Dented Keg?

[HempelNet]

I recently scored a few Miller sanke kegs thanks to my neighbor setting them out for trash pickup. Or should I say my neighbor’s wife for making him get rid of them. I could almost see a tear form up in his eye while he was taking them out of his garage.

Anyways I noticed that one of the kegs as a slight dent along the top lip pushing inwards. What would be the best way to attempt to bend this lip back into shape to allow a large clean cut?

I was thinking of placing it on its side then hitting a block of wood with a sledge hammer but figured I would consult the pros here before making it worse. Thanks..

 

[wyzazz]

Nice Score!

Baby Sledge, or your block of wood idea should work fine.

 

[brewmonk]

what is a slight dent? can you just cut off the top and grind out the offending protected area?
what size lid are you cutting for?

 

[Ohio-Ed]

The ring around the top is going to be pretty solid. If you lay it on it's side and start beating on the ring, you might end up flatening the side a bit. As Brewmonk asked... how bad is the "dent"? If you can live with it, I'd probably leave it alone.

 

[HempelNet]

The dent is not too bad but I would like as large as opening as possible. I will try to remember to take a picture of it tonight for you.

It is more a factor of OCD every time I will use it to brew I will be staring at that deformed lip.

The other plan I had was to shape two blocks of wood to the inner diameter of the keg then use a scissor jack to slowly bend it back. My only worry with this is causing additional deformation.

As always thanks for the feedback!

 

[brrman]

I have a dent in top rim of my keg and I tried to sledge it out. All I did was make horrible noises. The dent wouldn't budge... so I left it alone and use it as my keggle without any worries. I don't need beautiful equipment, just functional stuff.

The dent will grow on you - just draw a little face on it with a sharpie...

 

[conpewter]

I've not had luck with a sledgehammer either. If I do try again I'll probably use a jack of some sort and cut a piece of wood to fit the other side.

 

[brewmonk]

face it towards the back, and have a beer.

why do you need the largest hole possible?
I made my boiler a small hole, large enough to fit in an immersion chiller (and it uses the SS spaghetti pot lid from allclad). no empirical evidence, but it really seems to inhibit boilovers by rolling the foam in towards the center.

p.s. the immersion chiller was copper tube wrapped around the outside of a cornie.