Help on materials for electric brewery.

[lappe001]

Dear all,

I'm thinking on building my own electric brewery out of old coke kegs (stainless steel). Do you think these are recommendable?

http://www.homebrewing.org/5-Gallon-Cornelius-Keg-Pin-Lock-Used-Coke_p_842.html

I was looking for others maybe with a wider diameter but didn't find any, any ideas?

I'm planning on doing the heating via 2 electric water heating elements, this to distribute better the heat, to avoid having only one heat source at the bottom, these will be controlled via a PID controller and a thermocouple. Next is a link to the webpage on amazon where I'm planning on buying them. I don't know if these will be adequate because they are not made out of stainless steel.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H5W0LK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Please help!

Cheers!

Fernando L

 

[kenh]

Coke kegs a a little wider than Pepsi kegs.

If you want a stainless steel element you can run two 240 volt 5500 watt stainless elements at 120 volts.

 

[ChocolateMaltyBalls]

What's your reasoning for going with corny kegs over a kettle or sanke kegs (1/4 barrel slim for example)?


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[Bobby_M]

What size batches are you hoping to make? 5 gallon kettles are pretty restrictive. Why not pick up some cheap SS kettles that aren't so skinny?

 

[heckels]

I think you're also going to have issues with the element fitting unless you drop it in as a heat stick or mount it vertical.


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[augiedoggy]

used 15 gallon sankes are cheaper to obtain than corny kegs these days...just saying..

 

[kal]

I don't see how this would work as they are only 5 gallons in size and the tops and bottoms are rubber coated. They would melt when boiling. As other have said, the narrow size would also make it impossible to install anything but the very shortest of heating elements and cleaning would be difficult.

You don't need 2 heating elements to distribute the heat when boiling as the wort is in vigorous motion due to the boil.

You really need to use kettles for your brewery or something similar. I would also recommend they be x2 the size of the batch you want to brew. A 5 gallon container is only enough to brew ~3 gallons beer.

Good luck!

Kal

 

[augiedoggy]

^^ I'm not so sure the rubber would be effected at all by boiling wort in the keg with electric But I agree with everything else you said ^^

 

[Thedutchtouch]

...while I agree that a corny isn't the best vessel to brew in, not all of them have the plastic/rubber parts.

 

[kal]

...while I agree that a corny isn't the best vessel to brew in, not all of them have the plastic/rubber parts.

Correct, but I was going by the ones he said he was going to purchased (refurbed) and the picture shows rubber tops/bottoms. It's typically only new kegs (not used) that do not have any rubber.

Kal

 

[augiedoggy]

Correct, but I was going by the ones he said he was going to purchased (refurbed) and the picture shows rubber tops/bottoms. It's typically only new kegs (not used) that do not have any rubber.

Kal

or very old.... I have 5 10 gallon corniesI just bought for $20 a piece from like the 50s or 60s and the are all stainless... I thought firestone or johnson made 5 gallon cornies this way too...

 

[Bobby_M]

The bottom line is that 5 gallon cornies are the last vessels I'd be looking to brew in unless maybe you really need to drop back your brewery footprint and you want to brew 3 gallon batches.

 

[bondra76]

The bottom line is that 5 gallon cornies are the last vessels I'd be looking to brew in unless maybe you really need to drop back your brewery footprint and you want to brew 3 gallon batches.

Amen.

Please do some research. I actually keg in sankes vs. cornies because they're so expensive. There's so many cheaper options for vessels out there.

 

[augiedoggy]

Amen.

Please do some research. I actually keg in sankes vs. cornies because they're so expensive. There's so many cheaper options for vessels out there.

Theres a local company called "kegworks" that sells 5 (I think or 7) gallon kegs with sanke connections that are plastic made of material like a beerball was but they fit inside of another larger white plastic housing that can be filled with ice too....
They told me microbrewers are using them to do promotions at bars as a disposable giveaway... but they can easily be cleaned and reused...(looks like brown PET). they are online and have a store on ebay too...
not really applicable use as kettles I know but useful anyway.

 

[KPSquared]

A corny would make a terrible boil kettle. Is this a joke?

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[iijakii]

I have thought about using a corny for HLT though for minimal footprint.

 

[ChocolateMaltyBalls]

Somebody on here used a corny with a hex coil as a dedicated heat exchange vessel. That would be about the best use for a corny on the hot side IMO.


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[pogden]

FWIW ... I have done several no-chill batches where I ran my hot wort directly into a corny for cooling/storage. The rubber bottom on the corny definitely becomes soft and, on at least one of my kegs, started to separate from the stainless. In my opinion, rubber-bottomed corny kegs are suboptimal containers for boiling liquid.