Keg Conversion to Brewpot

[sullydavid]

I recently aquired a keg that I wanted to convert into a brewpot. I am not that well endowed in the tool arena and I was wondering if anyone had much experience with trying to cut the top of one of these off with relatively basic tools.

[Payson]

A jig saw with plenty of extra blades will do the trick. It's not the smoothest cut in the world but it'll work.

[brewmonkey]

Make sure you get blades that have at least 16 teeth per inch. You will also need something to start the hole to get the blade in.

I used a dremel with a cutting wheel to start mine and I have 2 more to go, but I ordered a larger wheel from sears to do these kegs.

[Payson]

Brewmonkey- How did you (if at all) dull the sharp and possibly uneven edges? Mine is pretty sharp in places and I've tried a rasp, drum sander etc. I've considered a dremel grinding wheel but figured the expense would outweigh the benefit. Mine is fully functional it's just not very aesthetically pleasing.

[brewmonkey]

I am still working on the edges as I just cut it last week. I am using a grinding attachment on my drill to smooth it and it seems to be working ok.

[Payson]

Is this a course sandpaper grinder drum or more llike a rasp?

[sullydavid]

Well, look's like I got pretty lucky on this one. I was trying to think of someone that I knew that might have a jigsaw. The first guy I asked ended up having a "Roto Zip". If you are not sure what it is (like myself) think of it as a dremmel on super steroids.

Cut through it like butter.

Long story (about my stupidity) to follow if anyone is interested.

Since I had never used a tool remotely similar I was hesitant to dive right in. Didn't want to hurt myself or what appeared to be an expensive tool. I took my time taking the tool out of the box. The handle seemed pretty weak and I was unsure how much torque this thing produced. After playing with it I found that there was no trigger type switch, basically just had to flip it on. Flipped it on and then back off real quick. Seemed fine. There were two speeds. I preferred the lower setting as the higher one made the tool vibrate too much for my liking (at least initially).

Got over next to my keg and decided to give it a small try. Just wanted to touch the blade to the keg and see what kind of spark show I was in for. Pretty impressive display. Ok, now I figure I am ready to make the plunge and dig it on in. I fire it up and start the cut. I noticed a distinct change in the sound as the blade went into the metal top of the keg. All of a sudden it seems that the tool has a massive fan that is blowing all over my hands. My initial reaction was to pull the saw up. Hoping it wasn't overheating or something I just let it run for a second while not in the metal. The wind was continuing. I panic a little and decide to turn off the saw. To my suprise the saw kept blowing. I was really worried that I had done something to damage the saw somehow.

Turns out that when I made the first cut I actually made it through the top. The kicker is that the keg, although empty, was still pressurized. The blowing on my hands was coming from the keg itself but felt like it was coming from the saw the whole time.

Anyhow, after a short blushing moment and quick couple looks over my shoulder to make sure that no one saw how stupid I was, I was off to the races and was able to cut through the keg in short order.

10 gallon batches here I come!!!

[tyesai]

I wouldn't tell that story to awful much, you kind of sound like a sissy. :>)

[DreamWeaver]

If I had it to do over, I would have taken my $10 Hoff-Stevens Kegs to a shop with plasma equipment and gave them a picture and said call me when yer done. Or driven up to Sabco, 90 miles north of me and spent the money.

I thought I'd save some money and do it myself. After smokin my Dremmel Tool in about 5 minutes and 2" later, my brother-in-law showed up and insisted he could do better with his Sawzall & diamond carbide blades. Hinting my little sissy Dremmel was not the right tool. After melting 3 of his super blades the top fell inside and when he reached in for it you da thunk Jaws had chomped him. The jagged edge got him above the elbow and he bled pretty bad (joked he had a Richard Hatch type injury) but acted like he was not affected and insisted in continuing. Communication was a little tough, since we both had just about lost all hearing from the noise. Then the welding... The bung hole had an area of dead space around it and trapped air/moisture heated and decided to explode, only a pin-hole but dang. When done and cooled I was cleaning one out and damn if I did'nt cut myself on the jagged edge I thought I smoothed out. Not serious but I bled like a stuck pig. Even with a couple inches of water in the bottom to catch metal shavings, I still had alot. Then drilling the hole for the ball valve was like trying to drill a freakin BB.
If you decide to give keg converting a try, I'm sure you will have a story to tell too.
:eek: How far can you throw an empty beer keg?

[brewmonkey]

Converted a hoff-stevens keg? Wow, you must like punishing yourself. :D

[DreamWeaver]

It was quite a task. Especially not having the right tools,gloves, earplugs,first-aid kit ect. But it made for a good excuse to bust open the 21 day old American Wheat that was ready for testin. The Hoff-Stevens works great now but it sure is ugly (http://www.geocities.com/dwead362/Homebrewpics.html ). :cool:

[brewmonkey]

Looks good.

I understand the dremel tool, I went through a whole pack of cutting wheels once trying to cut some stainless. :D

[laneto]

I've got a dremel and I thought I saw a diamond blade cutting wheel at the hardware store. Have you tried one of those?

[DreamWeaver]

I think the diamond blades are what I tried. The hard part for me was making the thing go circular. It wanted to keep going straight. Don't let my boo-boo's stop you from trying. Here (http://brewery.org/temploc/) is a great text on keg conversions. Follow the safety tips to the letter and you may end up better than my bro-in-law. It's all in the name of Good Homebrew Right? And ya may save a few bucks and be proud of your handywork!

[brewmonkey]

Originally posted by laneto
I've got a dremel and I thought I saw a diamond blade cutting wheel at the hardware store. Have you tried one of those?

http://www.dremel.com/html/home_fr.html

I am heading out to Ace and Home Depot to see who carries it and how much it is.

[brewmonkey]

I did not find the diamond blade, but they did have a tungsten carbide blade rated for stainless steel. I am going to go grab one later and give it a whirl.

http://www.mytoolstore.com/dremel/tungcrbi.html

[brewmonkey]

Went and bought a Tungsten Carbide blade for my Dremel, it was $8 at Wal-Mart.

You have to have a pilot hole for it to start in as it won't drill. I got the hole started with a cut off wheel for the dremel and once I got the bit in was zipping through the stainless no problems. However the bit must have lossened on me because when I stopped it fell out AND INTO THE KEG!

So I am heading to wally world to grab 2 more as well as some WD-40 to make the cut go a little quicker. The bit is also leaving a nice edge, it is not sharp like other edges that I have seen. Once I get the tops popped off all the kegs I will throw some pictures of them up.

Now I need to go grab some ball valves and compression fittings for the lauter plate and the out valve for the kettle.

[sullydavid]

That really sucks. I can see that sort of thing happening to me.

I remember reading somewhere that there is a chance that the top of the keg can have problems with corrosion if not treated (bath of some chemical, I forget which). Is it a common practice to treat it or just let it do it's thing?

[brewmonkey]

Any stainless that has been heated or cut on should be passivated with a nitric/phosphoric acid blend. Something along the lines of 5-Star Chemicals Acid #5 works. Even after the initial treatment equipment should be re-passivated on a regular schedule.