I've come into possession of a KEG!

[Frankdaatank24]

Ok, so I'm currently deployed right now, and a friend of mine unexpectedly sits infront of me on the mess decks. We start talking and all the sudden he's like "Man, I just remembered I have an empty keg in my room that I need to get rid of as soon as we get back." I immediatly jump and say I want it! Long story about the keg, but the fact of the matter is I have an empty keg when I get back and I want to turn it into a brew pot. So how would I do this?

I haven't brewed in a while, like almost a year due to being on the move, so I'm going to start small when I get back and then work my way into big batches with all grain, so I'm going to need a bigger brew pot. Plus a nice and shiny keg will make for an awesome pot anyways . Thanks guys!

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

Cut a hole in the top with a plasma cutter and weld a spigot on the outside. The sell weldless if you want that instead.

Make sure you release the pressure in the keg before you cut anything. Getting sprayed in the face with old nasty beer isn't fun.

 

[samc]

Many threads on HBT about this. Check out http://www.youtube.com/bobbyfromnj#p/search/0/LthGdMk_avk as one of the best .

Stay safe!

 

[IrregularPulse]

Or if you don't have a plasma cutter just lying around your garage, you can use an angle grinder with a cutting wheel.

 

[Scimmia]

Cut a hole in the top with a plasma cutter and weld a spigot on the outside. The sell weldless if you want that instead.

Make sure you release the pressure in the keg before you cut anything. Getting sprayed in the face with old nasty beer isn't fun.

Or if you don't have a plasma cutter just lying around your garage, you can use an angle grinder with a cutting wheel.

And you don't need a spigot if you don't want one, a regular siphon works fine.

And you don't need to release the pressure, cutting through the top will do that just fine. Releasing the pressure is what gets you sprayed in the face.

 

[Frankdaatank24]

Yea I was thinking plasma but I won't be able to get ahold of one very easily. Angle grinder however might be the way to go.

Oh, did I mention the keg is going to be free? Yea pretty happy about that

Thanks for the replys everyone!

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

And you don't need a spigot if you don't want one, a regular siphon works fine.

And you don't need to release the pressure, cutting through the top will do that just fine. Releasing the pressure is what gets you sprayed in the face.

When I cut open my first keg, I forgot to release the pressure. The second I went through the SS with my plasma cutter, it sprayed beer in my face. When I released pressure from the sanke port it didn't do much but let out a tiny bit of air. Maybe it's because the first one was still 1/4 full. Who knows...

I started out using a siphon from my keggle, but when I started getting into homegrown hops, it didn't work too well and would get clogged immediately. After that episode and having to pour the wort from the keggle (very messy), I was very insistant about buying a spigot.

 

[ChrisS68]

Very cool!
Thank you for your service. Get home safe so you can put that keg to use!

 

[mplutodh1]

Although others might disagree - I'd recommend releasing the pressure always - its just a safety thing. I don't like running the risk of any injuries or damages with containers of any kind under pressure. It takes almost no time to release pressure - I can do it by hand with the kegs I picked up - grab a screw driver and you're set.

 

[MacBruver]

And you don't need to release the pressure, cutting through the top will do that just fine. Releasing the pressure is what gets you sprayed in the face.

It's easy enough to release the pressure from the ball valve while not looking at the keg. Lay it on its side, poke it with a screwdriver or something, all while not staring right at it.

It's much harder to cut with an angle grinder without looking.

 

[Scimmia]

No reason that cutting through the top should get you sprayed, though. It will just release the pressurized gas on top and that's it.

 

[Frankdaatank24]

Doing a little searching in HBT and found this really nice post!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/converting-keg-1811/

 

[Frankdaatank24]

So just a quick note when acquiring said keg from a friend. EMPTY IT OUTSIDE!

As soon as I popped the seal on the keg, gallons of stale, stagnant beer rushed out. I'm talking projectile keg vomit. I carried the keg a little over a mile home walking from a barracks room, and yea it was a little heavy, but it wasn't too bad so I didn't think it was too full. I was thinking that I would bleed the air out of it and turn it on its side to drain it. So I go to break the seal on it but as soon as I was about to hit it a thought crossed in the back of my mind, better take this outside, and man am I glad I did!