Too far gone???

[rambler]

I recently took a couple of kegs over to a buddies house to see if we could experiment on them a bit w/ oxy-acetylene welding. Needless to say it didnt go very well. Thankfully both of these kegs werent in the best of shape to begin with becuase we botched it badly.

One of the keg is a 12.5 galln european keg and i found a piece of stainless at the scrapyard that fits exactly around the top and will make a perfect lid, so i need to try and save the keg if possiblefor a fermenter.

I took some pictures and want to know what y'all think. I could use some suggestions. The top pic is of the hole in the bottom and the second is of bothe the holes in the side and the bottom. I cut all of the "welding" out.

 

[MrStrangeBrew]

i think it can be saved. just have a plate bigger than the hole welded over it. maybe take it somewhere to have welded...hehe. if its a good weld it should seal air tight

 

[rambler]

Yeh, i thought about the welding option, but all of the welding shops here charge 100 per hour for tig. I think i'm going to try to solder it myself.

It ought to be an interesting fix. I have to actually use 2 plates, one on the bottom and a separate one for the side, We'll see...

 

[MrStrangeBrew]

damn 100 bucks! i dont blame ya. im sure the solder will be fine. good luck and if your proud enough put a pic up of finished product!!

 

[beninan]

Most solder contains lead I think, so I'm not sure if that would be a great idea. And if you solder or weld it and use it as a fermenter, you will want to make sure the welds/solder is done CLEAN, so no bacteria can harbor in the seams.

 

[rambler]

Just tried the solder option, no bueno! I cant get the right angle and am really not proficient enough at soldering so i may just have to look for other options...damn

 

[MrStrangeBrew]

Just tried the solder option, no bueno! I cant get the right angle and am really not proficient enough at soldering so i may just have to look for other options...damn

maybe you can look into some kind of marine sealant like for boats and stuff just make the plat a little bigger then the hole and put the sealant on the outside so it doesnt touch wort. and it might help to get drunk maybeyou can come up with some more ideas that way. i suggest waiting unti sober to try them tho

 

[rambler]

I hadn't thought of the brainlube option. Of course a HB would make things a lot easier. I think i may have found a shop here in town that may do it cheap.

I guess its a matter of principal for me to fix it myself. I would like to know that if I screw it up, I have the ability to fix it.

 

[doctorsbro]

post a wanted add on craigslist, theres TONS of people out of work with a tig rig in theyre garage that could weld it up rather cheaply, cheaper than sourcing another keg i am sure.

 

[chady74]

to bad your so far away or id have fixed it for beer

 

[rambler]

Too bad indeed, ive got almost 20 gal on tap!

 

[Scut_Monkey]

I don't understand what the purpose of the big hole was for? Was it an experiment for a fermentor/boil kettle? Oh well. At the very least you could completely chop the top off and use it as a kettle with reduced capacity.

 

[Gwitz]

I don't understand what the purpose of the big hole was for? Was it an experiment for a fermentor/boil kettle? Oh well. At the very least you could completely chop the top off and use it as a kettle with reduced capacity.

Im only speculating, but having some experience with just such a DIY endeavour, it looks like he was trying to weld in an outlet. Having welded only once before in my life i tried arc welding on my kettles and made a similar mess. Had to cut out a 3x3 section and weld in new metal to put the fitting into. I had a friend who is a great welder come over and do it for me.

 

[audger]

that looks like too large of an area for solder, and good luck getting any glue/expoxy to seal that. you need a plate welded in, theres not much way around that unfortunately.

for future reference- ox/acetaline isnt really for soldering, its way too hot and too dirty to get the solder to wet the metal. most ox/acetaline torches are setup for cutting (very narrow flame). you can use it if you know what you are doing, but its hard to get even heat over an area from such a concentrated source. propane, mapp gas, or hydrogen are what you want to solder with.

 

[rambler]

Originally it had a port welded on it but it leaked so i tried to patch it up with the oxy/acet. The big problem is that there are actually 2 holes now. One on the side and one in the bottom, which is the tough one to get at because of the ring on the bottom of the keg. I am going to give it another shot with the solder with a slightly different approach and see how it goes, if i cant get it i guess it off to the blacksmith.