sanke kegs??

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Plumeja

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i was wondering how hard this are to use in home brewing. just talked to the local brew shop and he said that it is a hard way to go about it so i was looking for in put. i have used the Cornelius kegs before and realize that they are easy but i can get free sanke kegs.
thanks
 
Here is a good thread on using Sankes for homebrewing.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/using-sanke-kegs-homebrew-257367

Unless brewing 15 gallon batches, I would stick with Corny kegs, due to the size and ease of cleaning. If you have an unlimited supply of sankes, you can cut the tops, make a few keggles, keep a few and trade the others for smaller kegs or brewing equip. Good Luck. :mug:
 
I am all about using sankes, because the whole homebrew industry wants you to use soda kegs. The majority of my cost is in the sanke kegs themselves, but they are still cheaper than the soda kegs.

If you have access to free 1/6 barrel kegs I would say GO FOR IT. The biggest pain in the ass is getting the o-ring out of the keg, but I will personally help ya if you have any questions on it. I have a 4 tap kegerator with 8 sanke kegs and I can switch the tops off them in a matter of minutes after much experience. I will also say that I think you can get used 1/6 sankes cheaper than soda kegs.

The biggest thing for me is that I take my brews to my friend's partys and I don't have to take some huge jockey box or crazy accessory. I bring my keg and a pump - maybe a trash can if they don't have one.

I sincerely think with the "boom" of soda and corny kegs in the Homebrewer society, sankes are actually the CHEAPER and better option.
 
Sanke's are really not hard to use. Alot of people, including me, use them. Once you get the hang of taking them apart, it's easy. They are also real easy to clean....and you can bring your kegged homebrew to places that might not have ball lock disconnects. Which is tremendously helpful when brewing for weddings, or BBQs etc.
 
Where are these sources of "cheaper" sankes? Because I had considered it, but couldn't justify the extra cost. Granted, that was two years ago when I picked up soda kegs for $37 each.
 
If 2.5gal (10L) sanke's were easily purchased for the cost of the 1/6's, I'd have gone the Sanke route.

It's a better design, plain and simple. If I was buying brand new everything, I'd be taking a hard look at Sanke as the added cost of fittings is offset by the cost of the kegs themselves.

It used to be that for purchasing used, cornies were still cheaper all the way around - just way more maintenance on the backside to get you up to speed. That was a good way to go when they were 25 bucks a pop. Now, well, it's debatable IMO.
 
I just kegged my first half-barrel last night! I only went a the sankey route because I brew 20 gallons at a time. The design is not nearly as friendly as a soda keg, but when you hook up your sankey, you'll be very pleased at how easy it is as well as the versatility. Unless you brew some bit batches, stick to the soda keg.
 
1/6 sanke is the size of a corny keg. If you can get them free, go for it. They're not hard to use. But in terms of ease of use, corny kegs are by far easier in day to day use. Sanke kegs can be a pita. With proper tools, it's easier. There is a trade off... But both work.

Those who use sanke will try to down play the pain a sanke keg can be, but don't be fooled. They will also up play the "issues" corny kegs have. If you maintain them properly, they are both equally as effective.

But if you get the sanke free, definetly go that route.
 
Silentdrinker said:
Those who use sanke will try to down play the pain a sanke keg can be, but don't be fooled.
Click to expand...

I can open and close my sanke kegs in less than 10 seconds. I'll video tape it if you think I'm "fooling" you.

Anyways, if you want to go the corny route, I'd encourage you to do so. Bump up the demand even more than what it already is to make sankes cheaper for me :)
 
bondra76 said:
I can open and close my sanke kegs in less than 10 seconds.
Click to expand...

Plus one! Not sure I can make ten seconds, but it is not hard all with a little practice. One thing I really like about sanke kegs, is once I lock down the sanke D coupler, I am confident it won't leak...not sure I could make the same claim using overpriced 25 y/o corny kegs.
 
bondra76 said:
I can open and close my sanke kegs in less than 10 seconds. I'll video tape it if you think I'm "fooling" you.

