New Corney keg lids with thermowell

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Jaybird

Jaybird

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Just popped these up on the site. I had enough people PM me about making them as a 1 off part and loads of emails. WELL here it is. its a 12" Thermowell welded to a NEW corney lid then acid washed and cleaned.

SKU# 3393 $64.99 Comes with a new O-Ring as well

Cheers
Jay
SankeKegLid1.1.jpg
SankeKegLid2.1.jpg
 
$65? Seems a little high.
 
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Not when you consider it’s a new lid, and a thermowell, and the labor to drill a hole, clean it up, weld, and clean it up again.

The lid is not a cheap replacement part.
 
schematix said:
Not when you consider it’s a new lid, and a thermowell, and the labor to drill a hole, clean it up, weld, and clean it up again.

The lid is not a cheap replacement part.
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm just cheap and I just tapped a new keg, so I'm kinda poppin' off at the mouth....

I'm only hating on the price. The weld looks super clean, but it still seems expensive for something you can do with a stainless compression fitting from aliexpress for $2.50. Let me know when you drop $65 for one...
 
schematix said:
I have 3...

Jay can confirm but I believe I was the first to have him make these.

View attachment 568603
Click to expand...

In that case...

Wanna sponsor a poor brewer in grad school and allow me to do an unbiased test review of it's superiority?

On a serious note, its strong work by @Jaybird as usual...I'm just upset it's not in my brewing budget and trying to guilt a roll out price drop! ;) Maybe one day...
 
Is this more targeted to those fermenting in cornies? Not sure I would need this otherwise..I drop my cornies into the freezer, set the freezer temp and carb/drink. No thermo needed for that..

Now if you figure out how to do something with the lid that I could use to drop additions in and keep it from clogging the dip tube that is easy cleanup, I am in.
 
Yah this is for fermentation, not serving.

Either for cornys or with the blichmann fermenator (they use a corny lid in their lid), which doesn't have a thermowell.
 
I wouldn't mind paying $65 for this if you also put a hole for an airlock in the lid next to that thermowell. Is this something you can make too?

Additionally, why so short? I do 2.5 gallon batches in my corny too and this looks like it definitely won't work for that.
 
Mine handle the pressure no problem.... it's a standard corny lid.

The reason it's so short, but still long enough, is because you have to tilt the lid to fit it in a corny. The thermowell hits the side of the keg when tilted. It's literally as long as it can be and still fit.
 
arnobg said:
I wouldn't mind paying $65 for this if you also put a hole for an airlock in the lid next to that thermowell.
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Spunding valves are pretty cheap and do a better job than an airlock would.

As far as expense, we are used to seeing prices for stuff built by mass manufacturing lines. Any time you have a real person do custom work like this, it is going to cost more.
 
A hole for an airlock would compromise the ability to apply pressure to the keg or fermentor, which cripples many of the advantages of those vessels.

I just take the gas post off and attach a 1/2" silicone blow off tube. Once fermentation calms down i put the the post back in, attach the spund valve on at low psi and go.
 
arnobg said:
I wouldn't mind paying $65 for this if you also put a hole for an airlock in the lid next to that thermowell. Is this something you can make too?

Additionally, why so short? I do 2.5 gallon batches in my corny too and this looks like it definitely won't work for that.
Click to expand...

Any longer and you cannot get it in the keg. The angle you have to put the lid at to get it in the keg is the factor.

Cheers
Jay
 
As for the price. I totally understand! This is kind of why I haven't put it out there. The cost to do it really is spendy. BUT if you are interested. Here is how I came up with it.

$20 NEW lid
$13 Thermowell
$2 to drill the hole and clean it up
$30 for the labor
LABOR= cut the thermowell and clean it up. Weld the thermowell, acid wash and passivate the weld and clean it up. Then add to a keg and pressure test to 30# using CO2


Cheers
Jay
 
Jaybird said:
As for the price. I totally understand! This is kind of why I haven't put it out there. The cost to do it really is spendy. BUT if you are interested. Here is how I came up with it.

$20 NEW lid
$13 Thermowell
$2 to drill the hole and clean it up
$30 for the labor
LABOR= cut the thermowell and clean it up. Weld the thermowell, acid wash and passivate the weld and clean it up. Then add to a keg and pressure test to 30# using CO2


Cheers
Jay
Click to expand...

After my initial post, I tried to come up with cost for doing this, and these were the exact the figures I was thinking. So, I get it. Pay for quality, and get quality. And I do see the utility in these for fermenting...maybe when I try spunding I'll splurge for one. <- For some reason, that statement sounds nasty
 
This isn't for spunding - this is a part for fermenting in a keg, or in a Blichmann Fermenator (i would assume they fit but don't trust me).

You can ferment in a bucket, rack to a regular keg, and spund. O2 police would probably say something about the bucket though ;-)
 
I love the idea of fermenting in a keg. No airlock means no suckback when coldcrashing.

So, is there an easy way to do a transfer from the fermentor with this? I imagine you could use the beer tube/post (and put gas on the gas post) but you'd have to cut it short to get above the trub, right? I'd be concerned, then, with the poppet clogging during transfer, especially if there was a lot of dryhops.

[edit] wait... there's no posts on there. Hmmm...
 
schematix said:
Transfers with this could not be any easier.

