle on bottom for trub and yeast to slide down.

Click to expand...

Typically 60° is considered the minimum angle for the trub to slide properly, but it doesn't need to be quite that steep if it's highly polished. The slight angle on either end of a sankey isn't enough to get the trub to move at all.

I've had different ideas in my mind of what to do but I wanted to put it to everyone else to see if anyone has done it or if there was any different ideas.
I will put up a build thread of me making these probably.

In the end this is what I want and plan to do.

I want them on legs, I would like the top open enough to get my arms in to clean and work on, eventually with glycol jackted lines around them.

To accomplish I will make leg frame that they sit on but can be removed easily.
Turn upside down and put dump valve to pull yeast off with and a side valve to pull clean beer off.
Cut the bottom of the keg open(which when it's turned over will be the top) and find stainless lid and a gasket for that
And then wrap tightly with copper lines going to pump and tank in freezer with glycol.

Any suggestions, comments, websites that could help me with this?

kickflip_mj said:

How large of bath sizes are you putting in each ?

Click to expand...

I get 12-13 gallons of finished beer out of one 15.5 gallon sanke keg fermenter.

josterhues said:

I've had different ideas in my mind of what to do but I wanted to put it to everyone else to see if anyone has done it or if there was any different ideas.
I will put up a build thread of me making these probably.

In the end this is what I want and plan to do.

I want them on legs, I would like the top open enough to get my arms in to clean and work on, eventually with glycol jackted lines around them.

To accomplish I will make leg frame that they sit on but can be removed easily.
Turn upside down and put dump valve to pull yeast off with and a side valve to pull clean beer off.
Cut the bottom of the keg open(which when it's turned over will be the top) and find stainless lid and a gasket for that
And then wrap tightly with copper lines going to pump and tank in freezer with glycol.

Any suggestions, comments, websites that could help me with this?

Click to expand...

This is an awesome addition to a sanke fermener. http://www.brewershardware.com/sanke-fermenter-kits/

This cap makes it super easy to transfer the beer under pressure using CO2.

I use a standard fridge with a ranco controller for temp controlling the ferment. Most standard top freezer style fridges will hold a sanke keg.

I clean the sanke keg by inverting it over a sump pump and recirculating 180F PWB solution. 30 mins of recirculation and it's completely clean. Then rinse off the PWB with hot water.

I don't know if major modifications to the sanke keg are worth the effort. It would probably be more efficient to buy a conical or one of these: https://brewmagic.com/products/fermenters/brew-magic-fermenter

Those brew magic fermenters are beautiful to me, but I don't have $600 to spend on one when I think I can build my own for a 1/3 of that.

josterhues said:

I've had different ideas in my mind of what to do but I wanted to put it to everyone else to see if anyone has done it or if there was any different ideas.
I will put up a build thread of me making these probably.

In the end this is what I want and plan to do.

I want them on legs, I would like the top open enough to get my arms in to clean and work on, eventually with glycol jackted lines around them.

To accomplish I will make leg frame that they sit on but can be removed easily.
Turn upside down and put dump valve to pull yeast off with and a side valve to pull clean beer off.
Cut the bottom of the keg open(which when it's turned over will be the top) and find stainless lid and a gasket for that
And then wrap tightly with copper lines going to pump and tank in freezer with glycol.

Any suggestions, comments, websites that could help me with this?

Click to expand...

Not sure I can be much help other than giving you my thoughts that led to me stick with unmodified kegs. I can tell you that you won't be able to harvest yeast just by flipping the keg upside down and putting a valve on it. The only yeast that you'll be able to dump there is whatever settles in the neck, which is a tiny fraction of the yeast cake. You need something closer to a 60° cone to harvest yeast. For me, putting legs on would only cause complications without any benefit. Making the fermenter taller would just make fitting multiple fermenters in my ferm chamber more difficult. Drilling a hole and adding a valve wouldn't allow me to use them for pressurized fermentation, and creates another area that needs detail cleaning so that nasties don't hide in the small crevices. I transfer using pressure and the keg spear, which is super easy and works great. If I want to wash the yeast and store it, I simply add some sterile water to the yeast cake after transferring the beer, shake it to stir it into a slurry, and then transfer the slurry out using pressure. It would be nice to be able to reach inside the kegs, but that would once again prevent pressurized fermentation, or use for serving, and they're plenty easy to clean even without being able to put a hand inside.

The unmodified kegs work great with the system I use, and are very easy to ferment in, transfer beer out of, harvest yeast from, and clean. Leaving them unmodified also saved me a lot of time and money, and allows me to use the kegs for serving occasionally. That's not to say that it's the right way to do things, or that it's best for everyone though.

You mentioned many things you want to do to the kegs, but you still haven't said in what ways you think these changes will be an improvement over using the unmodified kegs.

josterhues said:

Those brew magic fermenters are beautiful to me, but I don't have $600 to spend on one when I think I can build my own for a 1/3 of that.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't use them even if they cost less than an unmodified keg. They'd take more time and effort to clean, I'm not sure I'd be able to safely ferment under pressure in them, and they wouldn't be any easier to fill, ferment in, or transfer beer out of. The only advantage for me would be the ability to reach inside, which for me is a very small advantage, and doesn't come close to outweighing the disadvantages.