Old Kegs! And question!

[JimH]

So, I have access to some really old kegs! My parents have them at their place, left over from years ago. Possibly almost 15 years or more. Don't know if they would even be good to use for kegs anymore. There are 2 of the 15 gallon kegs and one of the 7.5 gallon kegs.

My thoughts are, if I move to the bigger place we are hoping we get to move to, it has and outdoor space that would be great for brewing. I have a friend, who also brews, who just started up his own shop and has access to all kinds of cool toys. It would be easy for him to help me build a custom burner to fit the 15 gallon kegs perfectly, just need the burner and hoses. So, I think the best thing is to take a 15 gallon keg and turn it into a brew pot. Anyone do this? I know of people who have, and it seems as easy as just cutting off the top. The other keg, I don't know what to do with, but maybe it will be trade for my friend building the rig.

The 7.5 gallon keg, if you guys think it is still useable, I might use that one for kegging.

So, what say the Borg?

[Yankeedag]

inspect them, pressure test them, see for yourself. My long distant x-ray vision is on the fritz at the moment..


...oh hell, who am I trying to kid.. that circuit burned out years ago...

[JimH]

They looked like kegs. But seriously, I don't know anything about kegs, how is the commercial setup different from most homebrew setups? The o-rings looked surprisingly OK.

[Gymrat]

The commercial setup is quite different than the ones we use. You have to have special tools to get into them for cleanup and filling. You would be best off to use them for kettles or something creative. There are people on the AHA forum who have converted old kegs into some pretty cool stuff. When I have some time I will browse around that website and see if I can find any of the stuff I have read about the last couple of years. You might even want to go over there and browse through the pimp my system section.

[FrozenInTime]

I would love to have those 15 gallon kegs. I would cut the top off and use them for kettles, drill holes in the bottom for some stainless spigots.

[gwcr]

I'd convert them to a boil kettle and mash tun. BobbyM (from HBT forum) has a lot of great videos on Youtube about converting and adding bulkheads, sightglass, etc. He also runs brewhardware.com where you can get all the parts and instructions. Here's one on converting to a brew kettle.

[mtsoxfan]

I agree... use the as brew kettles ect. The comercial brewers have special equipment for cleaning and sanitizing, which includes caustic liquids. I know Drabbit made a nice set up, maybe he'll chime in with some pics...