Sanke Kegs with Rubber Handles and Bottom

[quaboagbrewing]

A local brewery was kind enough to set aside a few retired sanke kegs for me to convert to keggles. The kegs appear from the photo they provided to be like corney kegs with rubber handles on top and rubber on the bottom as well. Can I remove the rubber from these (or if I am going to be adding electric elements to them do I even need to). I have attached a picture of one of the kegs

 

[microbusbrewery]

If you're not using gas, i'd probably just leave the rubber on there. I think it's vulcanized so it might be a bitch to get off. It's kind of hard to tell from the pic, but does the rubber cover most of the top? If so that might make it interesting when it's time to cut the top.

 

[quaboagbrewing]

If you're not using gas, i'd probably just leave the rubber on there. I think it's vulcanized so it might be a bitch to get off. It's kind of hard to tell from the pic, but does the rubber cover most of the top? If so that might make it interesting when it's time to cut the top.

from what I have been led to believe it's basically like a 15 gallon Corney Keg. Hard Rubber Handles and Skirt but the actual top is just stainless steel with no hard rubber covering. I am thinking about flipping this and cutting the bottom to make that the top of the kettle so I can then bottom drain. I'm going to pick them up next week. I have never seen any pictures of anyone using these types of kegs for their electric setup so venturing into unknown territory.

 

[microbusbrewery]

Bottom drain would be nice. Be sure to document your build. Then there will be at least one resource out there

It seems like it could help insulate the keggle. At the very least it should minimize conductive heat loss if the keggle is resting on a metal stand.

 

[ChocolateMaltyBalls]

Bottom drain is the way to go IMO, especially with electric. The only thing I would suggest is to put a side port and dip tube in the boil kettle for transferring wort and keep the bottom drain for dumping trub. While cutting out the bottom (soon to be top) might be a little more interesting those kegs should work great (if you go electric).

 

[quaboagbrewing]

Got some additional feedback (including from Kal @theelectricbrewery.com.) and I think I am going to keep looking for all SS kegs for my build out. Concerns were that with the high temperatures it could melt the rubber and attempting to remove the rubber would compromise the stability of the kegs. If I was getting these for free then I may have experimented a bit but since I was getting charged figured I'd rather apply that money to kegs that are guaranteed to work. Just wish it was easier to obtain old kegs for the conversion. I want to make sure the kegs I use were not obtained illegally so I have been calling/emailing directly to breweries. Most claim that they NEVER retire old kegs while others simply respond to my inquires. At the end of the day I may just have to bite the bullet and purchase new ones but was really hoping to avoid that.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

Got some additional feedback (including from Kal @theelectricbrewery.com.) and I think I am going to keep looking for all SS kegs for my build out. Concerns were that with the high temperatures it could melt the rubber and attempting to remove the rubber would compromise the stability of the kegs. If I was getting these for free then I may have experimented a bit but since I was getting charged figured I'd rather apply that money to kegs that are guaranteed to work. Just wish it was easier to obtain old kegs for the conversion. I want to make sure the kegs I use were not obtained illegally so I have been calling/emailing directly to breweries. Most claim that they NEVER retire old kegs while others simply respond to my inquires. At the end of the day I may just have to bite the bullet and purchase new ones but was really hoping to avoid that.

If you are just paying scrap value, as they are retired, consider getting at least one anyway as they would make awesome fermentors.

 

[microbusbrewery]

If you are just paying scrap value, as they are retired, consider getting at least one anyway as they would make awesome fermentors.

Ditto, I just started a Solera project with a sanke keg.

 

[FriendOfBrewers]

I found one of the partially-rubber-coated kegs at a salvage yard and decided it would make a good mash tun.

I have attached a couple of pictures.
There's one showing what it looked like when I picked it up (I made sure a 2" tri-clamp would fit). While cleaning it up, the bottom the came off pretty easily. (The keg is from 1984 and I think it's spent a good many of those 30 years sitting outside. I suspect the dents are from water seeping between the rubber and the stainless and then freezing.) I polished it up a bit and then cut the bottom out. I'm using the rubber bottom as an insulating lid to the mash tun.

 

[FriendOfBrewers]

The mash tun was used for it's first brew last night. Here's a picture of it in mid-mash.

(Looking at it now that I've covered it with two layers of reflective insulation and a yoga mat, it seems like all that time I spent polishing it will go unappreciated. )