What to do with a beer keg?

[alanh]

I can't believe all the thoughtless comments about what to do with an empty beer keg. You would think that all everyone here thinks about is to make something out of, or weld on, something they find.
Anyone with half a brain knows you take an empty back and exchange it for a full one, then invite the rest of us over to help you figure out what to do with it.

PS some brauts would be good too.

[boilerman]

well if your looking for a real project...something to make and will be useful...1500watt heater element out of hot water tank...stainless bowl from wallymart...2"s/s exhaust couple...thermostat (100 to 200 degree) to run heater element....36" of 2" copper pipe and rest of fitting to come down to 1/2" copper pipe....and a cooling coil....make your self some real home brew

[diesel]

But you still need a mashtun to convert the sugars and a fermenter before extracting the fuel.
Kegs work good for mashtuns but I don't like them for boiling (needs flat bottom). A couple of fittings on the side, a false bottom (sieve) and a lid.
d.

[James D. Clark]

I can't believe all the thoughtless comments about what to do with an empty beer keg. You would think that all everyone here thinks about is to make something out of, or weld on, something they find.
Anyone with half a brain knows you take an empty back and exchange it for a full one, then invite the rest of us over to help you figure out what to do with it.

PS some brauts would be good too.

And if you find an old beer keg floating in the river I wouldn't want to even think about using it to refill with food or drink. You don't know what it had in it.

[Liquidmantis]

Liquidmantis -- yours sounds like the kind of setup my friend wants to put together. Any advice for him? I think he's starting with the kettle.

Sorry, haven't been on the board since my last post. I used weldless fittings for my kegs. See the selection here. The Bazooka T works well in the kettle to filter out the hops. A thermometer on the kettle is really nice as well. When doing 10 gallon batches a keg kettle is the way to go.

[diesel]

There are weldless fittings but I perfer to weld them otherwise I can't justify having a welder.

Right now I got a sweet deal goin' with the local brewer. I just tell them I want beer so when they cook up a batch they make a little xtra. I take in my fermenter and they fill it with wort. They can give away the unfermented stuff but as soon as the yeast start fermenting the feds call it a regulated product and all taxes must be paid on it. All I have to do is take the stuff home, ferment it and then keg it. Honestly I don't know why I have a brewery anymore.
d.

[rexmo]

keg mods

When I used to brew at this scale, I had 1/2" or 3/4" full couplings welded in near the bottom of the straight side, cut the top out after removing the spear, and ground the cut off edge down to the sidewall. Perf plate false bottoms or slotted pipe manifolds inside, a valve outside. A slicker design would be to cut the bottom out and weld a central flue pipe into the top nozzle, similar to a water heater tank.

[Liquidmantis]

There are weldless fittings but I perfer to weld them otherwise I can't justify having a welder.

Yeah, but I've been brewing longer than welding. Welding a nipple onto a stainless keg isn't a light job either. It might not matter so much on the kettle but on the mash lauter tun you better have a good clean weld. But, I use a cooler for better heat retention anyway.

'Bout time to brew here. I floated the last of my American Pale Ale tonight after an evening of welding. Got room for a new brew in the line-up on the kegerator now.

[2manyprojects]

If you look at the two words in front of Anheuser Busch, I believe it says "Property Of"

[bobad]

I stopped using this cooler because of a heavy growth of algae in this unit - LarryL

Larry,

Copper sulphate keeps algae from growing. You can get it at Wal-Mart in the plumbing department as "root killer" or similar. It's in the form of blue crystals.

[Thomas Harris]

And if you find an old beer keg floating in the river I wouldn't want to even think about using it to refill with food or drink. You don't know what it had in it.

You would be surprised at what the food processing plants use to clean the 304 stainless equipment . I would think that 304 stainless would not retain any residual contaminants. That is why it's used so extensively in the food processing industry. Alos used in medical equipment whch is sterilized and reused on other patients. I've heard that some photographic chemicals MAY leave residue on stainless, but I"m not even sure this is possible. I'd scrub the livin' &*&^ out of it and use for whatever yer fancy. When you weld it you want to consider the carbide percipitaion. This is what causes teh stainless to become non stainless in the weld area. Baically the hotter and longer it remains hot the more intense this will be. I've read where a weld has cracked over use in the haz because of this problelm. Usually happens on something subjected to prolonged heat durin normal use.

[49degreesnorth]

If you look at the two words in front of Anheuser Busch, I believe it says "Property Of"

Actually, it doesn't... but I believe that even if it did then "salvage at sea" makes it MINE, MINE, MINE!

[LarryL]

Actually, it doesn't... but I believe that even if it did then "salvage at sea" makes it MINE, MINE, MINE!

Since Puget Sound is an inland body of water, salvage rights to all kegs in it probably belong to the State of Washington.

LarryL

[Skipper]

A stainless keg weights about 40 lbs.

[weird bike]

I was going to use a 20 gallong keg for my gas tank but it was a little bulky but hey how cool would a gas tank with anheiser busch look on a dune buggy