Sanke fermenters

Has anyone converted a 15.5 Sanke for fermentation or would there be just way too much head space in one for 5-10 batches?

 

That is my plan - I think that for a 5 gallon batch you would have a lot of headspace. That said, primary can create a lot of CO2, and that layer will stay over the beer assuming you have sealed in in some fashion. I am considering using CO2 to push it out, so you could simply inject a little extra to purge to O2.

 

What's to convert, lots of folks just simply remove the stem and insert a stopper and airlock. The older 7.75 gal short kegs would be perfect for a 5 gal batch.

 

I use 15.5 g sankes as primaries. You could ferment a 5g batch in them, the yeast will produce enough CO2 to blanket the wort and avoid any issues. Shouldn't be a problem. Leave the stem in and you can move the fermented wort out and even harvest yeast with CO2. Super easy. Check Wortmonger's Wiki on closed system fermentation.

 

I have two of them setup like this.



I have only used them once and had an off flavor, not sure if it was from the keg or not. But I have redone that brew and did not use them and no off flavor.
I have also since used them as a backup keggle when we were brewing 3 batches at the same time. Thinking of selling them though.

 

Here is the picture of the sanke built last week, its now in use. The picture shows it with a pressure gauge now has air lock. Also picture of the racking arm. Its also has a two inch end cap installed in bottom for easy cleaning.








Dominus Vobiscum

Swagman

 

Here's mine, and I love it.

I attach a testing line where the penny is shown for gravity samples when needed. I do 12.5 gallons in it at 15 psi of back pressure, and then up the pressure a few points out to what I would like for carbonation. Kegs are great no matter how you use them, I would just like to keep mine if wanted for serving ever. Nice designs though guys, very nice.

 

This is my setup.
I use a homemade pickup tube assembly to rack from the fermeter to the Corny Keg. One fitting has a liquid tube and the other is a gas-in.
It works great. I use Oxyclean to clean and sanitize by filling with a gallon of water and boil it over a burner for about 15 minutes.

 

How do you pull the stems?

and whats the cap on the center one made from? ... (how it seals) what parts?

Sorry if this has been covered but i can't find it on here.

 

OK,
The center Sankey keg has my home-built gas-in, liquid-out setup. It is built from a Tri-Clover clamp and blank cap that I drilled, tapped, and silver-soldered.
I copied it from a setup used by the wine industry. The wineries use a Sankey keg to top-off wooden barrels with wine that had evaporated. They run around with the keg and use CO2 to force the wine out a hose and into the barrel.

Here is a commercial version: Wine Barrel Topping

 

I just started using a Sanke as a fermenter. With Wortmongers assistance I was able to transfer the beer from the keg to the corny's. All I did was hook up regular Sanke tap to gas and a line to the corny liquid post sans poppet valve then turned on the gas to about 4 psi. Filled the corny in about 2 minutes no splashing no O2. And best part no lifting the sanke with 11 gallons of beer in it...