Kegs

Training Powerlifting
1

Shugs,

In regards to training with kegs, are you using 8 or 16 gallon kegs? What do you use as a stopper? A full 16 weighs about 170 lbs. You must be one seriously strong mofo if are carrying that around.

2

Not sure of the exact gallons. A friend has all my barrels right now so I can’t check. The beer keg is the larger one, the standard size I guess. You don’t fill them all the way up though. You want to have some “slosh room” to increase the difficulty. Thirty minutes of keg work can leave your abs and entire core sore just from stabilizing the load. Cleans, presses, off set squats, bear hug walks, etc. Lots of fun.

I have two other barrels, both plastic army surplus jobs, one small but long and the other larger than the beer keg, around 55 gallons I think. Obviously that one doesn’t get much water! It’s a beast and is almost unusable it’s so big.

For the keg, I don’t use a stopper. I was able to force open the… crap, I forgot my keg terminology, but I guess it’s the tap area. When it’s dropped too hard you get splashed a little with stale beer smelling water, so you learn quickly not to drop it hard - or at least point it at your training partner if he’s slacking.

3

Just to help out, A full keg or “half barrel” is 15 1/2 gallons. Imports usually come in a 13 1/2 gallon keg. A “pony” or “quarter barrel” is 7.75 gallon. And last but not least you have a “sixth barrel” which is 5 gallons.

4

The “tap” portion of a keg is called a bung hole. I was able to get that cap off and clean mine rather well. For a cap, I got a rubber pipe end for PVC piping from a plumbing store (HD or Lowes would also have it). It has a screw clamp on the side so you get a really good seal and the rubber keeps any liquid from spilling out.

5

How to remove the ball:
http://www.physics.arizona.edu/~workman/homebrew/Sanke.html

To plug it back up, I use the plastic beer label cap, put a cloth over it, and use one of those metal-screw-ring-fasteners to secure it. It leaks, but very slowly. If you don’t want it to leak, you can probably use a cork with the cloth.