Keg to Kettle

So I know it's been a long time since the last update, and while I hoped to be completed with this project it is still in the works.  I acquired a keg from someone recently and I've been in the process of converting it into a kettle.  I also wanted to polish the keg to make it look good.  I still need to drill a hole in it and put a spout in to make it an official kettle but I don't know how to weld and I'm a little reluctant to try a weld free fitting, though I've been told they can and do work.  For now I've been concentrating on learning to use my angle grinder and polishing supplies to cut a hole in the top and shine this bad boy up.  These are just some of the results thus far.

Here is the original keg

Here I am dousing the stickers with paint thinner to make them easier to remove.

For the next step we put the keg in the shower and turned the water on.  Our thoughts were that the humidity would help with removing the glue and other crap off the sides.

We used a razor blade to get the job done.

 

Next I took the grinder to the lettering on the sides.

I then began to sand down the sides of the keg to get rid of all the scratch marks.

I also cut the hole in the top of the keg. This was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

I'm checking to see if the cord will reach and decide to use the extension just in case. Also note the safety glasses and ear muffs.  It might look silly but the grinder is loud and dangerous and I'm not very experienced so I take full precautions.

The final result

Notice how rough the edges look?  I'll fix that by sanding it down with both a sanding wheel that comes with the grinder and some 220 sanding paper made for this type of situation.

 

The budlight is not mine I swear

 I have also managed to put the first layer of polish on, but it's a 3 step process and I've had trouble finding the time to do it.  You have to go over the whole keg with the polish and it can take a while.  I plan on finishing sometime in the next week or two.  When I'm finished with the polishing I'm going to fill the keg with water and heat it up to a full boil to make sure I don't have any leaks or problems.  I'll probably drill the hole for the spout sometime later down the road.  I'm anxious to get this thing up and running and I have a pump to get the wort out after the boil so I don't really need the spout at this time.  I'll try to have more pics up soon!  I hope you've enjoyed!