Anyways, if you want to go the corny route, I'd encourage you to do so. Bump up the demand even more than what it already is to make sankes cheaper for me :)
Click to expand...

No one said a post can't be taken out or installed fast. That's only half the issue. They have special clips that can make that task faster than 10 seconds. Or you can modify the ring to get something in easier to pull it out and use pliers to remove it..

Cleaning is another, and I know a pbw soak does it, but that adds time. Assuring the stem is all cleaned up is never easier. The ball assembly can not come apart to assure its cleaned fully.

So take a disgusting sanke keg, disassemble every part of it and clean it until it's 100%. I promise you that corny keg would be serving beer before you got that sanke back together. Unless you have extra, expensive, equipment.

Dry hopping in the keg isn't easier either. And sometimes the added height of the coupler is an issue for smaller kegerators.

Bottom line, it's a trade off. Both work, but both have their pros and cons. Simplicity in the long run is not a sankes pro. Being less prone to leaking is a pro.

I don't even think cost is a pro especially since they're very rare to find. And often they're 40-60 (what corny kegs sell for here)
 
wilserbrewer said:
I disagree....the sanke stem comes apart without much effort.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/sanke-keg-further-revealed-28915/

Complete dis-assembly and cleaning of either style will take time...
Click to expand...

I've tried removing that plug before and only tore the thing. That would be an expensive repair I'd suspect unless one can source the gasket and not the whole assembly. But ok, still proves my point that it's far more of a pita than using a deep socket wrench.
 
wilserbrewer said:
:confused:
Click to expand...

Sorry this confuses you... But topic = beaten to a pulp

You and I clearly have a difference in opinion on what simplicity is... Bust out a socket vs a vise, wrench, pliers, screw driver...etc. Dealing with the methods to clean insid the kegs and dealing with the methods needed to clean couplers... If that's easier for you, cool.

Again, both methods work. I don't care what people use. Use sanke kegs if sanke kegs are what you want to use, but I will never be convince it's EASIER... Do your thing and move on.

I'm over this topic... My points and opinions have been beaten to death.

Sorry if this also confuses you...
 
For what it is worth I use both. I have 1/4 and 1/6 barrels and Corney kegs. Its nice that I can pick up a commerical keg if I want.
 
I keep seeing these threads and they always seem to come down to how simple it is to take out the spear. My question is why would anyone want to take out the spear? Sanke's are not designed to have the spear removed each time they are filled. I've been using them exclusively for about 10 yrs now and have only taken spears out once or twice to insure that I am getting them clean and out of curiosity as to how the spear is put together.
 
I use corny kegs just cuz a few years ago they were cheaper. However, I always thought sanke kegs were the way to go.

I have one sanke, I don't use it in the keezer but I did build it with the swivel nuts so I could change out the connection point.

I also have one pin lock keg that I got with some other items I got off craigslist.

At this point, if/when I get more kegs I will most likely go with sanke kegs unless I find corny kegs for a cheaper price, which doesn't look like it.

If you can get the 1/6 kegs or the slim 1/4 kegs free.... I would do it.
 
ajdelange said:
I keep seeing these threads and they always seem to come down to how simple it is to take out the spear. My question is why would anyone want to take out the spear? Sanke's are not designed to have the spear removed each time they are filled. I've been using them exclusively for about 10 yrs now and have only taken spears out once or twice to insure that I am getting them clean and out of curiosity as to how the spear is put together.
Click to expand...

Very interested to understand how you fill up your kegs without removing a spear in your sanke keg. Please teach me your jedi tricks.
 
I'm considering kegging a 5 gallon batch in a 1/2bbl that got emptied of bud light about 2 years ago.

if I remove the spear carefully and let it soak with pbw then rinse and fill halfway with no-rinse sanitizer and pressurize and pull that through the lines and then disconnect and remove the spear again ill be ok to fill with 5 gal of homebrew and force carb? Because this would save me the $100 I need to convert kegerator and purchase a corny
 
wtaylor3 said:
I'm considering kegging a 5 gallon batch in a 1/2bbl that got emptied of bud light about 2 years ago.
Click to expand...


