Anyone ferment in converted keg??

[ndhowlett]

I was considering doing so, any experience, words of wisdom?

I'm worried about it not being air tight, ect. What techniques do you use if you do ferment in them?

Thanks

 

[cudaman]

I used kegs for quite a while. Until I was able to buy my conical. I tried several variations for lids, ranging from clear plexiglass to a 12'' domed lid from a pot. I always use blow-off tubes, this allowed me to squeak about 12.5 gallons out of the batch. To secure the lid, I used some rubber gasket material (from mcmaster-carr) and a bar through the handles and a thumbscrew to apply pressure. It works great, mine kegs had two ports, one for a spigot and one for a thermometer.

 

[FSR402]

I'm still working on mine so I have not used them yet.

What I have is a hole (about 9 inch dia) in the top and I have made an o-ring from some tubing. I also have two ports on top that are going to be a weldless style pvc ports.
One will be used to fill them from the CFC then swithed over to a blow-off and the other will hold a 18" thermometer. When it's time to rack it I will pull the thermo and hook up a racking cain. Then the other port that was a blow-off will be hooked to a CO2 tank to push the beer out.
The lid is 1/4" think Lexan and is held down by the bar thru the handles and I "T" bolt in the center.

 

[WBC]

I needed to do some catch up in my brewing in the summer and brewed an ale in a sanitized sanke keg with the stem removed. I used heavy duty foil to cover the stem housing and filled with 12 gallons of wort. I had it sitting in a party bucket with water in it and added ice as needed to maintain temperature. I knew it would work because I have done carboys this way before (no air lock, just foil and a strong rubber band to keep it on). It works great and as long as you don't seal it too tight the CO2 escapes just fine and there is little chance of infection. I got this idea looking at my yeast starter flask with foil on it and reasoned that if yeast starters don't get infected then it should work for my fermenter too. A proper blowoff would be better though. I now have a 27 gallon conical but would not hesitate to use the keg again if I really needed the beer for a party. The best point is that the keg is unmodified and could return to duty as a keg at any time.

 

[RegionalChaos]

I've thought a fair amount about using a corny and putting a tube on the gas in post to act as a blow off.. I suppose I would want to use one that I know the lid seals well on...

 

[MadDwarf]

The best point is that the keg is unmodified and could return to duty as a keg at any time.

WBC - did you have any trouble cleaning the keg, either initially or after batches? I've got a keg that I'm planning to use as a fermenter next batch, but worried about getting everything out of it without cutting the top to allow for a good scrubbing.

 

[ron1guz]

OK, picture this. Take a corny and cut the top portion off just below the corner. Now, take a sanke and cot a whole in the top the same size as the corny. Weld the top of the corny on to the hole in the sanke.

Bam! Now you have a 15 gallon corny! I had mine made to serve in, but have only used it to ferment in. I pulled the poppet out of the gas in, pushed a tube
(3/4" I think) on top of it and clamped an airlock on to the tube with a worm clamp. Works like a champ! I also use this same set up to secondary in 5 gallon cornies.

Best part of it is that the dip tube is the same size as the sanke so you can transfer using co2.

 

[WBC]

It's easy to clean a Sanke keg (unmodified). I use Cascade dishwasher detergent (the plain standard type). I take out the stem assy (after relieving pressure). I then empty any beer and fill half way with very hot water and put 2 table spoons of the Cascade in it. Cover the opening of the keg with a double layer of heavy duty aluminum foil and put several heavy rubber bands around the foil. Lay the keg on its side and rock the keg to mix and slosh the contents and then turn the keg upright and let it sit about 20 minutes to let the Cascade work on any hard deposits inside the keg. Take a bottle brush and scrub the interior as much as you can to loosen any debris. Some kegs are almost pristine inside and need little if any scrubbing. Scrub the keg 2 times if it is really dirty inside and rock the keg to keep the inside wet. Look inside with a strong light and an inspection mirror to see inside the upper inside areas. Rinse thouroughly with very hot water. I made a connection to my water faucets and use red heat resistant hose and a copper cleaning wand I made up for the end of the hand sprayer so I can spray the inside of the keg while it is upside down. This really makes rinsing easy and works good for carboys too although you have to be careful to not use water that is too hot on carboys to avoid cracking them.