Aluminum kegs

Ok so I got really really lucky. I am planning on making my AG set-up and I was asking around work and I found 3 guys who had empty kegs so score....I think. I have a set of carbide high speed bits so I was trying to see if I could drill a hole for the plumbing to come out and low an behold the keg that I got from 1 of the guys is aluminum, I will be getting the other kegs tommorrow so I don't know if either one will be aluminum.

Is it ok to use aluminum kegs as a lauter, mash or boil keg? I plan on puting a steel plate on the bottom of any keg that is aluminum. Are there any reasons I can't or shouldn't use an aluminum keg?

The opinions on the virtues of SS and aluminium are bound to start flying.

Plenty-o-brewers use Aluminium for brew kettles. I did too. I don't see a problem using the keg for any of your brew tasks.

I'll step aside now and let the "commentaries" begin.

I didn't think any kegs were made of AL. How do you know for sure?

Well it went through really easy hardly any stress on the bit and I took a magnet to the keg and it wasn't magnetic. I'm pretty sure stainless steel is magnetic but I know aluminum isn't magnetic.

No, SS kegs aren't magnetic. The holes I drilled in mine went through without too much effort. Does it look like a standard keg? What's the brewery?

It is a standard sankey keg from anheuser busch.

It is definitely stainless steel. Some types of stainless can exhibit some magnetic permeability in the areas where it was cold worked, like rounded edges and sharp bends for example, but for all intents and purposes magnets can't be used to determine if something is made of stainless steel. Aluminum kegs would never survive the beating that kegs need to endure to have any kind of a service life.

Awesome thanks guys. I was down at my HBS saturday talking to someone about converting kegs to pots and I asked about converting it myself and he said that stainless steel is way to hard to drill and I would need a plasma cutter. Well me being me I have to try it to make sure and well it drilled perfectly fine, I had no problems drilling it at all.

On to my next question. Since I am not going to use a plasma cutter I am thinking instead of welding connectors on I could just drill my hole to size and use a threaded connector through the keg wall and use copper or brass (which ever would work best) gaskets to seal it. How does that sound? Any suggestions?

I think some REALLY old kegs were aluminum. I doubt you'd find one these days. The sheet metal is so thin on the stainless ones that it probably drills rather easily.

If you're welding stainless, be sure to back-purge, or you'll get some ugly crystallization (sugaring).

Personally, I use weldless fittings that I bought from Northern Brewer for ~$15. If you don't have experience welding SS, this works great for me (no leaks at all), and all I had to do was drill the hole and clean it up. Then, I just hooked up a standard brass ball value and hosse barb, and I was good to go.



http://www.northernbrewer.com/weldless.html

Did you get the top cut off the keg yet? Since it doesn't sound like you have access to a plasma cutter, the consensus next best option is an angle grinder with a cut-off wheel. Just take it easy, give it a couple passes, but this, too, works great.

I have access to a plasma cutter, I plan on taking the tops off tommorrow or friday. I was hoping to get my kegs converted by saturday but it doesn't look like I will be able to complete them. I was just down at home depot and I bought my copper tubing for all the internal plumbing in the mash tun and boil pot. I spent an ass load of time looking at different connectors and I think I found a good way to get it all together but I need to head to a store that has better nuts, washers and what have you.

So if I am lucky I will get my kegs converted but that still leaves me 2 propane burners shy! I am hoping some guys in the brew club will be cool enough to let me use their things, my neighbor home brews and we are heading down to the HBS on saturday morning so I think everything will work out, I am trying not to get stressed out and I definately want to do the kegs the right way so we'll see.

I just cut the top off of a keg that I will use as a brew pot. I went the grinder method with a cutoff wheel and it was very easy, you just have to clean up the edges afterwards so they aren't sharp.

By accident, I found that a 5 gallon bucket is the perfect size for marking your opening, its just a tad smaller than the lid I have form my turkey fryer.

Yep that is what I did too. I went through 3 cutting discs for 2 of the kegs but they cleaned up really nice. I started on the copper work too so I am hoping I will get them finished by saturday. I still need to get the gaskets, nuts, bolts, reducers blah blah blah but I am hoping that I will be able to get it all done.

Save the tops of the kegs you cut out weld or silver solder some small arms on the side an you have lid,

I have a two tier set up with old kegs that I got from Widmer. Its plumed together with copper and a magnetic drive vain pump. I had a guy that I work with weld in the threaded fittings to the kegs. I made the frame from angle iron that I pick up from gokart shipping containers at the local auto parts store free. I have about $500-$600 into it. The pump and plumbing was the biggest expence. Your going to wonder how you ever brewed without it. I can brew up to 10 gals at time.:rockin:

I just made a video series showing the steps to making a kettle from a keg. If you haven't read the post about it, here you go:

Part 1