Yes, you can remove the spear, clean, sanitize, refill, and purge the headspace.

Yes, you can use the keg to push cleaner and sanitizer through the beer line. I have even used a turkey baster to push cleaner and sanitizer through the sanke coupling and beer line...works surprisingly well :) Hold the coupler as high as possible.

Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/
 
bondra76 said:
Very interested to understand how you fill up your kegs without removing a spear in your sanke keg. Please teach me your jedi tricks.
Click to expand...

Nothing Jedi about it. You just have to emulate commercial brewery practice. They do not remove spears when they fill or clean kegs.

Designate one of your couplers for keg filling use (this doesn't mean you can't use it for dispense too). Remove the pea (liquid check) and gas check. Get a couple of these valves: http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/fittings-pid-7419-1.html. Put together a keg filling device like this one http://www.pbase.com/agamid/image/122950815. You may already have such a device for counter pressure filling Corny kegs. You will also need a hefty pump and a reservoir for cleaning solution. The rig I came up with is pictured here: http://www.pbase.com/agamid/image/109220058. That's the biggest (2 HP) single phase pump I could buy from Grainger. It's used for cleaning fermenters as well as kegs (that's what the valves and hose going off to the right side of the picture are for). Were it for kegs alone it wouldn't have to be so hefty but you do want cleaning fluid going up the spear at a good clip. The pump is fed from the cone of a small (spare) cylindroconical I have from way back. The cleaning solution gets blasted up the spear through the liquid port on the coupler. Part of the design of these things is such that the solution gets blown about inside the intricate parts of the spear making sure they get cleaned. It then fountains up the spear onto the bottom of the keg which, being dome shaped, distributes the liquid like an umbrella. It cascades down the sides and out the through the gas port then back into the unitank through the stainless pipe hooked over the edge. You will notice a yellow coiled hose that connects to the top of the tees on the pump. That admits compressed air (be sure to have an oil separator installed if you do this) which can be used to regulate how much liquid is in the keg. You don't want 10 inches of solution standing in the bottom (top as it's inverted) of the keg as the cleaning action is much enhanced by the flow down the sides. After one is finished recirculating for cleaning the compressed air blows all the liquid out through the gas port back into the unitank ready for the next keg.

Rinse with water and follow up with whatever you use for beerstone followed by another rinse. If you are using an acid based product that doesn't have to be rinsed and can also serve as a sanitizer you are ready for beer but be sure you have blown it all out. Otherwise follow with another rinse and then sanitize. Use a no rinse sanitizer. Same comment about blowing it all out applies. I brew with steam (you can see the boiler behind the pump) and thus sanitize with steam too. This has the big advantage that 15 minutes of steam sweeps out all the air. When the steam is disconnected I quickly connect CO2 which replaces the steam as the steam condenses. After blowing out the condensate (through the gas port - keg inverted) I have a pressurized keg which is completely devoid of air ready to be counter pressure filled.

Air exclusion is important to me because I am storing the beer for a long time (a year or more) and getting every ml of air out of the system is important if you do that. As I expect most readers here will not be using the steam trick you will need to think of another way to exclude air. The best suggestion I have heard is to fill the keg completely full with no rinse sanitizer and then push that sanitizer out with CO2. Lots of people do this with Corny kegs.

Filling is done by bleeding CO2 pressure in the keg (through the needle valve on the filling device which connects to the gas port on the coupler) until the pressure is just below that in the fermenter. The liquid valve can then be opened and beer will flow from the fermenter to the keg at a modest rate protected from air. Watch condensation buildup on the side of the keg or put it on a scale to monitor filling. When close to full put your hand on the keg's dome. Your hand will warm the metal and when the beer reaches the top you will feel cold. This is an indicator that the keg is full. Shut off the gas valve and watch the pressure gauge on the filling device. When it stops increasing shut off the liquid valve and remove the coupler. Voila!
 
