Upside down keggle conversion

I havent seen pics of how people cut the bottom out of the keg. i know people make jigs to pivot in the hole of the keg. well in the bottom of the keg, there is no hole of course. so here are a few pics how how i did it. i know my pics are crap. They were taken on a cheap prepaid straighttalk phone..





I simply drilled a hole in the center, put together some 2x4s put a screwdriver in as my pivit point and away i went. Each keg took about 8-10 mins to cut if that.





i think i may have to use someones idea of making a false bottom of the cutout.




bottom drain setup tested and no leaks! someday ill upgrade to SS ballvalves. I really dont care for now though. Im more for function than form

FYI kegs are pretty easy to cut freehand as long as you draw a nice line and take your time. If you are cutting a whole bunch of them a jig is nice.

Very Nice Sir. I have been using a design like that for a couple years and man is it nice. I use a 12" false bottom and can fill it with about 40#. Think the most was 38# and could go more. I just upgraded today actually to a Blichmann 20 gal Boilmaker. It also is very nice. I can start doing 15 gal batches outta that mash tun.

foltster said:

FYI kegs are pretty easy to cut freehand as long as you draw a nice line and take your time. If you are cutting a whole bunch of them a jig is nice.

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i know my hands are not steady enough to do that freehand. and it took about a total of 10 mins to think up the jig and make it. so i felt it was just easier to do that.

so this is for a mash tun? How is it heated?

actually this is the beginning of a e herms system. this will be my HLT and BK for now. ill be using a 10 gallon cooler as my mash tun until that wears out

OK it's a HLT. How you you heat it? I like the drain but will that work with direct fire. BTW the pics look fine.

maida7 said:

OK it's a HLT. How you you heat it? I like the drain but will that work with direct fire. BTW the pics look fine.

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ill be placing heating elements through the side. i would not use that on direct fire, there is a silicone gasket that would likely melt

maida7 said:

OK it's a HLT. How you you heat it? I like the drain but will that work with direct fire. BTW the pics look fine.

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It is an electric system. No direct fire from underneath.

ok electric very cool

I am planning to make a Mash Tun like this. My only concern is how to keep the false bottom from moving since I will not have a tube holding it down.

Tack weld or solder an upside down stainless bolt to the bottom of the keg, drill a complimentary hole in the FB and hold it down with a wingnut.

What Bobby said. I've done a couple by drilling a hole in the bottom and passing a 1/4" SS bolt up thru the bottom & silver brazing it in place. A wing nut holds the FB down and puts a little tension on it to hold it in place nicely.