When to Use Keggle

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Jif

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I just placed some orders for my next batch of brew, still doing extract. My keggle is off being welded right now, and my previous pot is a 1.5-2 gallon one that came with my turkey fryer. I'd like to jump to full boils as soon as I can, but I don't have a chiller yet. Do I need to wait until I have one to use it? I'll be boiling (if full boiler) in the garage, but the nearest bathtub is up a flight of stairs, making it difficult to immerse. Should I just do a partial boil this time and wait until I have a chiller for full?
 
I would wait, but that is just me. It will take FOREVER for that to cool without a chiller.
 
I would wait and I certainly wouldn't advocate trying to carry the full amount of hot liquid up the flight of stairs. Now, if you could get something large enough to submerge you pot in down stairs it might be worth it but even then, trying to cool that much liquid by using an ice bath would take forever and would leave you open to the risk of infection. Personally I would hold off until you have a chiller IMO.
 
That's kind of what I was thinking. Oh well, one last partial boil!
 
I know it is a bit of a lift, but you don't have a clean rubbermaid storage bin or trash can handy? It would still take a bunch of ice/water, along with stirring it, draining and adding more to cool the keggle and that much wort after hosing it down with cold water... wait after thinking about it more you're probably right... Because after brewing and drinking, who wants to deal with all of that? It's do able, but as others stated, might be more of a hassle then you want to deal with... Have a good brew session either way!
 
I just cooled mine last night in a large toy bin with icewater. Put something in the bottom to keep the kettle from burning through the plastic. I had mine cooled to pitching in under an hour with some stirring and adding of ice. I was cooling about 6G in a turkey fryer though so YMMV with a keggle.
 
You had a 2-gallon pot for a turkey fryer?

Are you sure that wasn't a Cornish Hen Fryer? ;)

For your chiller, go to Lowe's, buy some flexible copper tubing, some clear vinyl tubing and some hose fittings and done.

Wort_Chiller.JPG
 
I know it is a bit of a lift, but you don't have a clean rubbermaid storage bin or trash can handy? It would still take a bunch of ice/water, along with stirring it, draining and adding more to cool the keggle and that much wort after hosing it down with cold water... wait after thinking about it more you're probably right... Because after brewing and drinking, who wants to deal with all of that? It's do able, but as others stated, might be more of a hassle then you want to deal with... Have a good brew session either way!

It wouldn't be TOO bad of a lift, as I'm just doing 5 gallons, not a full keggle. I'll have to muster up all of my man-strength, just the same.

You had a 2-gallon pot for a turkey fryer?

Are you sure that wasn't a Cornish Hen Fryer? ;)

For your chiller, go to Lowe's, buy some flexible copper tubing, some clear vinyl tubing and some hose fittings and done.

It came with two pots, a big 5'er and the little one I mentioned above. Really good for frying up funnel cakes or something like that after you finish up a whole turkey.

I had fried a turkey back in the day and left the pot outside for a bit because I'm a lazy college student. Thing filled up with water, froze, and expanded out the bottom so the pot is worthless. As of now, the 2 gallon is all I have lying around, and it's what I've brewed all of my batches in thus far. It works fine, but I'm getting really excited for full boils, and later AG.

I also don't have a dip-tube for my keggle yet, but I figure I can deal with that with a siphon for a little while, until I buy either a hopstopper or the Bazooka-T with the tube you can get for it. Can't decide between those guys yet.

For building a chiller for a keggle, do I need to have copper extended all the way out of the beer and no vinyl until then, or can vinyl stand the boiling temperatures in the wort?
 
For building a chiller for a keggle, do I need to have copper extended all the way out of the beer and no vinyl until then, or can vinyl stand the boiling temperatures in the wort?

There are some high temperature plastics, but it is best if you have the copper come all the way out. On a 50' chiller there should be plenty of copper and this will not be difficult to do. The biggest reason I'd keep the vinyl and connections out of the wort is the potential of leaks at the connection. I've personally seen a leak form at the seam (hose clamps come lose) and then cool hose water find it's way into the beer.
 
