Hi All,
I was thinking about making a double batch (2 seperate boils and fermentations, I only have equipment for 5 gallon batches) of an extract kit (Irish Red Ale) using an empty 1/2 keg (bud light) for my homebrew instead of using my corny kegs. Once I combine both into the 1/2 keg, will I be opening myself up to some unexpected results, good or bad…
thanks
Steve
Do you have a way to assure the keg is cleaned and sanitized first? Then you have to be able to open it to fill as well.
Using half barrel sanke kegs is quite alright for homebrew, but there are a couple of extra steps involved. First you have to fully depressurize the keg (push down on the ball until you don’t hear any more noise), then you need to remove the locking ring for the dip tube which is located in the inner portion of the sanke connector. A flathead screw driver works well for this. It’s basically a flat spiral of metal that you can slide out. You need to be careful at this part because you will need that ring to lock the tube back in place when you’re done. If you damage it, you’ll have to find somewhere to sell you a replacement. Once the locking ring is out, the dip tube can be slid right out. I would then PBW the keg and thoroughly clean/sanitize it. Then you can just rack your beer into the keg, replace the diptube and locking ring, and then attach a sanke adapter. If you don’t have one hooked up to your system or don’t want to hook one up, morebeer.com sells corny to sanke adapters.
Enjoy.
Great, I was already on the right track then. I was able to get the diptube out without damaging the locking ring. I was able to clean and sanitize the keg. My setup already has a sanke hookup and also 2 corny keg hookups, so when my batches are ready, I’ll give this a try. thanks for some assurance.
steve
[quote=“Guskoff”]Using half barrel sanke kegs is quite alright for homebrew, but there are a couple of extra steps involved. First you have to fully depressurize the keg (push down on the ball until you don’t hear any more noise), then you need to remove the locking ring for the dip tube which is located in the inner portion of the sanke connector. A flathead screw driver works well for this. It’s basically a flat spiral of metal that you can slide out. You need to be careful at this part because you will need that ring to lock the tube back in place when you’re done. If you damage it, you’ll have to find somewhere to sell you a replacement. Once the locking ring is out, the dip tube can be slid right out. I would then PBW the keg and thoroughly clean/sanitize it. Then you can just rack your beer into the keg, replace the diptube and locking ring, and then attach a sanke adapter. If you don’t have one hooked up to your system or don’t want to hook one up, morebeer.com sells corny to sanke adapters.
Enjoy.[/quote]+1
And lay the keg on its side before you let the pressure out so you don’t give yourself a stale beer shower in your face.
