Ok, been a while. Things got real fucked at work, and I am in the process of trying to locate a new job, so I have been mentally preoccupied for a while. Anyway, time to start my series on my latest project, a Brutus 10 clone. What is a Brutus 10 you ask?

A Brutus 10 is a device used to make more consistent, and optionally larger batches of beer, quicker, and more efficiently. I have been wanting one for years, but they are ungodly expensive to purchase. I didn't want to foot the bill on a credit card, and saving my pennies takes too long. So I have decided to build one myself. This way, I gain a lot of valuable skills, I can customize it to suit my particular needs, and I can enjoy the satisfaction of producing something lovely and useful, that will last a lifetime. Plus, my Brutus 10 clone will be better than yours, until you build one yourself, so suck it.

The first thing I needed to obtain as the basis for the entire system was three standard half barrel kegs. These are your typical run of the mill 15.5 gallon kegs your mom probably saw a lot of in college.

Why do I need three? Well, one is your "hot liquor tank" or HLT. This one simply holds and heats the water necessary for the entire brewing process. Secondly, you need a "mash/lauter tun" or MLT. This is where you put the grains and extract the fermentable sugars using the water from the HLT. Lastly, you need a brew kettle, where the beer will be brewed.

Locating kegs can be a daunting task because it can be a shady unethical business. When you put down the deposit on a keg full of beer, you DO NOT 'own' the keg. The deposit is there to ensure that you return it so the distributor does not lose money. Kegs are expensive to build, maintain, and distribute. Purchasing kegs from a reputable dealer is very expensive. So, for me, the plan was to fall somewhere in between the shady business and full retail price. A lot of the ads seen on Craig's List said things like "no questions asked", or "I just need this to be gone". So I stayed away from those. Just about when I was to the point of paying full retail price, an ad came along that said basically "3 kegs, great condition", and didn't have a shady vibe. I offered the guy 40 bucks each, instead of the 50 each he was asking. Since I wanted all three, he accepted.

So, the next challenge to converting kegs into brewing equipment is to cut out the tops. This required purchasing a quality angle grinder.



Next, you need to remove the stems from the kegs. I won't go into detail because that information is widely available elsewhere. In a nutshell, you remove the retaining ring and just pull it out.



Then, you need some sort of contraption to hold the grinder vertically and cut a perfect circle in the top. I made this out of some old 2x4s I had laying in the garage. I used one of the stems as pivot point, since it fit in the existing hole perfectly. I ended up just sort of holding the grinder against the 2x4, rather than fastening to the jog, because it just seemed easier at the time, and appeared to work well.



Here is what the tops looked like after removal.



And finally, here is what the kegs looked like after the tops were removed.



I forgot to take pictures of the kegs prior to removing the tops, but if you have seen one keg, you have seen them all.

That is enough for now. For the next post in a few days, I will get into preparing for, and starting, the structural build, including my adventure into welding.