There are as many ways of converting kegs to kettles as there are kettles convereted to kegs. If you've another, please feel free to add a story!

A sankey keg was purchased from a local scrap metal dealer. This keg cost $22.50, or about $.60 a pound. It was a tad more expensive than it should have been as there was about 2 gallons of old beer in the bottom. Oh well, price you pay...

Buying kegs at scrap yards entails a couple of risks. First, always insist on a receipt. Your receipt is your only defense if the keg is not the property of the scrap yard, i.e. it was sold to the scrap yard in lieu of a deposit. Second, heat and time do terrible things to beer when left in a keg. If you go this route, be prepared to spend some time cleaning and reconditioning the stainless steel. Third, bring cash. Many scrap yards do not accept credit cards or checks.

Construction

For a compete step-by-step process, see Converting a Keg

I find this the most fun. Well, other than brewing. Get yourself some string and a Sharpe or other felt-type marking pen. Create a loop in the string that will go around the keg's valve and give you a radius you're happy with. A 12" diameter hole seems to be about standard. Put the marker at the other end of the loop and mark the circle in the keg.

Ensure your keg is not pressurized. Place the keg on it's side, and use a large screwdriver to depress the ball valve on top of the keg. Even "empty" kegs have some beer remaining. It's a good idea to lay the keg on its side and keep your daughter out of the way. I know for a fact that two-year-old daughters get mighty upset when covered in stale beer released from a keg.

Hear me! Put on eye and hearing protection. If you're not going to wear good leather gloves, be extremely careful around the sharp edges of the newly cut keg and the spinning disk of your Dremel tool! If using cutoff wheels, a mask will keep you from breathing in much of the dust as the wheel disintegrates.

Setup your Dremel tool with a heavy duty cutoff wheel and cut to the inside of your mark. Believe me, it's a lot easier to expand the hole than it is to make it smaller! Take your time. You can expect it to take you multiple wheels and about an hour to get the hole cut. When you've just a sliver left to cut, hold the top valve and lift the cutout straight up. Now, can you find something useful to do with the top? If so, please let me know.

Feel free to use any other cutting tool. A sawzall with a bi-metal blade works very well. Anything that will cut the stainless steel will work; some procedures will be faster than others. If using the Dremel and the method above, the extra-heavy duty cutoff wheels, the ones that are fiberglass reinforced, will save you a lot of time.

If you have a small grinder for your Dremel, it'd be a good idea to run it around the lip of the keg hole now. Go ahead, I know the beer in the keg smells awful, but stale beer and fresh blood smell worse.

Once you're done a quick dressing of the keg's hole, you can dump and clean the keg's interior without fear of cutting yourself too badly.

Dry the keg and spend a few minutes dressing the hole. Use 80 grit sandpaper to knock off sharp edges around the hole. Remember, you're going to be in and out of this keg countless times to clean, add hardware, stir, etc. You should be able to put any amount of hand pressure at any point in the opening without cutting yourself. Do not use steel wire brushes! Steel will embed itself in the stainless steel and promote rust.

Smaller holes for valves and tubing are best cut with a conduit punch or bi-metal hole saw. If using a hole saw, drilling a pilot hole will keep the hole saw from skipping.