Interesting Find, Any suggestions!!!!!

Look what I found at work today. I work at a power plant and this was an Emergency Eyewash station. It is SS and in perfect shape. We had to change styles because of the feds. Anyway It is 36" high and 12" across. Can anyone tell me roughly how many gallons??


Im thinking a fermentor or something. Any ideas anyone. Im very curious. I love DIYing stuff so this is right up my alley for my backyard brew station. Welding and cutting are no problems at all!!!!

Thanks everyone. Be Creative Im open minded.

Looks like a 15 gallon "corny style" keg. With some simple innovation, it could be converted to a kickass fermenting vessel.

FWIW, those things go for over 200 bucks on e-bay, very rare.

Why can't I get that lucky? Nice find!

That thing is awsome....15 Gallon of brew in one KEG.........SWEET!!!!!

IGOR

I get roughly 17.5 gallons.

Can you put some corny posts back on it? It would look great in your fridge!

well im gonna use it to ferment 15 gallon batchs. Any suggestions on what it needs. I know a good pressure gauge. A place for the air lock, will it need to be a bigger airlock because of the added volume. Also should I install some valves on the bottom. I will add a thermometer and was wondering about a sight glass so I can make sure I have 15 gallons in there.

Anyone

Fill with beer... presurize.... squirt beer into your mouth.

very cool, congrats!

I don't know if I'd use it to ferment that big of a batch. If it actually is 17.5, then it would prolly be okay, but fermenting a 15 gallon batch in a 15 gallon keg would be bad news.

You could always use it for your eye wash station.

A cylinder 36" x 12" calculates to about 4070 in3 or 17.6 gallons, but that doesn't include any loss to wall thickness.

Still, sounds like it could probably do a 15 gallon batch ferment.

-Dylan

I'm gld you guys did the math.


I wil be in Bakersfield the next couple of days then I will start dismantleing it.


I figue with it being so tall I need to have a valve in the bottom to drain it to secondarys. I would love to weld a conical bottom to it so I could blow out the trub from the bottom.


Keep the suggestions coming.


I can weld legs to it and weld and cut whatever it needs. I have a good friend that is a welding genius.

An opening for a large blow off tube would be nice, and then you could use it for the airlock when things slow down.

The tube probably goes all the way to the bottom, so you could either add a screen or shorten it. Then add a CO2 fitting & you can force the ale over to the carboys. You could even add an outside filter, because the tube looks like 3/4". That would be tough to clog.

You could make a fitting for where the gauge is and use that to attach the blowoff. I wouldn't worry about an airlock on something that big.

You will need a drain in the bottom for trub/yeast removal. I'd make it at least 1 1/2".

Evan! said:

You could always use it for your eye wash station.

Click to expand...

:rockin:

LMAO...Good one.

That needs to be a fermenter. The eye sprayers might (I can't tell from here) might make a good sparging head. It looks like you have a pressure regulator on there as well. It looks like the lid is an OLD style "race track" and they are really hard to find, so treat it well. A standard O-ring will work.

Or you could fill it with beer and spray beer in your eyes.

IMHO, don't cut it up or weld junk to it. Use the dip tubes. Build a stand, turn it upside down, use your long dip tube as your blow-off side (when it is upside down the tube will be in the airspace at the bottom-turned-top)and put a valve fitting on the "gas" side and use it as your dump and port. If you do any altering, do it on that side.

Excellent idea BP! That would also put the lid on the bottom for easy cleanout.

How are you going to seal the lid if you turn it upside down? On my cornies I have to seat them with CO2 to make them not leak beer if I turn it on it's side. But you can't do that if you use it as a fermenter unless you use a pressure releif valve. I don't know if that is a good thing to use if there is any type of blow off.

sause said:

How are you going to seal the lid if you turn it upside down? On my cornies I have to seat them with CO2 to make them not leak beer if I turn it on it's side. But you can't do that if you use it as a fermenter unless you use a pressure releif valve. I don't know if that is a good thing to use if there is any type of blow off.

Click to expand...

This works, I have done it myself with a 10 gallon cornie. The weight of the beer and the small amount of back pressure coming from a good volume of water in a blow-off container is more than enough to seal the lid.

Related, I use cornies all the time for my real ales which use a special valve that keeps them at the same pressure as outside the keg. I don't have problems with leaking here either, and it is a very similar situation.

Evan! said:

You could always use it for your eye wash station.

Click to expand...

Wouldn't washing your eyes with beer sting even more?!

I am very cornfused BP.

Could you elaborate about the design you have in mind

I imagine beer in the eyes would sting.

Thanks for all the comments to think my boss said toss it so I did right in my car.

Two Dogs brewing and everyone else;
I hate to be a huge bummer to you all in this one. I'd love to see that baby turned into a keg or whatever, but seriously, I am a liscenced plumber and also a military engineer(ARMY). In my experiences with some of our water purification units(which are all S.S.) the WELDS are a major problem. Sure the S.S. is awesome but where the S.S. is welded, is total crap and cannot be trusted to stand up to Changes in PH or Whatever.

Secondly, you said that that was TAKEN out of service. It looks to me like there is no Water supply to it, like a regular safety eye wash station. SOoo.. I would not count on the water that was placed in there to be exactly POTABLE(safe for human cunsumption). And in the trade, if it was ever in service and was subjected to non-potable water, then it can never be trusted for Re-use.

What-ever you do DON"T cut or weld it, I see all these posts about guys wanting to weld S.S. with a MIG. BAD NEWS. Again like I said before with the welding. Now you can get it welded...Professionally...It does exist...S.S. wleding is probably REALLY expensive.

But maybe you can sanitize the hell out of it and have real good success. IMHO I'd sell it on E-Bay and use that money to buy other stuff. Good -Luck!!

Well thanks for the comments Jason. True it was in service. Only with Sterile Saline Eye Wash (saline water)


The welds look awesome and I am sending it in to be Xrayed this week (gotta love working for Sothern California Edison)

As to the welding I want to do to it. I have an awesome welder that has done all kinds of welding to include food grade SS welding. I will leave the methods to the proffessinals.

So my question is I really want to add a valve to the bottow or top to drain Trub etc. The pressure regulator is no good (i have another one if I choose to use it)

It is in perfect shape only being "in service" for about a year and was never discharged.

Anyway I would love someones comments on what to do next. I have sheet SS here and was thinking of having a conical bottom put on it and a SS ball valve. All supplies I have here. It want cost me anything. I have tons of SS fitting valves, all kinds of stuff.

I like the idea of the tube in the tank I should be able to use that for something like to inject CO2 to transfer to carboys, etc.

Thaks everyone for all the comments I had no idea this thing would be such a hit

My sister is a product manager for a MAJOR SS plant. I should see if she can ever hook me up with some gear. Too bad she's a total beyotch and we don't get along at all, otherwise she could be a fantastic resource.

That must be common with sisters Cheesefood, mine is the same way.


SS is very expensive. I get to take all the SS parts I need (within reason) I take the parts and bring my Boss beer,