Sanke keg as apfelwein fermenter?

So I dropped my sister off at her college apartment yesterday and some kids were dragging an empty Yeungling keg out the front door and I offered them $20 for it, and wouldn't you know those benevolent drunkards just gave it to me!

So eventually its getting turned into a HLT, but really no need until I get started on building my rig. So I was thinking, in the meantime why not pull out the spear, clean it up nice, make 10 gallons of Apfelwein and just throw a stopper and airlock in the tap on top.

Is there any reason why I would not be able to do this and just let it hang out for a month or so. I can't see any reason that I would get any off flavors or problems from using this keg, it just seems like a good use for the vessel.

Any thoughts?

Just give it a good soak w/ some hot water and Oxyclean, rinse well, sanitize and voila`!

I have two sitting in my garage I am pondering what to do with...

That would work fine, just wash it out well and sanitize as usual.

I ferment in sanke kegs. After I clean them up I fill them with water and bring it to a boil just to be sure no critters survived. Then on brew day when I'm chilling the wort, I use the runoff to fill the keg one more time with star san to sanitize it. I pour the sanitizer out right before I pour the cooled wort in.

That sounds like a great idea. How do you take the spear off? I would definitely use this to ferment large batches of cider, but don't know how to disassemble the commercial keg.

You dont need any special tools at all, Bobby M did a really great tutorial on youtube, just search keg to kettle conversion. Basically you just remove a washer around the top of the keg, use a flat head screwdriver to knock out a gasket and the spear just comes right out of the center leaving you with a great vessel.

...remembering to *FULLY* depressurize the keg before removing the spring washer.

oh yes very important, yeah stale beer in your face is the pinnacle of suck, lay the keg on its side and depress the ball lock with a screw driver.