"polishing your keg" is more than a clever euphemism

[sirsloop]

Oh its drinkable... I actually had one last night. If I knew it came from a shiney keg I would enjoy it more though! HAHAH!

 

[Brewtopia]

WOW!

You'll have a showpiece brewery when you're all finished. :rockin:

 

[WortMonger]

Dang, I can't wait. Should this take off the darker stains on the bottom of my kettle? That is just.....WOW!!!!!!!!

 

[Lil' Sparky]

So how many of each pad did you end up using and how long did it take?

Oh, and enough making things pretty. It's time to get that stand working. Make it pretty later!

 

[olllllo]

Just don't do this Bobby.

 

[Bobby_M]

I know, I'm not going to polish the remaining two until AFTER I brew on this damn thing.

It took two finishing pads to get it even, then two polishing pads, one for each polishing compound grit. Then I hand waxed it with carnuba cleaner/wax.

In all, I think it ran me $20 in supplies for one keg. I spent about 3 hours on it in all, spread over like 6 days.


Wait olllo, do you mean to tell me you CAN'T see my **** in that pic?

 

[Atl300zx]

so i wire wheeled mine, and used it for the first time saturday.

What can i do to make sure it doesnt rust from my wire wheel contaminating the SS with non-SS?

 

[Lil' Sparky]

I was also wondering, do you think this will make it easier to clean off burnt on boil-overs? I usually have at least a little boilover if I'm doing an 11 gal batch.

 

[BlackenedBrew]

so i wire wheeled mine, and used it for the first time saturday.

What can i do to make sure it doesnt rust from my wire wheel contaminating the SS with non-SS?

Ouch, I don't think I would have taken the risk of contamination... but seeing as the damage is already done, don't suppose you could put a clear coat on it? If it's your keggle, I doubt that would work with the heat. If it's not your keggle, a clear coat might work? Anyone else?

 

[Lil' Sparky]

Bar Keepers Friend works really well, but I don't know how it would do in your situation. Worth a try, though.

 

[WortMonger]

You could try pickling it with pickling paste. I heard that removes surface iron from SS, but don't quote me on that. I haven't had time to research it, just throwing it out there. I have one weld in a keggle that the guy used a wire brush to polish up the weld a little and my cleaning regiment helps keep it rust free, but I have to keep an eye on it between uses. Can't believe a dairy welder would use a brush that wasn't SS safe. I think that guy had it in for me. I really don't know about your situation though, maybe a couple of scrubbings with BKF Bar Keepers Friend would work to remove the rust and passivate (I think that is the word) the SS again.

Edit: Dang Sparky, you were too fast for me to promote the BKF, lol. That stuff is amazing for the inside of the kettle every now and then.

 

[njnear76]

Before and After, or I guess it's after and before..

Very nice!

 

[Atl300zx]

You could try pickling it with pickling paste. I heard that removes surface iron from SS, but don't quote me on that. I haven't had time to research it, just throwing it out there. I have one weld in a keggle that the guy used a wire brush to polish up the weld a little and my cleaning regiment helps keep it rust free, but I have to keep an eye on it between uses. Can't believe a dairy welder would use a brush that wasn't SS safe. I think that guy had it in for me. I really don't know about your situation though, maybe a couple of scrubbings with BKF Bar Keepers Friend would work to remove the rust and passivate (I think that is the word) the SS again.

Ill give Bar Keepers Friend a shot first since i have that on hand.

I works really well at removing everything else from SS.

Could i just further sand it to mirror shine with regular sand paper and alleviate any issues?

 

[Bobby_M]

I do expect a polished keg to clean up a little faster/easier. The polishing did take off the heat discoloration on the bottom skirt, but I'm sure it will come back.

 

[lustreking]

The polishing did take off the heat discoloration on the bottom skirt, but I'm sure it will come back.

Yeah, you can see it on mine in the picture in the first page of the thread. That was taken during the first boil after it was polished, so it comes back pretty quick.

 

[paranode]

Dang that is impressive. I'd like to see pics if anyone does this to a corny.

 

[Kevin Dean]

Shiny! Looks great Bobby, but I don't think I'd care enough to do that much work.

Especially on an AB keg.

