ferment in sanke quarter barrels?

Anyone here fermenting in quarter barrel sanke kegs? They're 7.75 gallon, perfect for a 5 gal batch. The equipment list would be...
1 sanke quarter barrel 7.75gal keg with spear
1 sanke coupler
1 set of sanke to ball lock posts

I'm wondering if it's possible to just cut the spear on one an inch or two, then ferment in it with the liquid out stopped and the gas-in connected to a blowoff tube.

To take a refractometer sample I'd just stopper both connectors for a little while, then open up the liquid out connector for a moment to get a few drops, then close the liquid out and re-open the gas in with a blowoff tube.

Once it came time to transfer, I'd connect the liquid-out post to my corny keg, and the gas-in post to my CO2 tank...or maybe just ferment closed for the last week or two to build up enough CO2 so that the keg pushes itself.

Thoughts? Will this work?

According to this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=44344 89 of us are doing it. Best thing I've done for my beer since temperature controlled fermenting.

I'm asking less about the pros of pressurized fermentation than about using sanke kegs for fermentation and that particular method of taking samples. I haven't had any luck using pressure transfers with carboy caps.

Oops, sorry, I thought you were asking about using a 1/4 bbl Sanke's for fermenting and pressure transfers.

I'm not sure why you would want to cut the spear off. Your plan makes no sense.

Seriously, read through the handful of methods in that link. Some of which you have already described (less the cut of spear :smack: ).

The cut spear to avoid transferring fermenter trub. Like you cut the dip tubes in corny kegs if you choose to ferment in them.

I used a 1/4 bbl Sanke for a couple years as a fermentor. Took out the retainer spring and pulled the spear, used a large stopper and airlock.

It works well enough as a fermentor, but cleaning was a pain. It was always hard to visually inspect inside to know if all the kreusen ring deposits was removed after cleaning.

I am back to fermenting in 6 1/2 gallon carboys now.