Pictures and diagrams here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/pressurized-closed-loop-corny-keg-fermenting.600563/
Click to expand...

Derp, I was thinking the posts were normally on the lid, and that somehow this Jaybird gizmo left the keg without gas/beer posts. Of course, the posts are on the keg.

Anyway, I have a lot of kegs and I'm really interested in doing this. I'll probably start with pilsners since I'm really concerned with 1) clogging the poppets with ale blowoff, and 2) dryhopping.
 
The trick is to let the kettle trub settle before racking to ferm, and all dry hops have to be bagged and suspended from the lid. Big hassle, but makes great beers.
 
schematix said:
The trick is to let the kettle trub settle before racking to ferm, and all dry hops have to be bagged and suspended from the lid. Big hassle, but makes great beers.
Click to expand...
I started experimenting with this technique over the winter and I especially like it when transferring to the serving keg. Here's what I have been doing:
1. Chill to the mid 60's with a plate chiller to a carboy. Chill the rest of the way in the fermentation chamber. Trub/cold break settles out.
2. Transfer to a keg, pitch, aerate and close up the keg. I tried dry hopping right when I pitched and it came out ok. Used Schmatix's method of tying a hop bag to a hose clamp on the lid.
3. Use a blow-off tube for the first 4-6 days then connect to a second keg with a spund valve when fermentation slows. As you can see from the picture above (my FV and chamber) I don't have the thermowell keg lid yet, but that's the next gadget purchase.
4. Transfer to the serving keg is super easy. Connect the two kegs with the full one above and let it rack itself. No Oxygen contact once I pitch. I highly recommend giving it a try. Only problems I've run into is under attenuation by a couple of points with some strains that I found don't like to ferment under pressure. But those two beers won a second and third in their respective categories in a comp. The beers held up nicely in the keezer too.
 
passedpawn said:
Derp, I was thinking the posts were normally on the lid, and that somehow this Jaybird gizmo left the keg without gas/beer posts. Of course, the posts are on the keg.

Anyway, I have a lot of kegs and I'm really interested in doing this. I'll probably start with pilsners since I'm really concerned with 1) clogging the poppets with ale blowoff, and 2) dryhopping.
Click to expand...

Once you start fermenting in a keg and being able to use all your serving and transferring stuff you be blown away at what cool things can happen in your process and how your processes start to really take shape with labor (or the lack of it) in mind.

I am fermenting in a commercial keg and LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

Cheers
Jay
 
Thanks jaybird. I've been meaning to make one of these for years for the 10 gallon cornies I ferment in but never had the time to figure out all the needed parts to do it without welding. I just grabbed the last one you have listed as in stock. I might be interested in a second one if you do another run.
 
mcomb said:
Thanks jaybird. I've been meaning to make one of these for years for the 10 gallon cornies I ferment in but never had the time to figure out all the needed parts to do it without welding. I just grabbed the last one you have listed as in stock. I might be interested in a second one if you do another run.
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I'll put a couple more up tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for the order. should ship today.

Cheers
Jay
 
mcomb said:
Thanks jaybird. I've been meaning to make one of these for years for the 10 gallon cornies I ferment in but never had the time to figure out all the needed parts to do it without welding. I just grabbed the last one you have listed as in stock. I might be interested in a second one if you do another run.
Click to expand...
If you are in a 10 gallon I may be able to make the thermowell a tad longer for you I just need to know the diameter of the keg is all.

Cheers
Jay
 
Jaybird said:
If you are in a 10 gallon I may be able to make the thermowell a tad longer for you I just need to know the diameter of the keg is all.

Cheers
Jay
Click to expand...
Jaybird said:
I'll put a couple more up tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for the order. should ship today.

Cheers
Jay
Click to expand...
Jay,

I've been waiting for over a week for a response to multiple private messages regarding a faulty weld on a keg lid w/thermowell that I purchased from you.

A response would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
jpb2716 said:
Jay,

I've been waiting for over a week for a response to multiple private messages regarding a faulty weld on a keg lid w/thermowell that I purchased from you.

A response would be appreciated. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Sorry about that... I thought we sent you an email from our sales system on how to return that part. Let me check it out.

Jay
 
You know this gives me an idea. What if you are fermenting in a Ball Lock and want to do oxygen free transfers AND stay above the trub/yeast line? What about a Pass through compression fitting welded to the keg kid? This way you can adjust the racking cane ON THE FLY! Thoughts? I actually think we can do this WITH a thermowell also!

Input is greatly appreciated.....

Cheers
Jay
Keg lid with compression.jpg
 
I never had an issue staying above the trub. I just bent the dip tube over to the side. I measured i'd leave about 600mL in the keg, most of which was slurry.

This does seem like it would work though. Do you think the racking tube would slide while still be able to hold pressure?
 
schematix said:
I never had an issue staying above the trub. I just bent the dip tube over to the side. I measured i'd leave about 600mL in the keg, most of which was slurry.

This does seem like it would work though. Do you think the racking tube would slide while still be able to hold pressure?
Click to expand...

Ohh yeah we do it all the time in a Sanke keg. We use a 111 O ring in place of the ferrules that come in the compression. It works KILLER!
 

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