Kegmenter DIY

[barneey]

Having a little time on my hands I thought I would at least try and finish the DIY kegmenter.

Not wishing to spend near £300.00 on a shop bought one, why not make your own, with a few extra's.

Progress so far.

[D4V33]

Good idea!

What are you attaching to the big tri clamp fitting?

[barneey]

The advantage of having a 4" triclover fitting is to aid cleaning of the keg, the disadvantage you need to screw the fitting up extremely tight as the surface area of the gasket is large in comparison with say a 1.5" fitting, otherwise it will start to whistle under pressure.

I also have a 4" to 1.5" adapter, which I will post pictures of later, this means that all standard 1.5" items can then be used with the keg, I have a Blichmann spunding valve to attach. Keeping the original spear housing in position means if necessary the keg can be forced carb'd up & there is an outlet for transfer of liquid.

Still an experiment at this stage, & I do need to sort out fermentation temperature control. My preferred method and certainly will all my other FV's is an external cooling jacket & Maxi setup, this might be possible on a keg by using the strengthening bands on the side with some plate stainless to enclose a band around the keg, or an external copper coil wrap + insulation. The easiest way would be a simple fridge setup.

Other things to do is to fit a thermowell to the 4 - 1.5 triclover reducer, I prefer to measure wort temps actually in the keg V temp probe stuck on the side.

Its a fun project really to see what is possible, my list of jacketed FV's include, 120l, 80l, 60l & also have the Grainfather FV, all as mentioned controlled by a Maxi. This project is more about the possibility of fermenting under pressure if the desire to do so prevails. The 80l & 60l flat bottomed FV's are set up to ferment more traditional Yorkshire Top croppers, where rousing is necessary and the ability to ferment under pressure is non existent. The GFFV is a jack of all trades which I tend to use most of the time, the 120l is when I used to only brew a few times a year due to work/ free time constraints.

[chris2012]

Looks very nice!

How did you cut the fitting for the 4" triclamp out of interest and is it soldered / TIG'd ?

It sounds a very interesting project with the spunding valve etc. I bought one of these ones I need to play with - https://www.kegland.com.au/blowtie-diap ... e-kit.html (from aliexpress somewhere though)

What do you use for the jacket btw, I've used just beer line before, but a jacket sounds good!

[barneey]

I only have the ability both equipment and skill wise to silver solder stainless. Always wanted some welding equipment but the cost is so prohibited for the stuff I would like to do. I do however have a friendly local welder who can carry out such jobs (ex pharmaceutical welder).

TCT cutters could be used to make the hole etc. however my friendly welder also has a plasma cutter, so for a small fee I got him to carryout the hole cutting and welding for me. Also due to the complex curve on the top of the keg the triclover fitting in its standard state doesnot sit exactly flat on the surface maybe only a mm out at 2 points but it needs attention at welding stage, so not a job for a wannabe welder like me. Heat and possible distortion also need to be considered, although kegs are a quality stainless thick material.

I took an angle grinder etc to the chime part to allow access for the welding to be carried out + access to any future brewing fittings, once satisfied that the welding & ability to hold pressure was satisfied the weld holding the rest of the chime top was ground off to provide the dome finish.

APITA to clean the keg to a condition that I am happy with & there is only so much time enthusiasm lasts when using Wet & dry, D4V33 pointed me in the direction a suitable brush burnishing piece of equipment.

For a cooling externally I have used copper 8/10mm in the past for the other FV's (converted thermo pots), copper better transfer condition. The thermo pot conversions are an entirely different build, no welding required. See this thread viewtopic.php?f=6&t=80741

Failing going for an external cooling solution an internal stainless coil would be a simple option.

This is not a very good photo but it shows my test on the keg, the top part of the chime still on + the 4" to 1.5" adapter.

[barneey]

A bit more of a clean up today.

[chris2012]

Looking very shiny

And can see the nice welding now

Thanks for the link on your thermopot copper coil system too. The expanding foam usage is especially
interesting to me at the moment, as I'm wondering about using some around my plastic mash tun.

[barneey]

If you can, buy the 2 part expanding foam, it flows so much better than the can stuff.

[D4V33]

A bit more of a clean up today.

Good job

[barneey]

Thought I might as well finish off this thread. Fully insulated jacket, external cooling coil & spunding valve.

[leedsbrew]

Top work there Barneey


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[wmfd]

Yes, cracking work, almost a shame to cover up its all round shininess in the jacket!