Aging in stainless?

[HappyWino]

I have read a few discussion about the merits of ageing in glass versus PET, but I am wondering if there is a reason more people don't age in stainless soda kegs?

It seems like they are lighter, have handles/easier to move/store, sealed, don't let light in, don't leech, and finally, similarly priced to a carboy...what am I missing?

Cheers

HW

 

[Golddiggie]

I just think people are more used to transferring from/to carboys and buckets...

That being said, I aged my old ale in a corny keg for 5-1/2 weeks on some oak chips, just recently. I did it for pretty much the reasons you already stated... I do plan on getting more corny kegs for aging my batches of mead, as well as for use as primaries for other things. I have a honey cream ale that has been in the corny, fermenting, since brew day... :rockin: Used fermcap in the boil and only need to have an airlock on it.

 

[shelly_belly]

From THE HOME WINEMAKERS MANUAL, by Lum Eisenman

Stainless steel has become the material of choice for wine storage tanks...Many home winemakers use 15.5-gallon stainless steel beer kegs for wine storage containers. Availability and low cost make beer kegs attractive...Keep the receipt so you can get your deposit back when you are finished with the keg.

 

[Brew_Master]

Keep the receipt so you can get your deposit back when you are finished with the keg.

Why wouldn't you just buy a used one from a bar or something?

 

[Golddiggie]

Get one being retired, or purchase one outright and you don't need to worry about anything. Besides, I think many of us are looking to age ~5 gallons at a time, not 15 gallons. I'm not looking to move above 5 gallon batch sizes, except for the rare occasion, anytime soon. Maybe in a few years I'll be making 10 gallon batches regularly...

You can usually find corny kegs at a decent rate. Or even better, older sanke kegs in the right size range.

 

[shelly_belly]

Why wouldn't you just buy a used one from a bar or something?

I just posted what I did to show that stainless is acceptable and even preferred. I thought there was some humor in that last statement. Us homebrewers would be making keggles as opposed to getting refunds. I have converted to using cornies for wine. They work great. I hope this year I make enough to fill a 1/2 barrel. Or 2!

 

[Teromous]

For what it's worth I talked to a few different wineries at a festival a while back and there were quite a few that said they prefer aging in stainless for an extended period of time.

 

[KevinM]

The one issue that I've found is just the size, particularly when using kits. I can scale mead, and if I were getting juice or crushing fruit, I'd have no problem, but the kits I've looked at need a larger size than a 5 gallon contaner for either primary or secondary. I believe the instructions say 7 gallon bucket 6 gallon carboy?

Beyond that, I expect to do the same thing, and am rather miffed that I need to buy a bucket and carboy/bb for wine kits (mostly just the carboy bit), cause if I use real fruit, I'd want a bucket. I considered doing a 5 and two single gallon jugs but I don't think it's worth trying to divide it up. Of course, when I'm done with the secondary (or aging depending on the kit) in the carboy, I actually expect to use the keg to hold the wine, along with the other 1 or half gallon jug.
(Although, if someone has other suggestions for that primary/secondary volume when using kits, please do let me know!)

**edit**
After counting on my fingers. I suppose it's plausible to buy 2 of the same kit and use 3 kegs...