My brain is whirring. . . comments welcome.

[KPSquared]

Ok, so I've been aiming to eliminate all plastic from my brewery (with the exception of silicon tube) just because I think stainless looks cool. . .

On that note, I've also been inspired recently by the whole "no chill" thing and saw a lot posted about no chill in a sealed sanke keg.

then I saw the Fast Ferment and that got me to thinking. . .

Why not weld/solder in a 2" Tri-clover fitting right to the bottom of the keg and then build some sort of a gizmo to capture the yeast. Then, just like the fast ferment, close the valve, swap on a hose, and drop it into a keg. I have a bunch of slim quarter barrel kegs that would make great 5 gallon batch fermenters.

This idea could work well in my current set-up but I was wondering what you think?

My other thought (actually, I'm pretty committed at this point) is to flip a slim-quarter keg over, use one of Bobby's bottom drain kits, cut the bottom (now the top) off and use it as a stainless bottling bucket. I don't keg everything as I like some stuff to bottle condition. . . Figured it would be cool to have a stainless bottling bucket. Bottom drain to a valve with a nipple, then a hose with a bottling wand on the end. Get it all polished up and have one more piece of shiny, shiny equipment.

 

[BigPerm]

Ok, so I've been aiming to eliminate all plastic from my brewery (with the exception of silicon tube) just because I think stainless looks cool.

I hope to someday be in your financial situation.

 

[KPSquared]

I hope to someday be in your financial situation.

Well, maybe you should get a better job? Although I'm not exactly sure what you think my "financial situation" is. . .

None of the projects would be prohibitively expensive. Used kegs, DIY soldering, chinese Tri Clamp parts, etc.

This won't even cost what a single Brew Bucket would let alone a small conical. . .

 

[acidrain]

That is a good idea except that without a conical bottom, you won't get much yeast in a 2" capturing device.
Most people just flip the keg over and use the Sanke flange to clamp to (a 2" TC clamps directly to a Sanke flange), then cut the opposite end (now the top) and add some kind of sealing lid. With a skilled cut, you could use a Corny lid.
Most have reported that they were unhappy with the small opening as a yeast collection build.

 

[Ramitt]

How do kegs do with a vacuum being created by the 200+ degree wort cooling vs the positive pressure they are designed to hold?

 

[acidrain]

How do kegs do with a vacuum being created by the 200+ degree wort cooling vs the positive pressure they are designed to hold?

Well, just a wag, but kegs are pretty stout.
Atmospheric pressure is roughly 15 psi.
I don't see a keg collapsing under vacuum.

 

[ryanelsn]

You would think that with the fluid inside of them and no place for it to go and water being incompressable that it would be almost impossible for the keg to collapse.

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

How do kegs do with a vacuum being created by the 200+ degree wort cooling vs the positive pressure they are designed to hold?

I think most pump some CO2 in there to help stabilize the wall.

Im with you on that though....those things are made for positive pressure, not negative. However a lot have said they havent had a problem with it, even with no CO2.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Sankeys do not work as conicals so well because the pitch of the top(bottom when inverted) would not be steep enough to stop the yeast/trub from settling.

If you currently ferment in buckets you could try doing the Closed System Pressurized Fermentation technique or something similar. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/closed-system-pressurized-fermentation-technique-44344/
That should allow you to eliminate plastic from your equipment. Or you could do what I find myself doing recently and that is filling the tall 1/4s and using the orange carboy caps with an airlock. Then use my SS racking cane to siphon it out of the fermenter and into bottling bucket or keg.

 

[KPSquared]

I think I'll go with the carboy cap method for now. I had already kind of shot down the upside down Sanke fermenter idea but I thought I'd look into it. Go totally ghetto for now, maybe use co2 to push the beer into a corny. I have one friend doing everything in sankes now. It's tempting...

 

[acidrain]

I love Sanke fermenting. One of the best things I've done to my brewery for both ease of brew day, and quality of finished product.
I highly recommend it.

 

[Brettomomyces]

I love sanke fermenting! It lets you do this