Yeah, that's what I was planning on. That coppertubingsales.com place had some rather cheap copper. Catching up paying for the kegerator I just built and then it's chiller time!
 
Not gonna lie, as of right now we carry our five gallon batches down a flight of stairs to cool. This requires two people to do without feeling like you're going to die though. Even then, still kind of feel like your going to wind up on your back with hot sugar water melting your skin off if you're the one on the bottom but I guess that is what makes you not drop it right? This is maybe our subconsciousness motivation for continuing to lift weight?

Seriously though, you and a buddy could get it up some steps, but it's more than likely not the best idea.
 
Oh and don't forget to keep the tubing away from the hot burner as well...Had a few too many brews while brewing and melted the tubing when not paying attention!

I did this same thing today.... Nothing a little duct tape and a strong grip couldn't fix until we were done chilling
 
You had a 2-gallon pot for a turkey fryer?

Are you sure that wasn't a Cornish Hen Fryer? ;)

For your chiller, go to Lowe's, buy some flexible copper tubing, some clear vinyl tubing and some hose fittings and done.

View attachment 9696

Get yourself a chiller asap; you'll be sooo glad you did! So worth it. Make your own like BM sez, or just bite the bullet and purchase one. yOu won't regret it. And your beer will be happier; less chance of nasties.
 
I've been doing some late evening brews lately...and just placing my kettle outside overnight...and pitch when I wake up in the morning...seems to work really well...
 
I just cooled mine last night in a large toy bin with icewater. Put something in the bottom to keep the kettle from burning through the plastic. I had mine cooled to pitching in under an hour with some stirring and adding of ice. I was cooling about 6G in a turkey fryer though so YMMV with a keggle.

I did this on Tuesday with the same results, but I used a plastic storage tote. Works just fine if you have the patience.
 
You had a 2-gallon pot for a turkey fryer?

Are you sure that wasn't a Cornish Hen Fryer? ;)

For your chiller, go to Lowe's, buy some flexible copper tubing, some clear vinyl tubing and some hose fittings and done.

View attachment 9696

For the mechanically and household-handy-impaired (me) is that half inch or 1 inch copper? The price is literally double between the two.

I.e. would this work:

Lowes copper tubing
 
For the mechanically and household-handy-impaired (me) is that half inch or 1 inch copper? The price is literally double between the two.

I.e. would this work:

Lowes copper tubing

Mine are 3/8ths inch. My five gallon setup used a 25' length, when I went to ten gallon batches I needed to double that lenth.

These days, for just a little more money than raw materials, immersion chillers are readily available and ready to go like this one:

41qruK7AU6L.jpg



http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BBGZWZU/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
 
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Mine are 3/8ths inch. My five gallon setup used a 25' length, when I went to ten gallon batches I needed to double that lenth.

These days, for just a little more money than raw materials, immersion chillers are readily available and ready to go like this one:


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BBGZWZU/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


Wow, thanks a ton! It's literally only pennies more when all is said and done! Funny, one of the reasons I want to move from 1 gallon to 5 gallon (aside from just moving up) is because of your Blonde Ale!!
 
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Mine are 3/8ths inch. My five gallon setup used a 25' length, when I went to ten gallon batches I needed to double that lenth.

These days, for just a little more money than raw materials, immersion chillers are readily available and ready to go like this one:

41qruK7AU6L.jpg



http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BBGZWZU/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Is there a length of tubing, or diameter of tubing, where its efficiency begins to drop off?

I like to build and MacGuyver things, so it's not necessarily about saving money, but if I grabbed a 1/4" set of tubing, and created a 50' coil. Would this be twice as efficient as a 1/2" tube with a 25' coil? I am not a scientist of any kind so this is all just junk in my brain. The way I think is, same amount of coolant water, smaller tube diameter, longer tube, increase flow pressure (and flow rate, or am I confusing my laws here), would this create a net effect of more cooling quicker?

