Opening a D coupler to clean and then brew my own beer

[OgreBrew]

I recently converted my extra fridge into a kegerator. i have an old 1/4 keg, D coupling, that my brother never returned and doesn't care to get his deposit back on. I want to make my own brew. I want to use my kegerator to enjoy it. I already have a friend who is experienced in making homebrew and is going to teach me and walk me through it all. that's not the problem. He currently uses a couple of soda kegs and has a portable CO2 system working for him. I don't want to go through especially seeing as i have a perfectly good 1/4 keg that already goes with my keg system and is free. He said he believed there was some sort of tool or converter out there that would allow me to remove the coupler on my empty keg or maybe it was something with which to inject the contents into the empty keg for fermentation. can't remember exactly (i am sure you guys know though) and it's too late to call and clarify. any help would be greatly appreciated.

[psychodad]

When I was getting commercial kegs, the deposit was 50 dollars. For 50 bucks you can buy a refurbished Cornelius keg, and the ball lock fittings and have some change left over. You can also clean and sanitize a corny easier than a sanke keg.

And then there is always the moral and legal aspect of the keg being the property of the brewery. The deposit is not a purchase agreement.

[pumpkinvw]

I was in the same boat as you. I ended up buying a used soda keg from the homebrew shop. I just could not get my old 1/4 clean enough. The hole in the top is pretty small and it's tough to get a cleaning brush in there and then all around inside. I've washed mine 3 times and it still smells like Miller a little bit. For $35 for a Corny, I didn't feel it was worth risking a batch of homebrew that cost me $35 and 2 weeks to make.

But, to answer your question, check this out. You'll want this kit for the snap ring. The retaining ring that's on your keg now will be a b!tch to put back on, trust me.

[skibumdc]

Yeah you can do it, but are you really going to brew enough to fill 1/4 keg?
You better have one LARGE kettle to make the wort and boil the water.
Think commercial size and $$$$.

There are tools to remove the keg spike and clean the keg. Mostly breweries have this type of setup. MAKE SURE THE KEG IS COMPLETELY EMPTY ADN HAS NO PRESSURE INSIDE!

This is not to be taken lightly and cleaning a keg is not as easy as it sounds.

[Jeff Stanley]

modern sankey kegs aren't disassembled for cleaning. They are cleaned upside down with pressure through the dip tube. The normal gas inlet acts as a drain in this setup. You can't afford a pump strong enough to clean it right even if you did understand all of the steps to clean it. That keg costs $135, regardless of the deposit you paid.

Just buy a corny