Converting Firkin to Al barrel for Solera project

[kirklandj99]

Hey all,

I got this 9-10 gallon aluminum firkin from a friend. It is clean and never been used. Rather than using it to serve cask ales, I wanted to use it as a barrel for a solera project making neutral sour aged beers. I would like to get a valve on the keystone bung that I can use to take beer off the barrel for bottling, but since I will only take a portion of the beer out of the barrel at a time (and replacing lost volume immediately after) I want a valve that will hold indefinitely. I think hammering in the plastic valve as one would do to serve the cask ale is a risky proposition for long term storage/use. I was planning on just putting a stopper with an airlock in the shive bung.

Does anyone have ideas on how sturdy valves for the keystone bung? I was thinking about drilling a hole in a keystone bung and putting in a weldless metal valve and then hamming that into the bung hole, but I worry about weakening the plastic or wooden bung by drilling our a hole for the valve.

Thanks for the advise.

-JK

 

[TravelingLight]

Best bet would be to find a welder to clean weld on a tri-clover fitting and then add a ball valve. Outside of that, I got no ideas that I would trust for long term aging like a solera.

 

[kirklandj99]

Best bet would be to find a welder to clean weld on a tri-clover fitting and then add a ball valve. Outside of that, I got no ideas that I would trust for long term aging like a solera.

That's what I was afraid of. Thanks for the advice.