Sankey vs corny sanitation

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ReuFroman

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I have a couple of pony and torpedo kegs sitting around and I am thinking why am I buying expensive corny kegs that seem to leak a lot when I have commercial kegs sitting around. So I looked at the 1/2 barrels I have popped (I got them from a brewery where my friend works) then took a mirror and found they look pretty much the same. The tubes are bigger but they can go into the dishwasher. So why can't we use Sankey kegs for home brew if we're doing the same thing we would do for cleaning a corny keg? I also took out the check valve and filled it with sanitizer and water. Went in like a charm. So why can't we use them? Have I just discovered the great brewery conspiracy against home brewing? Am I going to be excommunicated?
 
You CAN use sankey kegs for homebrew: I do.

You just have to be prepared and set up differently when it comes to cleaning and transferring to a keg. Cornies are much easier that way but it's certainly not undoable if you have a sankey.
 
I use 1/6bbl sanke kegs to keg all my homebrew in, and I ferment in 1/4 and 1/2bbl kegs. Works like a charm! It only takes me around 30 seconds to remove the spear, I've never used a corny keg...
 
It seems from what I have read the majority of answers with Sankey kegs is don't use them unless you boiling in them. The cornry kegs seem to work but mine always freaking leak. Even had a friend who didn't believe me replace all the seals. I got the corny at my local HBS, I thought about talking to them. But I put some sanitizer in my keg and it worked easier than you would think. Tell me about your fermenting equipment.
 
I'm thinking about using 7.5 gal Sanke's for fermenting, but haven't started yet. My main fear: cleaning the thing- and I think that's where Corny's have an advantage. I can stick my arm to the bottom of the keg and scrub if I need to. Kyle
 
That's a great idea bargain fittings. I was thinking about something like that on the end of a drill.
 
FWIW, I've never had an issue cleaning or sanitizing a sanke keg. I fill mine to the brim with hot Oxiclean and soak overnight, then I rinse 3-4 times with the hose and set upside down to dry. Then I sanitize with Star-San or throw a couple of gallons of water in the keg and toss it on the burner. When it's been shooting steam out of the top for about 10 mins I take it off the burner, drain and slap a carboy cap on it.
 
That's just one of the many advantages as I see it. I can boil water in these suckers to clean/sanitize, drop them, ferment under pressure, etc...
 
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