
Hands on Review: Torpedo 10 Gallon Ball Lock Homebrew Kegs!
Larger 10 and 15 gallon homebrew kegs have been very hard to find… for years. There have been a couple sources, eBay was a best bet, but that was touch and go at best. When you could find one, prices were… outrageous. $300++ for a used 10 gallon keg would not be uncommon. Again, that’s IF you could find one.
Great news homebrewers…. MoreBeer has introduced 10 and 15 gallon homebrew ball lock kegs via their Torpedo line of kegs and accessories. These are BRAND NEW kegs that are (hopefully) readily available at a reasonable price.
Why a larger 10 or 15 gallon homebrew keg?
The first and most obvious answer is for large batch brewers. If you brew 10 or 15 gallon batches, it sure would be nice to have a keg that fits your entire batch. Even if you don’t brew 10 gallons, you may want to brew a couple 5 gallon batches of the same beer (much like professional brewers do) and keg it in a single keg.
A less obvious answer to the question is… to use as a fermenter. Kegs are well-built stainless steel vessels that are pressure capable. You can easily move them around and they are built to be bumped around a bit. Using a keg opens up some really interesting possibilities…. fermenting under pressure with a Spunding Valve [See: Build a Spunding Valve! – How and Why], naturally carbonating in the fermenter/Krausening (again with the aid of a Spunding Valve), transferring under pressure, oxygen-free (or near oxygen-free) transfers, re-purposing expelled CO2 and more.
A third application is similar to the second… Use as a UniVessel. Ferment and serve in the same vessel. Save time and simplify your process.