Need advice: bought a sankey keg with the new house. Now what?

[BadDeacon]

Ok, bought a new house and while going through the things that the previous owner left, I found a sankey keg. I have been wanting to start kegging and count this a a sign from above. Now, what else do I need to buy? I already have an extra fridge. I think in the short term, I'd like to stay with a picnic tap. Can you folks guide me to a parts list? Keg is a miller keg. I assume that is a 'D' type.

Deacon.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

You would need a regulator, co2 tank, co2 hose, d series tap, and picnic tap.

This would be the bare essentials to get you started kegging.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Agreed that is the bare minimum.

Look at the keg from the top down. Is the spear held in by a pinch ring or spiral ring? If so you are pretty set on reuse of the keg (all ethical considerations aside). If not, you are probably in for some work to remove the spear. See
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/ho...ded-keg-valve-not-retained-spiral-ring-76393/

I am sure the keg is full of some residual old beer and a bit of pressure as well. Be sure to vent the pressure out before doing anything. Clean and sanitize well. Just remember, if you are working with a 1/2 keg and you do not make 15 gallon batches you are probably going to burn through a lot of CO2 purging and pressurizing the keg before dispensing.

 

[BadDeacon]

I am out of town, but will check it out when I get home. I usually do 10 gal batches. So, it's God to know about the extra volume. It might be time to upgrade to a bigger pot!!!!

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Unless lts a 1/6 keg its pretty much useless.Even ten gallon batches leave way to much headspace.Total waste of co2 purging.Most likely your beer will get oxidized and taste like crap.I tried it once with a keg I had,wasted my batch.I got a smaller keg and have no issues.Getting the spear out(ring) is a piece of cake,dont sweat that. Just because you found a free keg doesn't make it worth using.Building your system around a wrong keg is a bad idea

 

[SPR-GRN]

I'm going to echo Jonnyrotten; don't build your system around the wrong keg - a 15 gallon keg can be re-purposed into a keggle. I do 5-6 gallon batches and do back to back brew days to bring me up to 10-12 gallons in one shot, I still wouldn't do a 15 gallon keg unless I did a tripple batch day.
my system can handle corny and sanke but I primarily do corny, I really only have sanke for the off chance I get my hands on a keg of switchback. But if you are set on going sanke make sure you do a 15 gallon batch to fill that 15 gallon keg.

Items that weren't mentioned yet are related to sanitation and cleaning, which are very important - sanitizer (starsan or iodopher) some kind of brush to get up in the spear, and some kind of brush that will reach into the keg

Since you're willing to upgrade to 15 gallon batches I guess have at it.

 

[blackbeer]

turn it back in and use the proceeds to help finance a corny setup

 

[wilserbrewer]

turn it back in and use the proceeds to help finance a corny setup

This is the best advice, try and get the $50 deposit. A 1/2 keg, 15.5 gallons makes a lousy keg for 5 gallon batches. I would also suggest putting the $50 reclaimed deposit toward a brew kettle rather than hacking apart the keg to make a kettle. There a are better options for a boil kettle than a sanke keg, IMHO.

$49 med duty aluminum 60 qt
http://www.staples.com/Supera-AP-60-60-qt-Aluminum-Stock-Pot/product_1115752

$72 heavy duty aluminum 60 qt
http://www.staples.com/Supera-AP-60H-60-qt-Heavy-Aluminum-Stock-Pot/product_1115737

$100 1.0 mm ss 60 qt w/ lid
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CONCORD-60-...rew-Kettle-w-Lid-Heavy-Cookware-/131178257075

$90 / only .8 mm ss 60 qt w/ lid
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CONCORD-Hom...t=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item20edae3730

 

[MrFoodScientist]

That wasn't the clincher for buying the house, was it?
SWMBO: "Honey, this house is smaller than the others that we looked at and there's a bunch of junk in the basement."
You: "I know, I know, but there's a keg down there. It comes with a KEG! Let's up our offer."

The good news is, at that rate, you'll have an empty house to brew in.

In all seriousness, there's definitely some good advice here. Unless you're doing the large batches, try and trade it for something smaller.

 

[DrunkleJon]

And another option if you choose to keep it is you could use it to ferment in
a la something like
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/closed-system-pressurized-fermentation-technique-44344/
or just put a drilled stopper in it/one of the orange carboy caps. Instant 13 gallonish fermenter.

 

[BadDeacon]

Ok, here are some pics of the keg. Had to do some organizing. Was thinking about keeping it for rootbeer for the kids. 15.5 gal.

 

[BadDeacon]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1429059799.545896.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1429059816.654774.jpg

 

[DrunkleJon]

Looks like you may have one of the threaded Miller style sankeys. Those apparently are a bigger pain in the butt to remove the spear from.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=76393&highlight=threaded+sankey+spear tells you how, though a lot of the pictures are gone. Later ones will show the tool, etc. The ones retained by a spiral ring are much easier to remove.