Anyone Weld their Keggle Handle Holes Closed?

Just wondering if anyone has welded their handle holes closed and ground down the inner lip of the keg (where the top was cut off) to give extra room for your boil? I have a lincoln weldpak 175 MIG with gas and was thinking of trying it but I don't want to screw up the keg. (I'm not a great welder yet) But I would be willing to try if others have had success. I do have extra kegs if I screw it up but I'm not going to bother if it's not worth it. Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Greg

I think you'd be the first. If you cut the top out right you'll have matching alloy to patch the holes. Do you plan to CIP?

Kegs are kinda heavy, it's nice to have the handles to grab onto. How big are your batches? If you're running out of space, try some Fermcap to limit foaming; you might be able to squeeze out a 13- or 14-gallon boil without having to make big modifications to the keg.

I'd say you could lift the keg "empty" by just wrapping fingers around the rolled top. I'm sure this could be done but don't forget the weap holes

the_bird said:

Kegs are kinda heavy, it's nice to have the handles to grab onto. How big are your batches? If you're running out of space, try some Fermcap to limit foaming; you might be able to squeeze out a 13- or 14-gallon boil without having to make big modifications to the keg.

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Do not take advice from this man on boiling wort

Bobby_M said:

I'd say you could lift the keg "empty" by just wrapping fingers around the rolled top. I'm sure this could be done but don't forget the weap holes

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Yes these kegs will be on a brew stand with "tippy dumps" so there really shouldn't be any lifting besides empty on occasion. I just didn't know how far these kegs could be pushed for batch size if the handle holes were welded shut. (extra couple gallons? the more the merrier!) If I use stainless wire and argon am I going to risk having rusty welds? That is what I'm kind of affraid of. I'm using weldless fitting for everything else because of all the welding concerns on this board seeing as I'm definately not a professional.

babalu87 said:

Do not take advice from this man on boiling wort

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The proper answer is "do not take advice from this man, period!"

You know, though, if those ****holes had just invested $5 in a bottle of Fermcap...

Be sure to practice on some other stainless if you're not a good welder as you stated, so that you're confident you'll be happy with the results.

I'm not a welder, and I don't use a keggle, but I seem to remember reading on here somewhere that if you remove the top all the way (meaning no lip) the keg doesn't hold its shape as well. I forget which thread that was in though, sorry.

I think the OP is referring to the part your lid would sit on when tops are cut off, he's proposing to cut that flush to the sides but retain the rolled top and fill in the holes for the handles.
Kegs are fairly thick ss and it should be strong. with the rolled top and bottom.

A buddy of mine has a keg with the handle holes sealed up and the original top flush to the sides. His brother did the welding. It works great and holds somewhere around 2 more gallons.

That current lip goes a long way to containing the boil.

Why not just boil a higher concentrate and then top off to desired final volume?

Why not go all out and graft two kegs together. You could easily do 20-25 gallons that way. Anyone ever do this? It could be top heavy...

might as well buy an aluminum pot.. $200 or less will get you a 25 gallon unit./

bendavanza said:

Be sure to practice on some other stainless if you're not a good welder as you stated, so that you're confident you'll be happy with the results.

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Absolutely

bendavanza said:

I think the OP is referring to the part your lid would sit on when tops are cut off, he's proposing to cut that flush to the sides but retain the rolled top and fill in the holes for the handles.
Kegs are fairly thick ss and it should be strong. with the rolled top and bottom.

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Yes
Why not just boil a higher concentrate and then top off to desired final volume?[/QUOTE]
That, I'm not sure of. I'm a beginner that has done a half dozen 5 gallon batches with my friends equipment. But I like to go "all out" when I do things, hence starting with a keggle brew system =)

JonW said:

Why not go all out and graft two kegs together. You could easily do 20-25 gallons that way. Anyone ever do this? It could be top heavy...

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I was also thinking of that , maybe not actually two whole kegs welded together but maybe like another half or something. I have a bunch of kegs so I don't mind experimenting. I actually have a 6 gallon sanke(I think that's the size) that would probably fit the bill perfectly. I would love to be able to squeeze 15 gallons of finished beer at a time, which means I would have to end my boil with about 18 gallons? I would have approx. 5 1/2 - 6 gallons in 3 seperate carboys. I'm just not sure that a keggle mash tun would be able to handle the added grain? Maybe someone here could shed some light on that for me?

Depends on how big the beers are.
For the size of the MLT this is an excellent chart and thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/how-big-your-mash-tun-needs-123585/

If you haven't cut the top open yet, then cut the bottom open instead. No handles to deal with, and depending on the keg, possibly no weep holes either. If you are using gas burners you may have to weld the old beer in/out opening closed; if electric, then you could use a 2-inch triclamp to seal.

Swagman posted this image before:


Here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/bottom-drain-keggle-158043/index5.html#post1840575

Think he wants to do the exact opposite of that pic. Haha. Cut the sides flush and where the existing handles are, weld a piece of metal to seal them up so he can have the extra height on the kettle.

HomeBrewFoSho said:

I was also thinking of that , maybe not actually two whole kegs welded together but maybe like another half or something. I have a bunch of kegs so I don't mind experimenting. I actually have a 6 gallon sanke(I think that's the size) that would probably fit the bill perfectly. I would love to be able to squeeze 15 gallons of finished beer at a time, which means I would have to end my boil with about 18 gallons? I would have approx. 5 1/2 - 6 gallons in 3 seperate carboys. I'm just not sure that a keggle mash tun would be able to handle the added grain? Maybe someone here could shed some light on that for me?

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Yeah, my thought was only a partial keg graft, not two whole kegs. I would personally want to keep the handles. Here's a quick cut n paste of what it might look like.