Brewing with no frills 1/2 keg

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jpm1

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Hi, I'm wondering if anyone uses a basic 1/2 keg boil kettle, with no valves or taps etc. just a basic keg with the top cut out? I was thinking of doing 10 gals in a 1/2 keg, cooling it down and pouring the wort off out of the top, using a big funnel into two 6 gals. primary fermenters (using 2 people to pour out of the top). Is anyone out there doing it this way? Is there a reason not to do it this way ? Any tips or tricks to make the pour easier?
 
Maybe get an Auto-siphon so you don't have to pour 10 gallons of wort?
 
I was too lazy / broke to put a ball valve in my keggle, it just has the top cut off. I just siphon my wort out.
 
jpm1 said:
Hi, I'm wondering if anyone uses a basic 1/2 keg boil kettle, with no valves or taps etc. just a basic keg with the top cut out? I was thinking of doing 10 gals in a 1/2 keg, cooling it down and pouring the wort off out of the top, using a big funnel into two 6 gals. primary fermenters (using 2 people to pour out of the top). Is anyone out there doing it this way? Is there a reason not to do it this way ? Any tips or tricks to make the pour easier?
Click to expand...

This is one of those joke post's right? Now we have to guess who is spoofing us?:ban:
 
No I'm serious, so vinyl key, are you boiling 10 gallons and splitting it off into 2 primary fermenters ? I understand using an auto-siphon would be safer but with a few strong buddies standing around I would think it would be fairly easy just to pour off from the top no? iaefebs no joke I'm sort of a minimalist :eek:)
 
jpm1 said:
No I'm serious, so vinyl key, are you boiling 10 gallons and splitting it off into 2 primary fermenters ? I understand using an auto-siphon would be safer but with a few strong buddies standing around I would think it would be fairly easy just to pour off from the top no? iaefebs no joke I'm sort of a minimalist :eek:)
Click to expand...

OK since you are serious and from Jersey, then I can understand your approach It would be like two bud's lifting a 10 gallon batch of lye and dumping into a barrel with a body inside?
 
iaefebs, I did hesitate trying to decide if I should post here under general techniques or the newbie help section. Your tone suggests I posted in the wrong area. I should have looked around the forums first to see if there is any no frills, minmalist, basic beer threads. Some of us just want a good fresh pure all grain beer with no fuss or bling... it's to those folks that I'm directing this question.
 
It's pretty hard to get a splash free pour out of a kettle. It will probably go in several directions. Put a valve on it or siphon it out. How can that more than minimalist?
 
Fair enough Blender but you just gave me a thought, I'm going to do a trial run. Fill the keg with 10 gallons of water and pour from the top into one of those giant funnels and see how easy or disastrous it goes. My fear is with the odd shape of the lip/rim it will splash all over as you say.
 
I brew in a keg with just the top cut off, but I use a siphon to get it out of there. Pouring sounds like a terrible idea. I have a hard time pouring cleaning water out of the keg without getting it everywhere, I couldn't imagine doing it with wort.
 
you dont bring as much trub into the fermenter when you siphon
 
I dont have a ball valve put into my 7.5 gallon pot yet, so I lift it and pour it into a funnel. That is only 5 gallons and it is pretty tough to do. I cant imagine trying to do it with 10 gallons....
 
Take everyone's advice and siphon it out. All you need is five or six feet of vinyl hose. Very minimalist, but much easier than having two strong buddies around.
 
agodfrey11, are you pouring that alone or with help? A 1/2 keg has perfect handles both on top and on the bottom for two people to get a steady pour going, or so that's my thoughts. I'll give it a test run and see how it goes.
 
Thanks cravej, I appreciate everyone's advice and suggestions. I have a siphon and that will be plan B if I don't like how my test goes. Plan A is faster but risky and plan B is slower but safer.
 
jpm1 said:
Fair enough Blender but you just gave me a thought, I'm going to do a trial run. Fill the keg with 10 gallons of water and pour from the top into one of those giant funnels and see how easy or disastrous it goes. My fear is with the odd shape of the lip/rim it will splash all over as you say.
Click to expand...

It does hit the top rim of the keg. I do it sometimes to get the last of the wort out.
 
yes, I do pour that by myself. If you do get the pouring to work for you, make sure you use a funnel with a filter. The filter does clog while I am pouring because of the hops and trub. One advantage I see from pouring through a funnel is that you are oxygenating the wort.

That being said, I will probably move to siphoning or installing a ball valve. It would just be much easier.
 
CDbrews, good point. The two cons I'm thinking are the trub issue as you said and spillage from a sloppy pour. How long does it take to siphon 10 gallons roughly speaking.
 
You can get an entire bulkhead / ball valve kit from Bargain Fittings for approximately $30.

Pouring 10 gallons of any hot liquid is a disaster in the making.
 
Rather than trying to pour your cooled wort out of a 1/2 keg, you could either siphon, or simply use a plastic (sanitized) gallon pitcher. On occasion I have used a rubbermaid pitcher to easily move chilled wort to the fermenter. Never tried it, but I think pouring out of a keggle would be tricky the way the top is cut.
 
I can't imagine the top of the keg would be clean enough to handle it either. In other words, how do you sanitize the entire top of the keggle to ensure zero infection?
 
I'm sure you could spray the top down with star san and be fine sanitation-wise. I just couldn't see a pour from something so odd-shaped being anything less than messy.
 

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