Uses for damaged corny kegs

I had someone give me two corny kegs that are no good for kegging because the gas inlets are bent. Is there any cool projects that someone has made using damaged kegs?

Should be able to replace the inlets.

Steven9026 said:

I had someone give me two corny kegs that are no good for kegging because the gas inlets are bent. Is there any cool projects that someone has made using damaged kegs?

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Attach a pic and I'm certain we can provide input of fixing or re-purposing.

Good-Luck!

I know they can be replace and I have straighten a few bent ones before, but these are bent so bad that the treads are damaged and you can't remove the gas couplings. It also distorted the opening, They will never be able to be used as a normal keg again. Instead of throwing them away, I was hoping to find some neat useful project that could be made.. Something other than flower pots.. LOL.

You can fill the gas inlet with epoxy and permanently close it off. Then use a gas post over the liquid dip tube. Hook a grey QD up to that and pressurize. Then, create a jumper with a grey qd at one end and a sprayer at the other.....spray sanitizer on your stuff.

Or use it as a fermenter.

Or use it as a herms chamber, with an element and coil inside.

Or cut the tops off both and make yourself an awesome 3 gallon pilot brewery.

Or use them as bar art....maybe make a barstool out of them?

ScubaSteve,

Haven't thought about the HERMS part... I think that is what I will do with one of them.. Thanks for the idea.

I have seen somewhere on here where someone cut off the top and used it for an electric HLT for small batch brewing. Depending on the amount of damage and your ability to patch a hole where the distorted opening is, you could use it as a fermenter or bulk aging vessel or even a bright tank for 5 gallon batches.

I wasn't that creative. I bought one of those dead "planter" Cornies from Midwest for $5. My counterflow chiller is wrapped around it. It is a convenient stabilizer for the tubing.

If you look in my signature, I built a whole system out of dead cornies. They are incredibly useful.

jfkriege,
I remember looking at your build a while back. Nice job. I'm going to use one of mine for a herms tank.

i was thinking about building a squirrel proof bird feeder for my dad. little fuzzy bastards keep chewing through the wood one. i think im going to use the corny as the "reservior" and let it fill a metal pan with seeds via gravity.

I use several to store grain.
I am also thinking about turning one into burner heat shields.

Cut the top off the bad one + cut the bottom off a good one + little bit of talented thin wall welding + fabricate a really long dip tube = one really tall ~10 gallon cornie.

Or even more junk if your fabrication skills suck.

Edit: just thought of this, -- hopper for grain mill.

I'll second the idea of using it as a fermenter... Pull the liquid tube out, see if you can cut the badly bent gas tube off and get a plug welded in it's place. Use the liquid post for an airlock fitting (or blow-off tube) and ferment in it... Or you can do the above and use it for long term aging.

I've aged a brew on oak in mine so far, plus have an ale fermenting in it right now (just over 2 weeks in)... I hope to be getting some ~5 gallon Sanke kegs to use for fermenting and aging in this week.

THIS SITE ABSOLUTELY FASCINATES ME. You could use a corny to make a small foundry!

My friend made a fire pit out of a bad keg..... It also serves beer :rockin:

Looks more like a torch than a pit... From what I've seen, fire pit's are low to the ground... Never more than ~2' tall total...

Sorry, it's a fire "stand"....

I have also made fermenters out of banged up kegs.....

Monster Mash said:

I have also made fermenters out of banged up kegs.....

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Now THAT'S something I can get behind...

As for "Sorry, it's a fire "stand".... " Would you call a compact car a truck? Or a super-duty truck a motorcycle? Call it what it is...

someone on here used them to make wind screens for their burners

I've got two leaky ones...pinholes. One on the side and one on the bottom. Don't think I want to use them for fermenting. Any other ideas?

chezhed said:

I've got two leaky ones...pinholes. One on the side and one on the bottom. Don't think I want to use them for fermenting. Any other ideas?

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Send them to me... I'll get a machine shop to fix the holes...

Otherwise, if you're brewing all grain, you could use them to store grain in. Or make planters out of them (just might want to plug the pin holes first)... Make one into an umbrella stand... Use your imagination...

Send me your UPS account and they will be on the way....minus posts, dip tube, cover, etc...

I thought about grain storage but what a pain to me. Too small a hole.
Umbrella stand....uh, my umbrellas are the collapsible type, though a cane stand might be an idea...Hey hon, check this fine foyer decor out

Planters seems to be their destiny, unless I can figure out a decent way to put top on them and use them outside as tables by the pool or such.....

I need pics of previous uses......

If you have an grinder/cutter, you could cut around the top, then spot weld a could of flanges inside so that they hold together when set. Then you could fill it up with grain and have a way to get a good amount out at a time...

Personally, I'd check with a machine shop to see if they could fix the leaks... Have them pressure test them to make sure they're good... Of course, a machine shop could also convert them into mini-grain tanks too...

Or you could make mega-bird feeders out of them... lol

camiller, I was thinking about cutting them down and making a smaller keg. I could easily do that, and can do the gas over welds to make them pretty sanitary too. I'm going to use one to build a HERMS. I might experiment with the others, since I found out I can get a few more of the damaged ones.

Monster Mash, I would love to do a fermenter out of a keg, but I would want it to be a 10 gallon or more keg. If you know of someone that has those, I'll take one.

Steven9026 said:

Monster Mash, I would love to do a fermenter out of a keg, but I would want it to be a 10 gallon or more keg. If you know of someone that has those, I'll take one.

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Mine are 30 gallons, the smallest pot like mine available are 20 gallon. I have been asked by many people to make them for sale, I won't do it because they are dangerous if not used correctly.

They are pool filters and the tops come off, if you don't release the pressure before removing the clamp it will blow up in your face....