Sanke to HB conversion

[RipUSMC]

Anyone have some practical advice or a link to some thoughts already in the forums (believe me I have searched and can't find much), or maybe someone whose used them to tell me this it is impossible/impracticable or works well after a bunch of uses in kegging using Sanke's.
1). I've found some good resources (NB and and others) that sell conversion kits for using Sanke's as secondaries, but not too much on using them for regular use kegging.
2). I've found 15-gallon Corney's for sale as an alternate, anyone use them or have some advice? They seem really expensive.
3). I've seen some advice on how to remove the ball on a sanke for general use, but not much on daily/regular use and re-use for homebrew use.
4). Looks like cleaning is the biggest reason not to use sanke's. I'm sure someone has figured out a way around this.

Mainly looking for some opinions about using Sanke's for kegging pitfalls, lessons learned, whatever. I'm trying to avoid having to use 3 corney's or more everytime I make a big batch.

Thanks!

 

[RipUSMC]

Guess I'm also looking for opinions on how to buy one too. The deposit route or the purchase on ebay or craigslist route.

 

[LordUlrich]

I used sankes in a commercial setting, not home brew but will throw out my 2 cents.

To use a sanke you need to modify the standard sanke. Coupler to remove the check valve, this will allow you to fill using the modified coupler.
The pros clean the kegs by pumping cleaner in the beer line and it drains out the gas port. You flip the keg upside down for this process. I would not take out the ball or spear, or modify the keg in any way.

The right way to get a keg is to buy it from the brewery. Taking the keg after paying the deposit is stealing. The keg belongs to the brewery, the deposit is to stop you from steeling it. Most small breweries I know would be happy to sell a home brewer a keg, many of them started as home brewers themselves.

 

[SimonHucko]

not to jump into the whole legal/moral debate, but unless you buy a keg from a brewery or manufacturer (buy, not pay a deposit and never return) you are stealing that keg from someone who paid a lot of money for it. kegs are expensive, and the relatively small deposit you pay on one does not come close to covering the cost of purchasing a new one.

it's easy to keg in one, just buy an extra coupler and remove the check valve so that you can fill through the spear (using what is usually the beer out line). you can clean the keg the same way, filling with cleaner through the spear and draining out the gas in port. cleaning is best done with a pump, but you could probably do a decent job by soaking and then rinsing similar to cleaning out a carboy.