I'm currently using both. They each have their pros and cons. I find cornies easier to use, but they have more points of failure. Sankes aren't that much harder, but you do need the right tools and a bit of practice. And I do think they are better for aging wine and mead.

My biggest complaints with sankes are that I can only fit 4 into my fridge vs. 5 cornies, I can't just connect the gas line to carbonate while somethink else is on tap and 2 lines going into the coupler + the twisting motion to tap a keg is more difficult to do in a kegerator than connecting ball lock fittings. If I had a keezer, this wouldn't be as much of a problem.

I'm pretty much in limbo and my collection of 3 gallon cornies pretty much means I'll never fully commit to sanke.
 
About to buy PBW and easy clean sanitizer and attempt this...

My concern is everything I see on force carbonating sanke kegs is saying 1-2 days. I was hoping to be carbed in 24-48 hours...

my thought is remove spear clean and sanitize and fill with beer and pressurize to 25-30psi then shake for a couple minutes and disconnect sanke coupler leaving at 30 psi overnight then reconnect coupler and purge with pressure relief on coupler. Then set at 8-12 psi depending on carb chart for cream ales and temperature of kegerator and make first pull at party on Saturday...was thinking of either filling keg tonight (Wednesday) or Friday morning

By the way I'm filling a half barrel with 5 gallons of homebrew if that info helps
 
FWIW, I don't like the shaking method. IME your likely to either over or under due it. I would suggest 36 hours at 30 psi on a cold keg, or 48 hours at 30 psi on a room temp keg while being chilled in the kegerator.

IMO the shaking method isn't any faster as you have to chill...and if you over carb, it's an effort you don't want to experiences.

Also, why would you want to disconnect the gas??? If you have forced carbed by shaking, just leave it at serving pressure, say 10-12 psi?

Also, if there is any beer leftover, you will likely find it far superior after a week or two in the cold box!!!

Have fun...just realize this will yield fast beer, not the best beer by far IMO.




Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/
 
If you don't want to use it as a serving keg then use them as a fermenter. A quarter is 7.75 g so perfect as a 5g primary fermenter.
 
wilserbrewer said:
FWIW, I don't like the shaking method. IME your likely to either over or under due it. I would suggest 36 hours at 30 psi on a cold keg, or 48 hours at 30 psi on a room temp keg while being chilled in the kegerator.

IMO the shaking method isn't any faster as you have to chill...and if you over carb, it's an effort you don't want to experiences.

Also, why would you want to disconnect the gas??? If you have forced carbed by shaking, just leave it at serving pressure, say 10-12 psi?

Also, if there is any beer leftover, you will likely find it far superior after a week or two in the cold box!!!

Have fun...just realize this will yield fast beer, not the best beer by far IMO.




Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/
Click to expand...

I had just read that people disconnect to force carb and reconnect to serve if I can simply hook it up and wait 48 hours purge down to 10psi or whatever keg chart says and serve ill do that....thanks
 
Yea just connect and set at 30 PSI for 36-48 hours. Then vent all the pressure built up and set it to your normal pressure, good to go!
 
I've been acquiring a good bit of used brewing and dispensing gear off of CL lately, and while I was originally intent on setting everything up for Cornies, I'm realizing a growing wealth of Sanke stuff. Bought a Summit "Kegerator" in great shape for $150 that came with a couple of empty kegs, a half filled 10 lb. CO2 bottle, tap, lines, and some spare fittings. On the way home I tried the local keg distributor and managed to recoup $50 of that. Somebody else sold me a frig conversion "kit" that they had pieced together that included a nice Perlick S/S faucet & shank, along with a full 20 lb. tank, a nice pressurized line cleaning kit, tools, brushes, lines, and a nice regulator with dual gauges and a guard, all for $100. It also included an 8'" party pump, tap fitting, and a full set of cleaning chemicals. Also had a couple of neighbors donate some orphaned kegs that they had accumulated once they heard I was a "brew guy".

