Sanke Fermenter Idea

So I've begun to move to keggle brewing. Finished cutting and sanding the tops off of three kegs and moving on to installing valves, thermometers, and all that good stuff. Before I do, however, I've decided to tackle a sanke fermenter. I'm tired of glass carboy and like the idea of having a larger fermenter that is ss. Anyways, I had this idea last night convert a rubber insulated keg into a fermenter. I can't weld or anything so I thought this might work instead:

15.5 gallon keg.
2 old corny lids
ss couplings and valves
airlock w/ stopper.

My idea is to cut a hole in the top of the keg (same size and shape as the one in a 5gal corny). Remove the stem and everything and insert eh old corny lid. I figured that if those lids can handle CO2 pressure and sanitizing then it should be good enough for fermentation as well. Drill a hold for stopper and airlock in the corny lid. Top Done!

For the bottom I would do the exact same thing (Once again thinking that those lids can provide a good seal and will be easy to remove for cleaning). This time instead of installing an airlock and stopper I would install a ball valve to the lid for yeast removal and beer transfer into my actual corny keg for distribution.

Waste of time?

Or you could just remove the spear and put a drilled stopper in the hole. From what I understand, the orange carboy caps also fit snugly around the neck. That way the keg is undamaged, you can do counter pressure tranfers, use it to serve from, or even add a spunding valve to do pressurized fermentations. Either way, sankeys make great fermenters.

Yep, Sankes make perfect fermentors. Check out the link in my signature or do a search for Sanke fermentors and see how everyone else is using them before you do anything to that keg. You might just find it is perfect as-is.

I have been taking a sanke, flipping it upside down so the stock port is down, then installing a corny top on what was the bottom. On the factory sanke port, which is now at the bottom of the fermentor, I'd use a tri-clover (I don't remember what size it is that matches up to the sanke port) to a 3 piece valve. Possibly add a racking port on the side, and call it a fermentor.

52pickup said:

I have been taking a sanke, flipping it upside down so the stock port is down, then installing a corny top on what was the bottom. On the factory sanke port, which is now at the bottom of the fermentor, I'd use a tri-clover (I don't remember what size it is that matches up to the sanke port) to a 3 piece valve. Possibly add a racking port on the side, and call it a fermentor.

Click to expand...

2" Tri-Clamp fittings are what you want to mate up with the sanke.

What size ball valve should I mate up with the 2" tri-clamp fitting? I'm not super familiar with tri-clamp fittings. Do I need a reducer so that a 1/2" or 3/4" ball valve will work? Thanks for the input

Brewers Hardware carries the 2" Tri-clover to 1/2", 3/4", and 1" adapters.