Reasonable cost of keggle welds.

I bought 2 keggles from a guy and he didn't weld the stainless spiggots. He just used some washers. He said they will leak a little. From everyone's experience what is a reasonable price to have the spiggots welded tot he keggle?

Or has anyone had success with silver soldering as a diy solution? Or something similar?

I've found silver soldering to be a disaster. I'm sure people will chime in and say how easy it is but before welding we silver soldered. It's much cheaper but we still switched to welding have haven't looked back.

As for what welding should cost... Most back yard garage welders will tell you they can weld stainless. Ask if they can sanitary weld / back purge with Argon (same thing). If they look at you with a deer in headlights look keep on looking around.

Once you find someone that can weld SS I would estimate between $20-$40 per weld. It only takes 5-10mins per weld but they will need to set up a rig to backpurge. More than likely they won't have one lying around That set up time could take an hour or more. That's where all the cost comes from.

-SB

You could rework the weldless bulkheads. Not all designs are created equal. Silver soldering works if you do it right. The worst part about welding is that you have a 90% chance of paying for a complete hack job, especially if you are quoted a price that doesn't make your wallet scurry up your ass.

Silver soldering SS is easy: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/soldering-stainless-steel-155782/

Good luck.

I would say $50-60 per keg is resonable(2-3 welds per keg). I got mine done for free but ask to see sample work before hand. Not everyone can weld stainless properly regardless of what they claim.

Welds in St Louis can be done for $35 a weld, and that is with the welder supplying the nipple or coupler. A good price for an experienced SS steel welder (gets his experience welding Brewhemoths all day!)

another vote for silver soldering.. the material cost is minimal.. it really isnt difficult, and with a swaged coupler, its definitely strong.. easily good enough for our purposes

whiskeycb said:

I bought 2 keggles from a guy and he didn't weld the stainless spiggots. He just used some washers. He said they will leak a little. From everyone's experience what is a reasonable price to have the spiggots welded tot he keggle?

Or has anyone had success with silver soldering as a diy solution? Or something similar?

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If the weldless fittings are installed right (and the right ones used) you'll have zero leaks. I've been using them in my kettles/keggles without issue. You just have to KNOW how to do it. I hope you got the keggles cheap since it sounds like the guy didn't do a good job of things.

As far as weld prices, the guy I've used in the past charged $40/hour. Didn't matter how many welds he did, it was an hourly rate. I'm going to be trying my hand at silver soldering soon, which shouldn't be an issue.

It's difficult for me to say exactly how much I paid for my tig welds, but it was somewhere around $30-$35 a weld when all was said and done. They didn't purge, so I had a little bit of gas residue to deal with, but it was easily taken care of with a scrubby and Bar Keepers Friend. Other than that, I haven't had to worry about it leaking once...so it was well worth having my fittings welded, in my opinion.

I weld kegs and kettles for fellow homebrewers. It takes a decent amount of time to weld it properly. Anyone can fire up the welder and lay a quick bead and have it done in 15 minutes. You'll have sugaring, and possible cold cracks or leaks... You get what you pay for. But, to do it right and weld a clean or sanitary weld, takes some time. You need to clean and prep, install a device to back purge, preheat the welding surfaces, weld, take everything apart, clean the welds... It takes a bit of time. I charge $50 per weld, for less than 3 welds. The more welds, the more the discount. You have to remember, a good TIG machine costs on average $3,000, a bottle of gas recharge is around $60, don't forget the price of the rod, grinding wheels, torch parts, electricity, etc..... That's a lot of $50 welds and time to pay off that equipment.

I have a local guy that has a side business welding kegs for brewers here in the SF area. He charges $50 per keg, with up to 2 welded couplers (back gasses and all), and plasma cutting the top off. Did a pretty good job, especially for the price!