Sanke Keg Reassembly Issues

[SeamusMac]

Hey all,

I have a 50L Sanke keg that I'm experimenting with right now. My experiment pertains to the correct amount of head space to leave in a 50L keg when using it to keg home brew, but that's another topic completely.

I cannot for the life of me get the sanke retaining ring back inside the mouth of the keg. The tube doesn't seem to want to go deeply enough into the keg to allow for the groove, which the ring fits into, to be entirely exposed. As a result my pressure tests have been useless up to this point as the pressure normally just pops the ring out of it's half in - half out position and vents all my pressure.

Is there a trick to this? Maybe a special tool I can construct? Anything?! I want this to go over well, the keg was free and I'd rather not have to buy cornies + the associated equipment to eliminate the hassle of bottling my session beers.

THANKS HBT!

 

[killian]

I think you should be able to just feed it in, have you tried using pliers. Are you forcing the housing down with something? I have been considering this for a long time but I have yet to try it.

 

[SeamusMac]

I've been feeding it in with pliers and using a screw driver to hold it in along the way. I'm also pressing down on the top of the tube with a dowel that I have against my chest, but with no success.

 

[Dwain]

I have a 30L keg. It is much harder to get the tube to seat than the other 7.5 gal. kegs that I have. There is an extra set of "ears" on the 30L keg. It kinda screws in, then it drops down on the 2nd set of ears. Its enough of a PITA that I'm probably going to use it for a fermenter instead of a serving keg. Luck - Dwain

 

[SeamusMac]

Its enough of a PITA that I'm probably going to use it for a fermenter instead of a serving keg. Luck - Dwain

Perhaps that was the intent of the keg producers to keep home brewers from using them... fiendish devils! I'm going to try to figure out a way to get some downward leverage on the siphon tube while attacking the retaining ring to see if I can't get it all the way in there.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Hey...Clutchdude has the procedure here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/installing-retaining-ring-sanke-keg-64128/

 

[SeamusMac]

Thanks wilserbrewer! I think that is exactly what I'm looking for. I'll grab some pliers from my dad's pace tomorrow and try it out.

 

[wilserbrewer]

SeamusMac, Dont despair...once you realize how this is done...it becomes very easy...just gradually work the pliers around the ring and it will find its way home.

 

[SeamusMac]

Success! Thanks for the replies guys, especially wilserbrewer. I'm really excited to get to work on kegging and naturally carbing some Hefe in my 50L keg.