The Kegerator will just barely fit (4) pin lock Cornies, so I'm still going that route for now, but the accumulating Sanke gear has me thinking more and more about maybe tackling a higher capacity chest freezer conversion where I can use both. In talking it over with the owner of the LHBS and he warned me about the O-Ring hassle, which I honestly haven't tried to tackle as yet, but with two quarter, two sixth, and two empty half kegs sitting nearby I'm definitely gonna spend a day tearing everything down for a good cleaning, so I guess I'll get my practice in then. I'm not particularly good at following verbal instruction (probably residual issues from my time in the military) so I didn't really grasp what he was talking about at the time, but he mentioned having fabbed up some kind of tool to help somehow. Like I said, I haven't even disassembled one as yet, so I don't have a very good visual reference of the O-ring tits he was complaining about, but any ideas on any kind of tool definitely sounds appealing. His other warning was about getting that spiral lock back in place. Guess I'll find out more in the doing than sittin' here typing about it. ;)

I will say however about the Cornies... those black rubber cushions just plain suck. One of the LHBS guys warned me to grab the red topped ones to help keep my hands from getting all crudded up when cleaning them, but the bottoms are no picnic either. Unfortunately I didn't realize that fact until after I had rocked one back and forth to force carbonate... while it was sitting on the family room carpet, and I of course was paying more attention to the vidiot box than to what I was doing. And wasn't da wife pleased when my beer making claimed yet another minor disfigurement of our abode. I'm still trying to get those marks out and she's using the occasion to start looking at new laminated flooring for me to install. More work for me is never a good thing. That's why I retired! :(
 
removal
http://www.brewhausforum.com/showthread.php?3455-Removing-the-spear-valve-from-a-Sanke-keg

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

removal and installation
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZPfZ_AL380[/ame]

Tools required, small SHARP thin flat screwdriver and a small pair of pliers, channel locks work well. When prying out the spiral ring, ONLY pry the top layer, or 1/2 of the ring, not both layers!

With a little practice it becomes easy...if you are all thumbs with no patience you won't do well at this game.

Tip...reinstall the spiral ring so you have about a 1/4" overlap of the groove to make for easy removal.
 
Wilser hit the nail on the head with those videos and advice.

I will say when I first started sankes I got frustrated toying around with the o-ring for hours. But it takes practice. Once you do get the open/close process down though, it's easy as pie. A lot of it depends on procuring your DIY tool to help you open the o-ring.

I was using a nail file for quite some time that looks exactly like this:

W_MG_8442b.jpg


It bent though after a while and I had to switch. I'm now using a small flathead screwdriver. It's important you get one that will not bend and is made of good quality.

little-screwdriver-removing-thin-set.jpg
 
Just kegged in a 1/2 bbl sanke today...my first attempt at kegging...its going to sit at 30 psi until 2 p.m. tomorrow...I hope it carbs by then because were gonna drink of for a family dinner
 
wtaylor3 said:
Just kegged in a 1/2 bbl sanke today...my first attempt at kegging...its going to sit at 30 psi until 2 p.m. tomorrow...I hope it carbs by then because were gonna drink of for a family dinner
Click to expand...


At 30 psi for roughly 18 hours your beer will still be rather flat, and likely not even that cold yet.

Tomorrow at 2 pm is way too soon IMO, but if you are dead set on trying it,,,I would shake the keg for a minute or two at 30 psi as well.




Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/
 
Keep it on 30 all the way until the party. Turn it down to around 12 at the time of the party and purge co2 and then serve. It's probably goin to be somewhat flat though.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
It went well...beer was carbed up nicely maybe not perfect but it did sit at 30psi for a full 24 hours and everyone really liked it...next time ill try to give myself more time...we served it at about 8 psi which may have been low but it had a decent head
 
This is a subject that really interests me. I had a supplier quote me roughly $84 for 1/6 barrel sanke kegs shipped. I thought I'd wait until after Christmas to research and make a decision on the type of keg to buy. I have to say if I have to buy expensive equipment simply to clean the kegs, I'll go a different route.
 

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