What to do with an unsealed SS conical

[AndytheBeave]

Hey guys,
A colleague of mine (who happens to be a tin basher) decided to be ultra cool and built me a stainless steal conical fermenter from scratch.
The problem is that upon inspection of the interior of the fermenter, the seams are not sealed and need quite a bit of cleaning up (there is a bit of slag in there still). My quandary is this, the fermenter is really deep and it is not easy to reach the bottom of the cone. Basically it would require cutting the cone off, re-welding, re-cleaning etc. I got a quote from a local shee tmetal shop to do this work but it came in at $300.00. For that price I could just order the SS brewbucket.
My question to you guys is this:
1) would soldering the connections provide a sanitary seal if the seams could be reached?
2) If not, has anyone heard of a food grade spray-on liner that could be used on the interior of the fermenter? Specifically one that is available to us common folk?
I would really love to use this awesome gift but right now, it is unusable in its current form due to the high risk of bacteria/contamination. Any thoughts/opinions would be welcome. I'll post some pics when I get home from work.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

The seams aren't sealed? Do you have pictures?

 

[AndytheBeave]

yeah basically it was only welded on the outside.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Ahhh I see. A proper sanitary ss butt weld using the tig process should leave a finished interior weld. With an argon backing the back of the weld fuses similar to the front.

 

[AndytheBeave]

yep. Therein lies my problem. The fermenter is too deep to reach the bottom of the cone with a tig welder/helmet/arm etc.
You can juuuuustt touch the bottom if you stretch, but you'd be welding blind. I am now just considering a 2-part food grade epoxy/adhesive to cover the seams. I am not sure if anyone has tried this before though.

 

[Stealthcruiser]

Can you post a pic?
Possible that you could rig up something to sand down the internal weld area, mounted on a stick?

Then, passivate the heck out of it.

 

[AndytheBeave]

Can you post a pic?
Possible that you could rig up something to sand down the internal weld area, mounted on a stick?

Then, passivate the heck out of it.

yeah here's some pics of it:


and the inside:


I think what I am going to do is get it cut into thirds as it is 29" from the top of the cone to the top of the fermentor. That way, there is no longer any issue with reaching the bottom. Then I will probably see if I can get 2 new cones made up and have them welded on - if I can get it done for a reasonable price. Or I could just pay to have the thing cut up and use one of the spare SS tubes to try and learn to weld it myself. That way if I totally botch it up, I haven't ruined the original fermenter.