idea for DIY conical

I am sure I am not the first person to think of this, but I wanted to run this idea by a few folks before pursuing it, especially since I am pretty new to brewing. Would it be possible and or efficient (esp from a financial standpoint) to cut the bottom out of a sanke and weld on a conical hopper? This would give you approx 18 or more gallon capacity for fermenting. It should be pretty easy to build a stand for it.

Thoughts?

It's certainly possible, but for all the cash and effort, you could probably just get a bigger hopper.

It would work. But for the cost of a keg, the hopper, cutting the keg, and welding you could likely just buy an 18 gal hopper.

Material Conical Hoppers

yea I've looked into that. I would say dont. run all the numbers and get a real idea of all the stainless steel parts that you will end up using. it will get damn near close to the $500 you can spend getting a new/used one. plus buying one you dont have to worry about the quality of the welds.

its tempting to think about it -- but you really dont need the hardware. buy a ton of carboys and a cheep power washer and you'd probly be better off than one easy to clean fermenter.

check out the plastic conical thread