Using 50l keg as bright beer tank

[mudd]

Hi all.
Wondering if anyone has thoughts on converting a 50l keg to a bright beer tank. I have recently been doing a run of lagers and finding my main fermenter and fridge is tied up a bit.
I'm thinking I need an extra fridge for cold conditioning anyway. Just tossing up options of this vs conditioning in cornies (cornie is OK until I decide to move the keg and stir up the yeast).
Was thinking of removing keg spear and fitting a blanking plug (would a 2 inch one fit?) with dip tube etc. so I could remove to clean the bright tank.

Also wondering if there is any benefit in inverting keg. I'm thinking not as most trub should settle in primary.

Anyway open to ideas. Main thing I found searching was a US company that makes 50l kegs with 200mm triclover port. This would work and be easier to clean but would involve a bit of welding for me to make up.

Cheers Mudd.

 

[Crusty]

Sounds interesting.
Stainless is really the only way to go.
Who is the US supplier?

 

[MastersBrewery]

Aussie 50L kegs with the spear removed are 2" tri clove compatible, you would just need to get clamp gasket and fittings. I note camo has converted one to a fermenter similar to Brew hardware's set up. This would be my personal favourite. 50L kegs available from keg king at reasonable cost

 

[mudd]

https://www.brewershardware.com/American-Sanke-Keg-Fermentor-Kit-with-Thermowell.html
Was thinking something like this however I want to carb it up so not sure if this one can be pressurised.

 

[Camo6]

Aussie 50L kegs with the spear removed are 2" tri clove compatible, you would just need to get clamp gasket and fittings. I note camo has converted one to a fermenter similar to Brew hardware's set up. This would be my personal favourite. 50L kegs available from keg king at reasonable cost

They look awesome MB.

I made one very similar to the one you linked Mudd. I fitted 3pc taps to the tubes so I could ferment under pressure or carb. I used compression fittings into the tri clover fitting so I can adjust the dip tube height or fit a thermowell.

Only thing is the small entry can make cleaning hard. I noticed at Kegking a few months back they had 50 or 58l kegs with wider openings as well as lids to suit.

 

[booargy]

Something like this? It has a 15m stainless coil in it and another lid with gas liquid and PRV

 

[MastersBrewery]

Mudd the one I linked is specifically aimed at pressure fermenting, you may need beer belly or similar to make your dip tube but the rest of the parts are freely available. And note you could then transfer under pressure to another for bright beer, then to serving. Very little heavy lifting required.

 

[woodwormm]

're cleaning a 50l. I currently ferment in one. It does have a corny top welded onto it so it has a larger opening but still a bit of a pain due to weight.

I'm currently building a spray washer but sometimes just throw the fermenter keg with pbw onto the brewery burner and fire away.... there's not much a good pbw soak won't shift, but can take quite a few days to rotate in all directions as I'm not willing to fill with 50 l of pbw!

 

[MastersBrewery]

hey found a new one and probably a must buy for those fermenting or brighting in kegs Sanke conversion kit with thermowell

 

[fdsaasdf]

hey found a new one and probably a must buy for those fermenting or brighting in kegs Sanke conversion kit with thermowell

That looks like exactly what I need for my keg fermenter project, unfortunately not in stock currently.

 

[N3MIS15]

Seems I did this the hard way