US sanke keg questions.

I purchased a 20 gallon brewing system from BrewSteel. I am using this system for recipe design and intend to give away the finished beer. It seems most people have commercial keg setups so i would like to use us sanke kegs. The only thing is i have never used one besides pumping out beer at parties.

I do not want to modify the kegs.
-Will i be able to force carbonate in the kegs?
-What issues should i be aware of concerning cleaning/sanitizing the kegs?
-Any additional equipment i'll need?

The kegs i'm looking at are sold by stout tanks. I was also going to look into the plastic kegs.

You can totally force carb in sanke kegs.

By removing the valve/spear combo you can easily clean and sanitize the kegs on your own. There are tutorials out there for it. I rarely do it because I just find it such a pain

In my set up I find it useful to have a spare coupling head for cleaning and filling so I don't have to disassemble my dispense system. That's really all.

I wrote a tutorial about filling sanke kegs on my blog:

http://itswhatsontap.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/filling-a-sanke-keg-tutorial/

That might be of help for some of your issues.

Cheers

Thanks for the info. That tutorial really helped.

Ok, so i understand i need a coupler for every keg i wish to tap...right? Will I need a spear removal tool or ring removal knife?

I hope selling my corny kegs was wasn't a terrible idea...

You'll need a coupling head for every tap, not necessarily every keg.

I've removed the spear using pliers, screwdriver, light touch with a hammer and chan-l lock pliers. No special tools required.

Only time will tell whether selling the cornies was a bad idea.

I think it is going to be harder to sanitize and more expensive. The kegs from stout tanks are $85; which is a fair price i think. Most couplings are $26 that i've found. I will need at least 4 so i can carbonate the whole batch at one time.

I'm thinking a simple keg washer would be worthwhile to build also. I take it you just fill it up with pbw through the coupling without removing the spear?

Yup. More expensive and harder to sanitize and clean. That's why most homebrewers go with cornies. At the time I was getting my dispense system set up I was working at a commercial craft brewery so cleaning and sanitizing was not going to be an issue. Take a keg to work and bring it home cleaned, sanitized and full of beer!

Right around the time I got that all set up I got laid off! LOL I stayed with the system because the parts that I got were cheap and I got a few cast-offs from the brewery. In hindsight if I were setting it all up again from scratch I would definitely go with cornies and have been contemplating a switch in that direction anyway.

I do just fill up with cleaner through the coupling head and shake and soak.

Sorry to hear you got laid off. I would love the opportunity to work in a brewery.

Since my main goal with the new brewery is promotion and research and development, i'm stuck with the sanke kegs. Well that and i sold all of my equipment!

We are starting to gather everything we need for the cold side of the brewery. I want it to be as commercial as possible. Once my brew station is finished being fabricated i should be ready to go.

Thanks again for all the info. I'm sure i'll have more questions

Pfffttt... It was years ago but thank you for the kind words.

I may have missed something in your earlier post but, yes, if you're looking for more commercial setup then sankeys are the way to go. For sure.

Check on HBT for some simple keg washer builds, they're out there but I have no idea how easy or hard they are to build.

They're the best. And not just for kegging, you can ferment in them as well.

Cleaning isn't too bad, you can still use a carboy brush, and oxyclean, you just can't see what you're doing while you clean.

A long-necked light like this helps. WIth an automotive inspection mirror, you can be pretty sure that your kegs are clean.

Sanke kegs work great! A small screwdriver is all you need to remove the spear. A pair of pliers is all you need to install the spear...check links below. No special tools required!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/installing-retaining-ring-sanke-keg-64128/

Thanks for the info guys. That looks pretty simple! I shouldn't have any problems doing that.

I have a question guys. can you not just remove the spear and the ring and clean and then siphon right into the keg put back spear and ring the put your keggerator coupler on and set your psi to 11 and let set for 10 days and have carbed brew? I'm new to kegging and i also have a sanke i was wondering about disassemble cleaning and transfering.

Yeah, that's exactly right. I don't do it that way because I found removing and replacing the spear to be a huge PITA to be doing every single time I clean and keg. Too much hassle. Other people find it very easy to do but I didn't.

Same with setting to 11psi and waiting. I can carb my beer in six hours with other methods so why wait?

pcollins said:

Yeah, that's exactly right. I don't do it that way because I found removing and replacing the spear to be a huge PITA to be doing every single time I clean and keg. Too much hassle. Other people find it very easy to do but I didn't.

