Sanke fermenter build

[bovine_OB]

After browsing innumerable threads and asking numerous questions, I've finally built my 15 gallon stainless, pressure capable fermenter in wheels. Total $ into this project I would say is $100.

I won a lot of near new sankes and older cornies from a brewery going out of business on auction for next to nothing.

Built the frame from scrap lumber from my yard fence build this summer.

Stainless 4" ferrule, gasket, tc blank, and 2" tc to mpt all from stainless brewing.

Mpt to corny post from Patriot Homebrew in Elkhorn.

The ferrule hole was cut in the bottom of the keg and welded by a local welder in exchange for one of the defunct kegs. The 4" blank was drilled and tapped in order to thread the corny post and adapter th oprough followed by soldering to provide sanitary protection from the threads internally. The bottom drain is composed of a couple inch stub of a sanke spear soldered to the flat side of the tc/mpt fitting to allow the drain to effectively leave the trub behind. The pressure gauge is cobbled together from off the shelf parts and old kegging parts I had laying around.

The rollerblade casters are super duper smooth and can hold over 400 lbs, so I'm pretty excited to be able to wheel this thing around and save my back.

It's been holding 8 psi for 5 days now. Just gotta clean her up and fill it with wort!

 

[apache_brew]

After browsing innumerable threads and asking numerous questions, I've finally built my 15 gallon stainless, pressure capable fermenter in wheels. Total $ into this project I would say is $100.

I won a lot of near new sankes and older cornies from a brewery going out of business on auction for next to nothing.

Built the frame from scrap lumber from my yard fence build this summer.

Stainless 4" ferrule, gasket, tc blank, and 2" tc to mpt all from stainless brewing.

Mpt to corny post from Patriot Homebrew in Elkhorn.

The ferrule hole was cut in the bottom of the keg and welded by a local welder in exchange for one of the defunct kegs. The 4" blank was drilled and tapped in order to thread the corny post and adapter th oprough followed by soldering to provide sanitary protection from the threads internally. The bottom drain is composed of a couple inch stub of a sanke spear soldered to the flat side of the tc/mpt fitting to allow the drain to effectively leave the trub behind. The pressure gauge is cobbled together from off the shelf parts and old kegging parts I had laying around.

The rollerblade casters are super duper smooth and can hold over 400 lbs, so I'm pretty excited to be able to wheel this thing around and save my back.

It's been holding 8 psi for 5 days now. Just gotta clean her up and fill it with wort!

Cool build. How do you like it so far?

 

[bovine_OB]

Truth be told, I'm in the middle of finishing a basement, remodeling my brew rig, working full time and keeping 3 children alive .. haven't had a chance yet to fill it and use it. It's been holding 8 psi for a couple months now, so once it's cleaned up and filled I'll have to report back

 

[beersk]

Man, I can't believe there's only one response to this and it was months after your initial post. This is a sweet build. Nice job. It's a shame you don't have time to use it.
I've been wanting to do something similar for 5 gallon batches by modifying a 7.8 gallon sanke keg with a tri-clamped opening like you put into the bottom of this keg. I wouldn't do it myself though and I don't know anyone around who does sanitary welds.

 

[Broken Crow]

Man, I can't believe there's only one response to this and it was months after your initial post. This is a sweet build. Nice job. It's a shame you don't have time to use it.
I've been wanting to do something similar for 5 gallon batches by modifying a 7.8 gallon sanke keg with a tri-clamped opening like you put into the bottom of this keg. I wouldn't do it myself though and I don't know anyone around who does sanitary welds.

I'm still looking for absolute confirmation that the Flotit will fit into the opening of a sanke with the spear removed (otherwise you have to cut out the internal ring to get a standard float ball to fit) so I can skip the welding of a larger fitting, buy a couple for use with this:

or you could just go with the Norcal cross-fermenter;
https://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/Sanke-Keg-Cross-Fermenter-Kit.html

 

[apache_brew]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/thread...get-floating-dip-tube-and-hop-dropper.684974/

 

[Broken Crow]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/thread...get-floating-dip-tube-and-hop-dropper.684974/

Thanks! That's a sweet looking setup. My cheap cross-unit is my attempt to have some 'one-size fits all' heads to attach to any pressure capable vessel...I thought about doing TC tee or cross based unit, but since I wanted to put on a Fermonster as well, I got worried about the wieght. The problem I ran into with the sanke is that none of the float-balls I have from 3 different sources will fit through the ring inside the sanke opening..they all have that ridge. Cutting out the ridge is messy and annoying, so I was hoping that the Flotit would provide a useful alternative. I wish I'd seen your thread earlier when the links were still good, but the search engine here didn't turn it up when I was looking for such things.

 

[bovine_OB]

Alright so I brewed a 4 gal batch on the stove on a weeknight just to test it out. Dumped the whole brew pot into the keg fermenter hot, let it chill in the garage overnight. Pitched yeast the following morning. Fermented at 10 psi, transferred to a corny keg and closed the fermenter back up. A few days later, put the fermenter on my diy keg washer, and it's clean as a whistle.

I'm pleased with the result.

 

[marc1]

You could also put a liquid ball lock on the top with a floating dip tube attached, then you could easily transfer without opening. A PRV would also be good for safety. Something like this:

https://www.morebeer.com/products/4-triclamp-lid-58-29-kegmenter.html

Edit: I missed the bottom drain initially. You said you closed the fermenter back back up in your last post, so I'm curious why you opened it for the transfer?

 

[bovine_OB]

I closed it back up after transferring to the corny keg so things wouldn't dry out and get caked on too bad

 

[marc1]

I closed it back up after transferring to the corny keg so things wouldn't dry out and get caked on too bad

But why did you open it to transfer? Your bottom drain is raised off the bottom to avoid trub, you could put a liquid QD on there and do a closed transfer to your serving keg.

 

[bovine_OB]

I did transfer closed. The top has a gas ball lock that in hook up to Co2 to replace the volume of liquid leaving through the bottom drain. Worked like a charm. I only opened it after the transfer to see how close to the bottom/trub I was.