Thread: Beer keg projects

Originally Posted by Gippslander

Hey guys i used to own a pub and the breweries like to keep up with the kegs it costs them $400 plus to purchase a keg so be sure it is of no further use it does say property of on the side!

These ones are both from foreign breweries and were given to her by the bar owner so reasonably legit as far as I'm concerned.
I had a quick check on Gumtree and there are a couple of people flogging local kegs with Carlton etc on the sides which I'd expect is asking for trouble.

Steve

Look up Aus Pig.
Then go bigger and better with a keg
I have a started Keg Pig in my shed
Andrew

I'd ask her why the heck is she bringing home empties

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

I use them for a half a dozen things

1. water heater
2. evaporator vac tank for dewatering WVO
3. charcoaler (fit it up with wood, seal it up nice and then put it in a fire)
4. hose diffuser
5. pressure head tank for a chunga pump
6. condenser tank (upend it spray the hot water in so it hits the bottom and then runs down the sides and out the top from the inside)

But the Best BBQ concept for it is as a spit roaster

slice the keg about 1/3 of the way up so that its got a flat side. put the larger part (which should have the draw pipe and neck on it) aside for now

cut 2 slots down the edge of the the bottom section and then fold the rectangle over, these cuts should be about 2 inches high if your going to coal fire and about an inch if your going for gas.

Cut some nicks in the end of the smaller section so that you can make an interleve pattern, this will be what mates it all together for you.

if your coal firing you will want to now put a plate of mesh in the bottom to give about a 3 inch wide and inch deep section, cut or drill some holes through the ked in here for ventilation.

Thats the burner section done for coal, if your going to gas fire get a long BBQ burner setup, put it in the bottom section and using a finer mesh or another piece of stainless make a heat diffuser to sit over the burner.

take the larger section. knock out the draw tube. drill a hole through the center point of the bottom (when it was a complete circle before you hacked it up) this is where you spit goes through to suspend the meat .

drill a series of small holes in 2 lines about square and parallel to the cut lines you made when you first cut the keg apart (in theory if you cut the keg along these holes you would wind up with the kegs side in 4 equal parts) the holes only need to be about 5mm to start with but need to be spaced so you can redrill to up to 20mm later if you need to. your spit hood is now complete.

to make the spit any piece of clean steel will work but I reccomend 19mm stainless tube or rod. To make the crank handle drill a hole in one side stick a bit of bent rod in and make it look like every other crank handle you've ever seen, having the handle slant away from the keg will make it cooler to grab and turn. with the help of a friend and a grinder put a groove in the handle end of the rod so it can act as a bearing on the edge of the hole in the bottom side of the lid.

Drill some holes all the way through the center of the spit rod so you can skewer and tie your meat to the rod and then with the spit rod inserted and running on its "bearing" mark and cross drill the rod where it comes out of the neck of the keg and make up a couple of stop rods that can be inserted through the handle cutouts in the top of the keg and into the cross drill holes.

insert fire in the bottom.
skewer meat in the top
turn every 15 minutes and cook for about 1hr per KG of meat, 3/4 hour for white meats.

If you drill the bottom vents up as high as you can under the plate you can put some water in the bottom of the fire holder part to aid in raising the humidity and keeping the meat moist.

Any chance of a piccy? I'm struggling a bit to visualise what you mean.
When you say cut it 1/3 of the way up do you mean A or B here:



Steve

Originally Posted by Shortie

I'd ask her why the heck is she bringing home empties

'cos the half full one was Guinness of unknown history - making it equivalent of a full one of VB......
Better off with an empty

Steve

You could do a variation on the standard Sarf Afrikan Braai. This is a 50gallon steel drum sliced in half lengthways. Add some legs so that the open side is uppermost. Add a grill (usually) of expanded metal. Chuck some wood in it, light it, tend to it (beer is good at this point - well, every point really!) get a good bed of coals & cook.

I reckon a stainless beer keg would be good for this.



Seems a bit of a waste after Dave's suggestions though!

Originally Posted by steveG

'cos the half full one was Guinness of unknown history - making it equivalent of a full one of VB......
Better off with an empty

Steve

Good point, chop it in half lengthways and make a bbq from one half and an ice bucket from the other to keep real beer cool