kegging sanke???

[jesse]

Just wondering if anybody knows how to put beer into a regular 1/2 or 1/4 barrel??? Just picked up 2 -7.75 and 1- 14.5 gallon kegs..Is it possible to clean and fill them?? Do i need special equiptment??

 

[david_42]

You need special equipment for cleaning and filling.

 

[Hustler]

Actually you can disassemble the keg with home tools, it is just difficult to clean the keg given that the hole that gives you access is so small. They use high powered washers to clean them typically. But there are people who use them for homebrewing.

http://www.physics.arizona.edu/~workman/homebrew/Sanke.html

 

[Bobby_M]

I suspect some hot water, a carboy brush, and a little sanitizer would do it. I took all my sankes apart with a small screwdriver. It's not hard at all. See my keggle conversion video in the linky below.

Filling requires special equipment? How about a siphon hose and gravity?

 

[smoke76]

Bobby,
I just watched your video. once you refill the keg, all that you do then is hook it up to your kegerator and the co2 will carbonize it, right? Just wondering since I have a sanke typer kegerator and want to use it for kegging but really don't want to change it all over and buy more kegs!

g

 

[Bobby_M]

Yup, that's about it. Regular pressure/temperature issues still apply. You'll need to set your regulator based on how many volumes you'd want. Personally I like more variety than you'd get with a full 15 gallons of a single batch, but whatever you like!

 

[jesse]

Yup, that's about it. Regular pressure/temperature issues still apply. You'll need to set your regulator based on how many volumes you'd want. Personally I like more variety than you'd get with a full 15 gallons of a single batch, but whatever you like!

Have you filled a keg and used it before??I just got a hold of 2 1/4 barrels in great condition for $20.I agree 15 gallons is a **** load of beer...But what about7.75???What what you use to sanatize??Amberdyne?? Thanks for the video

 

[Bobby_M]

I've never done it myself, no. Once you take the top valve/spear out of the keg, it's just a wide open vessel with a skinny neck just like a carboy. If you feel confident you can get it clean (why not), go ahead and siphon the beer in. Now, the trickier part might be sanitizing the spear/valve assembly. I've taken these apart as well, just messing around. I suspect sitting it upside down in a small bucket of sanitizer will clean the externals. You might want to fill the keg with 1 gallon of sanitizer, insert the spear, attach the tap, pressurize and dispense the sanitier out. This will clean the inside of the spear, valve and the tap internals. If I really wanted to stick with sanke taps only, I'd go for it.

So far, I've only tapped sanke kegs on a short term basis for a party and I transfered any leftovers directly into a 5 gallon corny. People think a 1/2 keg of beer is so much cheaper than bottles but it's really not when you return the keg with over half the beer left.