Need help with what to do with a Hoff Stevens keg

I was cleaning out my grandfathers basement, he recently passed away, and found an empty Hoff Stevens keg. I am trying to think of something to do with it to incorporate it into my brewery to remember him. I currently use a keggle and a conical, I have heard using them as fermentors. From here the only thing that I have thought of is a HLT. I do not want to use it as a mash tun due to the cost of insulation and I want to be able to see it.

Any ideas would be appreciated. Something like this would have made him happy.

Thanks,
Craig

Use it for cask beer.

i agree with smashing, make a nice cask ale and name it after your grandfather, what better way to honor and remeber him than make a cask ale and have a nice family gathering to remeber and celebrate his life.

How would I do this? Do I just need to have a fitting welded on it?

Isn't there a bung in the side?

Turning one into a cask is a great idea IF you know someone that can weld stainless in some strange ways. The spear is in the middle of the top and a cask "plug" is on the lower edge. Remember you can only access the back of the new weld from the bung hole... IF anyone knows a good way to try this or has done this please post it up.

These kegs have some unique things about them, mostly they have no real handles to speak of and are awkward/dangerous to move when full. I have entertained the idea of turning them into a hop back, whirlpool vessel, storing starsan in but lack none of that sounds easy and those items are not that critical to my brewery at this time.

I have 3 of these in my garage that were gifted to me. I plan on using 2 in the "man cave" as a sink and a urinal respectively . The last one will be turned into a BBQ grill or smoker. If you turn it into a bbq/smoker make sure it is not aluminum because that would be bad... The only thing stopping me from this is I have no man cave at this time an I rent so I have little desire to improve my landlords home and I am not 100% sure I even want to do that because It may be possible to make a cask...

Other things you can do with them is turn them into a gas/fuel tank.

You could also use it as the bottom of a low table. Throw a top on it and stick it between a couple of chairs.....

I don't think they require any real modification to use for cask beer. One of the smallish local breweries near me pretty much only does casks in hoff stevens. You just need to order the bungs.

I don't understand how you would get the beer out with just the bung. It is on the side of the keg, which would be on top when you lay it on its side. What am I missing?

You use the regular tap. A spear in a Hoff stevens doesn't reach all the way to the bottom. Sure it might not be a true cask ale but it's keg conditioned. I think there are tap fittings that allow the use of a beer engine though.

This thread actually got me thinking about making a "real ale" in one of mine. I then plan to make a DIY beer engine from a RV pump as others have. You can stop the oxidation issue with a low pressure LP regulator on the gas in and use CO2. The engine will still pull the beer so it will still be plenty "real ale" enough for me but purists and CAMARA would seem to disagree.

I think this would be a fun experiment if nothing else and if it works and I like it, even better!

This lines up well with a portable 1 tap kegerator I need to build, I could basically build 2 tops and have the choice of a standard tower & tap or the beer engine. NOTE: this is NOT a priority project for me.

I have recently acquired one, and that's what I am going to use it for. I plan on adapting one of those little hand held CO2 dispensers to provide just enough push for the beer and getting a protective blanket to keep it from oxidizing.
After reading about 'Real Beer' and cask conditioning, I am all over this. I just need a larger boil kettle now so I can do a full 15 gallon batch.