How to cut a circle out of the BOTTOM of a keg

For those of you who run electric like me and want to use the tap hole as a drain here is how i cut the bottoms off my kegs.

step 1 make jig. I would highly reccomend using two hose clamps for more secure clamping. On my third keg it kept loosing its grip.

step 2 drill guide bolt hole

step 3 use the wheel to scratch the surface and see how it fits the lid, measure 10 times cut once. The goal is a bit smaller, you can always trim bigger with a flap disc. Realize the cutting wheel will make the whole a bit wider than the scratch marks made.

step 4 use the grinder to cut two gouges opposite of each other. Check with the lid how it fits my feeling the lid lips in the gouges.

step 5 make a shallow guide cut the whole way around. (seen in pic 4) This is handy if your jig gets out of whack, break a wheel, or the wheel wears enough to throw off the radius its cutting.

step 6 start cutting through leaving 1" solid parts every 6" or so. If you make it all in one cut the lid may flex and twist loose throwing off your prefect circle.

step 7 cut all the remaining tabs of metal

step 8 use low grit ~60 flap disc to round out the inside and remove all sharpness and tune any high/low spots. If your hole is too small and lid is tight be sure to do complete circles around so you open the whole circle evenly.

step 9 use 220 grit to smooth out the lip

Step 10 hose off all the grindings and your done!

If you want a cheapo false bottom drill tiny holes in the scrap you just cut out, now you have a SS false bottom. (not my idea but wanted to share)

pics

Awesome. Thanks!!

You do nice work

Nice work, those look awesome.

emyers said:

If you want a cheapo false bottom drill tiny holes in the scrap you just cut out, now you have a SS false bottom. (not my idea but wanted to share)

Click to expand...

Great work! Very nice results with your jig. Well though out and good practice too.

Yeah, LOTS of holes! I used a #40 drill. (and good cutting oil) OK... it actually took 2 drills. You have to have very good quality drills and LOTS of patience. I drilled over 1,200 holes in my false bottom. PLUS the slots that were cut with a cut-off disk. I drilled with a drill press and backed the Stainless Disk with a piece of sacrificial wood.
Like the OP, this idea was not mine but I was inspired by another Keg-Disk FB I saw here on HBT somewhere.

I should mention don't plunge the blade deep into the cut, it will widen the hole. You only want the bottom of the cutoff wheel to just barely penetrate.

Thanks on the kudos

For those using angle grinders, simple jig here.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/jig-bottom-keg-cut-378518/#post5067960

using a ~1/4" bolt and hole saves a ton of time than a unnecessary 2" hole saw. The only nice thing about using the 2" hole saw would be you can easily cut the top off a keg also.

emyers said:

using a ~1/4" bolt and hole saves a ton of time than a unnecessary 2" hole saw. The only nice thing about using the 2" hole saw would be you can easily cut the top off a keg also.

Click to expand...

Wasn't trying to piss on your wonderfulness bro, excellent documentation. I just wanted to share an option for those of us that don't have one of those fancy stick blender grinders and are stuck with angle grinder.

My only options were angle grinder, plasma cutter, sawzall or pneumatic die grinder. If I was only cutting a bottom, I would have used 1/4" bolt like you did in same jig, but I was cutting two tops and a bottom.

Plus, already had hole saw out to drill 3 holes for 2" tri-clover ferrules.

lol not hating, i just hate to see over engineering. For your application it seemed to work well and was necessary. I plan to run all tri clovers in each kettle for minimal loss of wort and easier cleaning/draining. I'm sick of picking up the keg and having to dump it out of hops. Hopefully with this rig i will only dump the grain and rinse the rest out the tri clover fitting going to the sewer.