Sanke Keg Fermenters

How do you manage 10+ gals in a sanke keg? It's gotta be heavy to move for old folks like me.

If you use a fermentation fridge/chamber/keezer do you fill the keg in the fermentation location?

Is the location raised high enough for siphoning after fermentation?

If not how do you transfer to keg or bottles?

Check out WWW.brewershardware.com they have a kit that converts a keg nicely. I plan to use co2 to push my beer out of the keg into my corny's.

Pump from the kettle to the fermenter, then I carry the 10gal's or so of beer in the Sanke Fermenter to the basement to ferment. I've only done one 10gal batch myself without a pump, it was not fun at all trying to move all that hot liquid up high enough to siphon through my plate chiller!

I'd say get a pump and/or get a brew-buddy, either that or split the batch in to 2 separate fermenters. I'm only 31 and in good shape and had trouble lifting that 10gals up, but getting it down in to the basement from outside wasn't too much of a problem.

And as for bottling, I usually keg 5-8 gallons then bottle the rest. I pick up the fermenter the night before and set it on a stool to let the sediment settle, then use a carboy cap and racking cane to start a siphon in to the keg, then I change over to the bottling bucket when the keg is full.

Iv used a rubberised sanke keg to primary all my 10 gallon batches. Stupid thing weighs 70 kilos full and im not a big guy, but i can lift it onto the table i use to siphon. I just had a genius idea though, im going to build a thing on wheels with either a pully or jack system that i can use to raise the keg for siphoning. Pics in a few weeks hehe.