Fizzycist

Recipes 

So I'm contemplating this brew kettle and adding valve and sight gauge because it seems cheaper than a buying one all together.
http://http://spikebrewing.com/collections/15-gallon-stainless-kettles/products/15-gallon-stainless-3-couplers
My question is, can I use one of the installed NPT couplers as the ... port, for lack of a better word, for a 4500 w heater element? I can't make heads or tails of the various connectors that make it water tight. Also, would you recommend the element be in the middle or the bottom?

__________________
Fill with mingled cream and amber,
I will drain that glass again.
Such hilarious visions clamber
Through my chambers of my brain.
Quaintest thoughts - queerest fancies
Come to life and fade away;
What care I how time advances?
I am drinking ale today.
- Edgar Allan Poe

sicabeer

Recipes 

the 1/2" NTP will be way to small for a heating element.

use one for the valve, one for a thermometer, and one for a site gauge.

Your going to have to punch a 1 1/4" hole in your pot for the element.

I put mine in by offsetting it slightly from the sight gauge. I assume you mean your going to mount it horizontally.

here is a good example of it.
http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/heating-elements

Fizzycist

Recipes 

Rats, was trying to avoid punching a hole, it sounds like a pain. Thanks.

__________________
Fill with mingled cream and amber,
I will drain that glass again.
Such hilarious visions clamber
Through my chambers of my brain.
Quaintest thoughts - queerest fancies
Come to life and fade away;
What care I how time advances?
I am drinking ale today.
- Edgar Allan Poe

sicabeer

Recipes 

The first hole is the worst. Then its no big deal after that.

ajdelange

Recipes 

There is another problem with the idea of using a coupler and that is that the heaters use a straight thread while the couplers are NPT (tapered).