converting a poly keg

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possum652

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hey all.. I just switched to all grain and figured I would use a keg for a brew pot. The only keg I could get my hands on I bought from my local brewery and the main problem is it is a poly keg. I am not sure if that is the correct term, but I think it is. It had green rubber on the top and bottom of the keg. The bottom rubber came off easy so I thought I would give it a try. The keg balances relatively well without the rubber bottom. I left the rubber on the top because It is on really good. I think it is maybe glued on the top. The top rubber has the handles as well. I cut the top hole with an angle grinder. I recommend if you do this yourself to use a new cutting wheel because the top rubber is about a half inch thick before you hit the steel. I finally got the hole cut and I think I'm gonna fill it with 5 gal water a let it boil for an hour or two just to see if the top rubber melts or comes off. It only runs about a quarter of the way down from the top so I am hoping it doesnt burn. It will be outdoors so if it does burn I wont be breathing any bad vapors.. anyone else have any experience using this kind of keg for a keggle? I did alot of searching and couldnt find much info on this so maybe this thread will help people in the future... I will update this post once my burn test is completed.
 
If the keg is stainless, and the top rubber doesnt get that hot...I think you should be fine. Just be carefull that the rubber top doesn't come free while lifing w/ hot wort...I would guess that the stainless runs up through the handles...but????
 
while cleaning out the inside, the top came off.. the handles were just on the rubber.. not on the metal... I guess they hope the glue lasts... It was on there good until I cut out the top.. so beware if you are doing this!! would have really sucked if it waited till I had a full keg of wort till it unglued!! I am going to install handles up top.. will look for all stainless hardware and will mount them fairly close to the top of the keg so they shouldn't come into contact with the wort...
 
handles are mounted and so is the weldless stainless ball valve. I boiled 5 gallons of water as a test with my banjo burner and it worked beautifully.. I did wind up steadying the keggle on the burner with some spare copper pipes I had.
 
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