 

[Bobby_M]

Well the fact that it's an AB keg doesn't make it shine any less, that's for sure. It actually makes the BBQ paint on the stand look really bad though. I should have gone with a gloss engine paint instead. I wonder if I could just go over it. It's a pretty flat finish so I think it would act as a decent primer.

Regarding polishing cornies like this, I would guess that you could do two cornies on a single pad. Most of the destruction of the pads occurs when you hit the ridges in the sanke. A corny is so flat, you could knock one off in about 10 minutes of work.

 

[WortMonger]

I have a kettle and the top skirt part on two tuns to shine like this . Oh, and I don't care if the scorch comes back because that would still look so much better scorched than it does right now. I am so glad you did this thread, but I don't have an angle grinder. I need to go buy one for flipping houses, but can't afford it right this second with the house selling and everything being tied up. Any other suggestions?

 

[TWilson]

Then I hand waxed it with carnuba cleaner/wax.

There is a dirty joke in here somewhere, but I won't say anything about your *******.

On a serious note, I wonder if the heat/flame will scorch or discolor the wax on the kegs? Have you used the waxed keg on your burner yet?

 

[Bobby_M]

I don't know of any other tool that would do this job. They do sell cheaper ($20) polishing machines but nothing near the 15,000 rpm of a grinder. If you have a random orbital sander, you could go that route using progressively finer grit.

I don't know how the wax is going to hold up under heat. I haven't used it yet.

 

[Shockerengr]

I have a kettle and the top skirt part on two tuns to shine like this . Oh, and I don't care if the scorch comes back because that would still look so much better scorched than it does right now. I am so glad you did this thread, but I don't have an angle grinder. I need to go buy one for flipping houses, but can't afford it right this second with the house selling and everything being tied up. Any other suggestions?

do you have a harbor freight nearby? they often have their cheap angle grinder on sale for $10...or you can splurge for the one with needle bearings for $15

 

[WortMonger]

Nope, no harbor freight nearby. I think we have an disc sander that is compressor driven. I may see if I can find a compressor to borrow to use it. Ours gave up the ghost long ago.

 

[explosivebeer]

I'll definitely have to break out my angle grinder when I have a little free time. Thanks for the info!

 

[Chriso]

Woooooohoo, them are pretty kegs!!! I am doing this to mine for sure, once I get it. Thanks for the info, Bobby!

 

[capcrnch]

FWIW, since im sure a bunch of people are going to get kegenvy after reading...

"Technically", you don't need to start applying with anything under about 1000grit.
If you spray the work area with WD40, then start working it with the 1000 grit, then follow that will some jewelers rouge, you'll get a bling bling keg fo' sho'.
The only time you'd really need to drop to a rougher grit would be if your keg was scratched or gouged.

I do alot of aluminum polishing with automotive parts (intakes, valve covers, turbos, etc etc) and a keg would be a nice change.. Nice smooth surface, no major cuts or harsh bends, no "orange peel" like surfaces...

 

[Bobby_M]

That's a good point but I think most kegs we get our hands on are pretty sorry looking. If you look at the first post, the keg with the orange paint on it is about as clean as it's going to get. I'm going to hit the whole thing with the "fine" finishing pads only instead of backing out to the rough sandpaper. I think there's quite a difference between cast aluminum and stainless too. I know 100-220 grit would put a serious hurtin on aluminum. The stainless laughs it off. In any case, it doesn't hurt to experiment with the finer grits first. If it's slow going, back out a few grades.

 

[WortMonger]

Yeah, I bought a SABCO kettle and it was/is pretty dinged up. Honestly, I thought it was going to look better than it did. At least now it will shine

 

[Shockerengr]

That's a good point but I think most kegs we get our hands on are pretty sorry looking. If you look at the first post, the keg with the orange paint on it is about as clean as it's going to get. I'm going to hit the whole thing with the "fine" finishing pads only instead of backing out to the rough sandpaper. I think there's quite a difference between cast aluminum and stainless too. I know 100-220 grit would put a serious hurtin on aluminum. The stainless laughs it off. In any case, it doesn't hurt to experiment with the finer grits first. If it's slow going, back out a few grades.

yeah, i started mine with a 120 grit flap wheel....really felt like i was using a high grit sandpaper on it

 

[98EXL]

well...the madness has begun on mine too.......SWMBO said she wasn't surprised that the kegs I had weren't perfect enough!