Thursday, September 20, 2007

How I converted a Danby DKC645BLS to work with both Cornelius and Sankey kegs

The parts I needed to complete my kegerator arrived last night and I wasted very little time before getting down to work. (I've had a batch of Imperial IPA which failed to produce any natural carbonation during bottle conditioning which I wanted to have on tap for the Bears game this Sunday.)

Thankfully, after doing my research, it turned out to be a relatively quick project to modify the stock equipment which comes with the Danby so it'll easily switch back and forth between Cornelius and Sankey kegs.

Here's the parts list (with part numbers from Northern Brewer - no commercial affiliation - I've just had great luck with them.)

3/15/2012 Update: They're now selling everything in a single kit!

1xBall Lock 1/4" MFL Gas Disconnect[K010]
1xBall Lock 1/4" MFL Liquid Disconnect[K011]
1x5/16" Barbed Swivel Nut[K163]
1x1/4" Barbed Swivel Nut[K123]
2xTail Piece 1/4" MFL[K027]
3xSS Worm Gear Clamp[K124]
1xTeflon Tape[K089]
1xPetrol Gel Lubricant[K031]
Optional / Unused
15x5/16" Beverage Tubing[K201]
(To move CO2 tank off of the fridge)
2xNeoprene Beer Washers[K030]
1xGas Leak Detector[K224]

  1. Let's take a look at exactly what came with the kit. The CO2 cylinder and regulator will work as provided. However, the adapters on the Sankey tap and the adapter on the beer line which feeds the tower need to be changed.
  2. Cut the line coming out of the tower just after the permanent tubing clamp which attaches to the Sankey tap, preserving as much of the original line as possible. Fit that line with both a hose clamp [slide on to the tubing before shoving the barb in] and the 1/4" barbed disconnect.

  3. Similarly, we'll put a hose clamp on either end of the gas line, attach one end to CO2 regulator and the other to the 5/16" barbed disconnect. Be sure to tighten the hose clamps as tightly as you can without breaking them.
  4. Next up, we'll modify the Sankey Tap to work with the new smaller disconnects. Here's a before picture of the tap. You can see that both the gas and liquid sides use standard beer nuts.
  5. So, we'll use the beer nuts which came with the tap and just swap out the fittings for the two 1/4" MFL tail pieces. I ordered the neoprene washers to fit between the tap and the tail pieces, but it didn't appear necessary to use them. Here's an exploded picture of the tap before re-assembly.
  6. That's it as far as surgery goes, so all you have to do now is decide whether you're going to drink a commercial keg or a homebrew keg. Be sure to wrap the 1/4" MFL fittings on either the Cornelius disconnects or on either end of the Sankey tap with teflon tape or use the two flared nylon washers when attaching a keg.
  7. Here's a picture of the conversion with disconnects side by side:
  8. Drink some beer!

5 comments:

vince said...

I'm very grateful for your post. It gave me simple to follow instructions on how to convert my kegerator to work with Cornelius kegs. A local brewery 5 min from my house sells 5 gallon Cornelius kegs of their beer. I thought I'd never be able to have it without making semi-permanent changes to the air and beer lines. But with your plans, I can easily switch back and forth. Thanks!

MikeDizzle95 said...

I am just new to kegging my own beer and I have to say- this blog entry has helped me more than you can imagine. I appreciate the exploded view of the setup. Its exactly what I have been looking for.

Unknown said...

Perfect instructions! Worked like a champ. Enjoying my own draft homebrew as we speak.

Unknown said...

Hey all - I'm glad that this post has proved so helpful! I'm still rocking the Danby these days, although it hasn't seen a commercial Sankey keg since two summers ago. (However, I have added a CO2 distributor to run two Cornelius Kegs at once...)

dutchoh1 said...

Thank you sooooo much for this, I think I will try doing this this weekend.

Do you know if something similar would work for a european keg?