What to do with 50L kegs with rubber tops and bottoms.

Brewer's Friend 728
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.
rex

rex

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2008
Messages
83
Reaction score
1
Location
Newfoundland
I bought two 50L kegs today that have the rubber top and bottoms.

I got both for $30.

What can I do with them?

Should I just sell them for scrap to get a couple without the rubber?

I'll add some pics later.

Thanks
 
I think I'll just sell them for scrap and try to get another one without the rubber.
 
I'll trade you for them, for regular ones, but shipping may be counter productive... i'm in 75034
 
Thanks for the offer...but I'm about 110% sure shipping would kill it!!!

I live in Paradise, Newfoundland, Canada.

I'm guessing it would cost hundreds of dollars to ship them.

:drunk:
 
Now I picked up two more of the rubber top kegs for $10!!!

So...I have four in total.

Again...my inclination is to sell them for scrap and buy the ones without rubber.

However, I am thinking electric these days!!!

56873ah_20.jpeg
 
Don't sell them for scrap.


Use them to ferment your 10g batches in. They're perfect fermenters.
 
Are they just rubber coated at both ends with 100% stainless inside or did they bond rubber so only the filler and sides are stainless?
Like above reply great for fermenting plus a set of 4 the same keep 'em.
Lucky find.
 
BrewBeemer said:
Are they just rubber coated at both ends with 100% stainless inside or did they bond rubber so only the filler and sides are stainless?
Like above reply great for fermenting plus a set of 4 the same keep 'em.
Lucky find.
Click to expand...

They appear to be fully stainless. The bottom of one of them was completely off when I picked it up so I could see it was stainless on the bottom. I Gorilla glued it back on last night!
 
Synovia said:
Don't sell them for scrap.


Use them to ferment your 10g batches in. They're perfect fermenters.
Click to expand...

I've read a few posts on using Sanke's for fermenting but didn't really pay attention. What's needed to make them work?
 
rex said:
Now I picked up two more of the rubber top kegs for $10!!!

So...I have four in total.

Again...my inclination is to sell them for scrap and buy the ones without rubber.

However, I am thinking electric these days!!!

Even with electric, you'd still need to insulate them. Try Powers Salvage in Ropewalk Lane St. Johns. Sometimes they carry the more normal 55 liter all SS kegs.
BTW, I'm in Mt. Pearl.
Click to expand...
 
Even with electric, you'd still need to insulate them. Try Powers Salvage in Ropewalk Lane St. Johns. Sometimes they carry the more normal 55 liter all SS kegs.
BTW, I'm in Mt. Pearl.[/QUOTE]

You mean Dominion Recycling. I've already picked up a 50L all SS Molson keg from there. Hopefully they have at least one or two more. Other than there it's very hard to find them locally.
 
rex said:
You mean Dominion Recycling. I've already picked up a 50L all SS Molson keg from there. Hopefully they have at least one or two more. Other than there it's very hard to find them locally.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's them. Sometimes they also have pepsi kegs if you were looking to get into kegging. You have to continously check with them to see if they have on hand.
I had mine given to me by a local brewer friend.
 
rex said:
I've read a few posts on using Sanke's for fermenting but didn't really pay attention. What's needed to make them work?
Click to expand...

I ferment in sanke kegs but I've passed on every on of these I've found. Part of my sterilization routine is to boil the kegs after I wash the trub out and I haven't figured out how to do that with the rubber kegs. Boiling the kegs is the only way I can be sure they are clean for the next batch.
 
rex said:
I've read a few posts on using Sanke's for fermenting but didn't really pay attention. What's needed to make them work?
Click to expand...

Depends on how complicated you want to get. You have to pull out the stem and such, and you can go with tri-clover fittings and such, or you can just get a big stopper with a hole in it, and treat it like a carboy.


As to cleaning them? Oxyclean, then starsan.
 
boo boo said:
Yeah, that's them. Sometimes they also have pepsi kegs if you were looking to get into kegging. You have to continously check with them to see if they have on hand.
I had mine given to me by a local brewer friend.
Click to expand...

