How to hack a commercial beer keg

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

dentdr

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2011
Messages
75
Reaction score
0
Location
warwick
Ok folks I’ve been working on something for a few days and now it’s time to share it with you all. I have wanted to start kegging my beer and have found a way to hack a commercial beer keg. This will save you big money. Here’s what I did, I took the empty keg from my kegerator and with a dish towel and a flat head screwdriver over the steel compression ball and gently released the remaining C02. Now that it’s empty take a smaller flat head screwdriver and remove the flat spring/compression snap ring, it’s very easy. Now with a bigger flat head screwdriver and a hammer, gently tape on the locking tabs you’re your keg head fits. Now simply remove the components and sanitize, fill with your beer and reverse the process to reinstall everything, replacing the steel ring can be a little trickyer than getting it out but with a little patients you’ll get it. Now to carbonate the beer, simply set your kegerator Co2 tank regulator to 35-40 psi when it stops filling bleed the tank to remove the Oxygen and wait 36-48 hours lower Co2 back to your working psi about 8-10 and enjoy your beer. Below is a video I found on how to hack a beer keg the quality is not great but, it works as a great visual of what I just described. I saved myself about $225 in new kegging equipment doing this and it works great!!!


http://youtu.be/EMHS-Uz9bEM
 
People have been doing that for years. The thing to remember though is that sankey kegs are not able to handle the high pressures that a corny keg can handle. I would not recommend carbing much over 30 psi. They have been known to blow up around 60 psi.
 
It only saves you money if you already have sankey keg couplers and sanke kegs. And it sounds to me like you only saved yourself the cost of one corny keg and a set of QD's (~$50). To buy sankey equipment is actually much more expensive than cornies, which is why most people use cornies. Sankeys are a much better system IMO though.

And FWIW, the safer and less messy way to release the pressure from the keg is using the keg coupler.

Next time try pressing the spiral ring back in place with pliers, it's super easy that way. And it's also a good idea to pay attention to the ring orientation when installing it, so that the notch is at the right spot to make removing it easier next time.
 
People have been doing that for years. The thing to remember though is that sankey kegs are not able to handle the high pressures that a corny keg can handle. I would not recommend carbing much over 30 psi. They have been known to blow up around 60 psi.

Thats not true at all... we keep our sankey half barrels between 35-45psi and it is perfectly safe (turbotaps).
 
Hi

If you are going to do this on a regular basis - get yourself a proper set of o-ring pliers.

Bob

I think you mean snap ring pliers, and they are useless unless you also replace the spiral retaining rings with snap rings. I wouldn't suggest a switch to snap rings either. Been there, done that, now I'm back to using the spiral rings.
 
I think you mean snap ring pliers, and they are useless unless you also replace the spiral retaining rings with snap rings. I wouldn't suggest a switch to snap rings either. Been there, done that, now I'm back to using the spiral rings.

Hi

Yup, snap rign pliers.

Bob
 
Thats not true at all... we keep our sankey half barrels between 35-45psi and it is perfectly safe (turbotaps).

Agreed, the pressure limit (stamped on a Sankey) is 60 psi, and they've stated that this is a factor of 10 better than actual burst pressures (measured > 600 psi)
 
There is NO Way you can put 600 psi in a sankey. They will burst around 300 psi. All the data is done on a NEW keg. If they have dents and are damaged in anyway, they may burst before 300 psi.
 
There is NO Way you can put 600 psi in a sankey. They will burst around 300 psi. All the data is done on a NEW keg. If they have dents and are damaged in anyway, they may burst before 300 psi.

I'm in no way advocating putting more than the rated pressure in anything. But indeed a statement from Sanke stated they didn't burst at 600 psi. And yes, obviously that's for a new keg. I would think as long as the keg isn't beaten to hell under 60 psi would be fine, that's what they're rated for. I haven't heard of any bursting at 60 psi, maybe you can provide a news article?

With stainless you can usually see signs of stress/fatigue (bulges, cracks etc.) before something ruptures, with the plastic kegs you can't. The exploding Redhook keg was indeed plastic.

A lot of info was circulated after the Redhook accident.

This is from here
http://probrewer.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=25048&page=2


From: Jeff Gunn [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2012 6:55 PM
Subject: Keg safety in the face of tragedy

To all Forum Members - I like all of you am shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic accident that occurred at Redhook Brewery in New Hampshire this last Tuesday. My staff and I extend our sincere condolences to Ben Harris's wife, family and team mate's at Redhook Brewery.

Having personally been a part of the Sankey keg system development for just on 50 years, I have been asked these last couple of days by a number of the craft brewing community as to how this could have happened; Some explanation comes out of the statement issued by Redhook Brewery today. It turns out the keg is not a "true" Sankey keg but one of the many variables that are now proliferating throughout the industry.

The American stainless steel Sankey keg under a 1970's agreement with a major USA brewing industry leader and the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), allowed the Sankey keg to be used without a pressure relief valve because it was demonstrated that the Sankey kegs of the period had a burst pressure well in excess of 600 PSI. The ASME committee agreed to a Factor of Safety (FOS) of 10:1 or greater. The kegs had the following engraved statement on them so they would comply with the regulations pertaining to this "new style" of pressure vessel. The statement that was to be engraved on the top dome of all Sankey style kegs meeting these criteria is:

"WARNING - This container will rupture if pressurized above 60 PSI"

This statement in and of itself is the reputable keg manufacturers self regulation that the Sankey kegs engraved as such meet or exceed this FOS ratio. I can only advise that if the kegs/containers do not meet these criteria, then you should ensure that they have some demonstrable safety device that will render them harmless above the manufacturers stated operating pressure limit. I would also advise that whatever reputable manufactured or home made systems you use to wash, sterilize/sanitize and fill kegs, to be aware that the kegs should not be exerted to process pressures exceeding those keg manufacturers stated limits.

Some final words on the subject of keg pressure safety. In recent years some equipment and chemical suppliers are advocating elevated caustic (sodium hydroxide) temperatures above the normal 120 to 150 degrees F (50 to 65 degrees C), to 180 degrees F (85 degrees C). Apart from being unnecessary and wasteful, there is a danger lurking in the future if this practice continues that the 1 and 2% of sodium hypochlorite (chlorine salts) present in some caustics, will cause severe stress corrosion fatigue cracks of the stainless steel keg and eventually there will be a high probability of stainless steel keg ruptures.

Respectfully,

Jeff Gunn
President & CEO
IDD Process & Packaging, Inc.
 
Turn the keg upside down with the co2 hooked up would be my guess...

Nope. The diptube is just for the beer. The CO2 goes in the keg at the top around the outside of the diptube. There's a pressure relief valve on most sanke couplers that can be used to purge the keg easily.
 
I was talking about a commercial keg that only has the dip tube opening. Anyway, I just did it last night and it worked perfect...
 
Lol I just found the bleed valve on my tap... I feel a bit dumb, but hey, in my defense, the guy I bought it from apparently broke the ring off... Anyway, turning it upside down did work, but this valve is much easier... Lol
 
Back
Top