Same with setting to 11psi and waiting. I can carb my beer in six hours with other methods so why wait?

Click to expand...

I remove and replace the spear. I have found 30 psi for 36 hours works pretty well for force carbing.

pcollins, how do you carb in 6 hours? Shaking the keg on pressure? 100 psi?

Yeah, cold beer is the number one thing. I cold crash the day or two before kegging. The other thing I do is to reverse the beer and gas lines on the coupling head so the CO2 is going down the spear and through the beer. I set the gas to 20-25psi and shake a couple of times in the 6 hours.

It doesn't get it to 2.5vol but I don't want it there either. It certainly gets me to very drinkable and carbonated beer in that time.

I find it quite funny that some people have said that doesn't work especially reversing the lines. But... It does. I can't stand waiting and especially the thought of waiting a week to carb my beer? No way. Six hours is all it takes.

I was wondering if anyone knew a good way to take the spear apart. Someday I'm going to need to replace the rubber parts.

TreeBridge said:

Ok, so i understand i need a coupler for every keg i wish to tap...right? Will I need a spear removal tool or ring removal knife?

I hope selling my corny kegs was wasn't a terrible idea...

Click to expand...

The spear removal tool is well worth the cost. Makes it SO much easier.

rvklein said:

The spear removal tool is well worth the cost. Makes it SO much easier.

Click to expand...

How much easier can it be than using a small screwdriver...watch the video posted earlier...takes the guy all of about 4 seconds to remove the spiral ring???

To each their own I guess....cheers!

TreeBridge said:

I hope selling my corny kegs was wasn't a terrible idea...

Click to expand...

You aren't the first person to change from corny to sanke...I think sanke kegs are superior IMHO.

I removed mine last night for first time after watchin that vid. Piece of cake guys. Now my keg is cleaned, sanitized and ready for a batch of ferocious ipa

wilserbrewer said:

How much easier can it be than using a small screwdriver...watch the video posted earlier...takes the guy all of about 4 seconds to remove the spiral ring???

To each their own I guess....cheers!

Click to expand...

I've done dozens of kegs with and without the spear removal tool.

Not every ring is created equal nor is it always seated in the most ideal place for removal. Additionally there's the matter of getting the ring back in. No pliers required and no risk of damaging the ring with them. It simply snaps in by hand and tends to seat better than when using pliers.

The way pcollins force carbonated his legs is
The same way I do it with corny kegs. Switch the gas and liquid lines; it makes all the difference.

Can you force card buy hooking back up to your coupling the regular way and leave on 30 psi for 2 days then just turn ur pressure down to 11 for ur pour pressure?

The 30 psi would speed things up a bit but it would not be carbonated after 2 days. I don't mind letting it sit for a week as it carbonates and conditions. In a pinch the method mentioned above works fine and i have had no problems doing it that way. My schedule is 3 weeks grain to glass for an average ale. 2 weeks in the fermentor and 1 week in the kegs.

brewtus72 said:

Can you force card buy hooking back up to your coupling the regular way and leave on 30 psi for 2 days then just turn ur pressure down to 11 for ur pour pressure?

Click to expand...

Yes but try 30 psi for 36 hours first...if you over carbonate it is a hassle to bleed off excess CO2.

How do you force carb at 30 and then get it back down to pouring psi just turn it down or do you bleed it out of yhe blleder valve on the coupler

Also this is a 15 gal sanke that I have which I will be putting a 5 gal batch in

brewtus72 said:

How do you force carb at 30 and then get it back down to pouring psi just turn it down or do you bleed it out of yhe blleder valve on the coupler

Click to expand...

I always bleed of the pressure of my corny keg then fill it with a lower pressure. I'm not sure if that is the correct way to do it, but it made sense to me!

Well if that works good for u then I will try it that way

If you have 10.5 gallons of headspace in your keg, you're going to waste a gigantic amount of CO2 by filling the headspace to 30PSI then venting it.

brewtus72 said:

I have a question guys. can you not just remove the spear and the ring and clean and then siphon right into the keg put back spear and ring the put your keggerator coupler on and set your psi to 11 and let set for 10 days and have carbed brew? I'm new to kegging and i also have a sanke i was wondering about disassemble cleaning and transfering.

Click to expand...

That's exactly how I do it ....I have 4 of the sixes and have been doing it like that for over a year and a half ....never a problem.

Yea I thought about that. Im goin to do the set it and forget it for bout 10 days at 10 or 11 psi. Think that wld be the better approach