I've been kegging for over a year now. I originally bought three ball lock kegs from Browning Harvey and picked up three more since then.

I used to check Dominion Recycling on a weekly basis but it got tiresome after a while!!!

I did get an all SS 50L keg up there earlier the summer and I've converted it to use as a HLT. I have a rectangular Coleman cooler that I'm going to use as a MLT.

I often look at some of the electric rigs on here and think that they are the way to go.
 
keep 'em original while looking for for full stainless larger rubber free kegs.
They will make great fermenters all one size and color. The rubber will insulate the kegs better also.
 
No where locally to get very much of anything.

Brewery Lane has kits and basic supplies, but for anything else it's online and you'll need to contend with the shipping. Some places are 'more friendly' to Canadians in terms of shipping. There's a Canadian Brewers group on here that discusses shipping.
 
surprised noone has brought up using them to serve from - I ferment in them, serve from them.... cornies for small batches and sanke's for the big ones.
 
Swagman said:
Question what does it look like with the top and bottom removed??



Dominus vobiscum

Swagman
Click to expand...

I guess it would look like a corny with the top and bottom removed? It wouldn't be able to stand up on it's own. Rounded top and bottom.
 
rex said:
Now I picked up two more of the rubber top kegs for $10!!!

So...I have four in total.

Again...my inclination is to sell them for scrap and buy the ones without rubber.

However, I am thinking electric these days!!!

56873ah_20.jpeg
Click to expand...

I contacted the seller just days after you nabbed these....I'm just seeing the post now.

I did get another 50L from a scrap yard in CBS and I removed the green rubber top and bottom. I'm going to use it as a HLT.

Did you find anymore SS kegs around St. John's? I did pick up a 15.5 gallon at Dominion Recycling, but they have not had anymore since. I call all the scrap yards around town every week but they have not seen any kegs in a while.

Trying to find more Newfies in the hobby of all grain. I would like to find someone locally with a RIMS that I could have a look at. I'm about 60% complete on my build.
 
I converted one of these Poly kegs to a keggle by removing the bottom and top rubber. there is a flat circular section at the very bottom that allows it to stand on it own. It fits nicely on my banjo burner without tipping.. It is a little more precarious than a keg with the metal chime along the bottom so I use a few scrap copper pipes to steady it while boiling.
 
Sorry to necro the thread but I had two questions about these kegs. Firstly, did you end up fermenting in them? Secondly, how did you make sure that they were perfectly clean inside? I have let mine soak overnight in HOT oxyclean water. There was some sort of hard film on the bottom of the spear so I left the spear on while soaking to see how oxy affected it. It didn't touch it. I managed to scrub the film off the spear with bon-ami and after inspection of the inside of the keg (flashlight) I see what appears to be more film or at least what seems to be darker textured splotches on the bottom of the keg. I am not sure what beer stone looks like, but I know that bon-ami took a few scrubs with the sponge to entirely clean off and it took some elbow grease to get the film off. I am kinda at a loss. Thanks in advance!
 
I actually haven't done anything with them.

I currently have four of them and most likely I'll just be selling them to the metal recycler.
 
Thanks for getting back to me. I am kinda in the same boat. If I can't get another 1/2 barrel I will prob spend some time cleaning it but otherwise, not sure. Try posting them here! I bet someone would like to use them.
 

Similar threads

quantumguy
liquid-out ball lock installed at bottom of fermenter
Replies
39
Views
755
quantumguy
quantumguy
TinkerLynx
New Brew System Sanity check.
Replies
7
Views
300
TinkerLynx
TinkerLynx
B
For Sale Corny Kegs, Perlick Faucets, Driptray - Wichita KS
Replies
3
Views
589
Sauls
S
M
Keg identification and sealing problems
Replies
10
Views
435
mac_1103
mac_1103
todd_k
Virginia Richmond, VA area - free equipment
Replies
1
Views
272
todd_k
todd_k
Brewer's Friend 300

Latest posts

Back
Top