Or is it the exact opposite, because theres less water in any given section of the tubing, and its traveling faster through the tubing because of the decreased diameter, it has a lower thermal mass, so it wouldn't be able to pull as much heat out of the wort? Am I completely insane and should've paid more attention in physics class?
 
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Id wait but that's just me. as far as lifting it, that's 25lb minimum empty keggle.... one gallon of water weighs roughly eight lbs, plus a big hunk of oddly shaped metal... u do the math. and considering its gonna be hot as hell, that's a big risk. If uve never used a keggle before either I think u'll be surprised just how hot even the top of the keggle will get.
 
Is there a length of tubing, or diameter of tubing, where its efficiency begins to drop off?

I like to build and MacGuyver things, so it's not necessarily about saving money, but if I grabbed a 1/4" set of tubing, and created a 50' coil. Would this be twice as efficient as a 1/2" tube with a 25' coil? I am not a scientist of any kind so this is all just junk in my brain. The way I think is, same amount of coolant water, smaller tube diameter, longer tube, increase flow pressure (and flow rate, or am I confusing my laws here), would this create a net effect of more cooling quicker?

Or is it the exact opposite, because theres less water in any given section of the tubing, and its traveling faster through the tubing because of the decreased diameter, it has a lower thermal mass, so it wouldn't be able to pull as much heat out of the wort? Am I completely insane and should've paid more attention in physics class?

Well, I never did that well in Fluid Mechanics, but I can say most things with heat exchangers relate to surface area...

Surface Area of tubing = PI * diameter * length in feet * 12in/ft

So, 50' of 1/4" = 3.14*.25*50*12 = 471 sq. in.

25' of 1/2" = 3.14*.5*25*12 = 471 sq. in.

When you double the diameter, but halve the length you end up at the same place. Both coils have the same surface area.

However, they do have different volumes...

Volume of tubing = PI * radius squared * length in feet * 12 in/ft

Volume of 50' of 1/4" = 3.14*.125*.125*50*12 = 29.43 cu. in.

Volume of 25' of 1/2" = 3.14*.25*.25*25*12 = 58.88 cu. in.

Maybe some of the factors you mentioned might put one slightly ahead of the other, but i bet there wouldn't be much of a difference between the two setups due to the surface area being the same.

P.S. Awesome screen name. :cool: Do you have any liter-a-cola?
 
Well, I never did that well in Fluid Mechanics, but I can say most things with heat exchangers relate to surface area...

Surface Area of tubing = PI * diameter * length in feet * 12in/ft

So, 50' of 1/4" = 3.14*.25*50*12 = 471 sq. in.

25' of 1/2" = 3.14*.5*25*12 = 471 sq. in.

When you double the diameter, but halve the length you end up at the same place. Both coils have the same surface area.

However, they do have different volumes...

Volume of tubing = PI * radius squared * length in feet * 12 in/ft

Volume of 50' of 1/4" = 3.14*.125*.125*50*12 = 29.43 cu. in.

Volume of 25' of 1/2" = 3.14*.25*.25*25*12 = 58.88 cu. in.

Maybe some of the factors you mentioned might put one slightly ahead of the other, but i bet there wouldn't be much of a difference between the two setups due to the surface area being the same.

P.S. Awesome screen name. :cool: Do you have any liter-a-cola?

Oh duh, surface area... So basically I would have to try a length of coil up to the point where the coolant water reached equilibrium with the wort and has pulled as much energy as possible from the wort.

What's a liter-a-cola?

I'm super jealous of my younger brother since he got to meet Steve Lemme and Kevin Heffernan during a bacherlor party (I believe they went to their stand up tour).
 
I've carried a hot 10 gal batch in a keggle down a few steps and across a long hallway to chill. It's doable, but not something I'd recommend or really want to do again.
 
I chill my 5 gal. batches in three ice baths to increase the surface area and lighten the load a bit. About 1.75 gal. at a time. The first 2 I get to about 90 degrees and the last one as cold as possible. Sometimes I have to wait a bit before pitching. I also use a whisk to oxygenate the wort.
 
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