How to Make the Most of a Sanke

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jcooper_87

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so the other day i bought a CO2 tank, hoses and regulator from a guy for $100; that was a score in itself. Then he threw in a half barrel keg, a drip tray, a coupler, and shank Double SCORE. I'm trying to move to all grain brewing and wanted to use the keg as a brew kettle. Would it be a good idea to just cut off the top and have a 15.5 gal kettle in order to do 10 gal batches in the future or should I cut it to size? Also, if it would be better to cut it, say to 7.5 gal, could I use the other 8 gal half as a mash tun?
 
just cut the top out and leave the handles/top rim in tact. 15.5 gallon volume is fine for 5 gallon batches...... it's what a lot of people (myself included) on here are using for a boil kettle for 5 gallon batches.

In my opinion a cooler works better than a keg or a pot for a mash tun. I have never used a keg or pot as a mash tun though. I have just always liked the "set it and forget" approach to cooler mashing and they hold temp extremely well.

I have a spare keggle sitting around but have never felt the urge to try mashing in it or do any type of direct fire mash.
 
NOOOOO. Leave it as a 15.5 gallon kettle. You will kick yourself later if you cut it down. I still do 5 gallon brews in a converted keg. Sweet score btw.:rockin:
 
lids for boil kettles = over rated

You can find something that will work as chaos mentioned. If if you're handy with a welder you could even work the circle cutout into a lid. Probably easier to just buy something though if you need a lid.
 
A lid on a boil kettle is not just over rated its not desired. If you cover the kettle while the wort is boiling you will be trapping volatile compounds that can lead to off flavors in the beer. The most noticeable being DMS.
 
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