Keg to keggle conversion - need an opinion

Griffsta · 02-26-2009, 01:32 PM

Hey guys,

Im finally going all grain, I have 3 kegs I am about to convert. My question is simple:

Do I need to have a Sight glass and thermometer for each one?

If I put a sight glass on my MLT, is that legit? How about a thermometer? Do these screw up the sparging process at all?

trimpy · 02-26-2009, 01:41 PM

I like thermos in HLT and MT, and sightglasses on HLT and Boil Kettle.

You can see how much water you are putting into the MT by looking at the HLT, and you don't need to know the temp of the Boil Kettle

My thermowell sticks into the MT by about 4 inches... just gotta be careful when stirring.

**Bobby_M** · 02-26-2009, 01:42 PM

There will be frugal minded comments aplenty upcoming but I'll give you my take.

HLT: thermo and sightglass kinda mandatory. You need to know your temps and levels. Yes, you could use a handheld thermometer and use a story stick for levels.

MLT: Thermo maybe, but I've noticed my dial thermo is a little slow to respond and you're only measuring one point in the grainbed. I always doublecheck with a digital handheld and they're sometimes off by 2F. Sightglass? Only if you plan to fill the MLT and heat the strike water directly. If you're going to heat in the HLT and move it to the MLT, you don't need the sightglass.

Boil Kettle: Thermo...opinions plenty mixed. I like to know when I'm about to boil or how close I am. If you chill in place with an IC, it might be nice. I'd only add one if I found a few of them cheap. Sight glass... again, you could use a stick or notch your spoon etc, but if you're building three vessels anyway, it's really nice to have a quick indicator of how much runoff you have and how much you've boiled down.

Me? I made all three vessels identical. They can be used interchangeably and if I ever sold them off, they would be advertised as universal HLT/BK/MLTs. If you're having couplings welded in, it's not much more expensive to put 9 bulkheads in than say 6.

**conpewter** · 02-26-2009, 01:42 PM

Some people put them on all 3, mostly for looks*. It depends on what the rest of your setup is. I only have a thermometer on my HLT and I use a hand held thermometer on my mash tun so I can test in different spots. I also only have the sight glass on my HLT as I don't want grain or hops getting into the sight glass (I use a marked spoon to see how much is in the boil kettle).

I have CFC so I don't need a thermometer on my brew-kettle, just have a stick on thermometer on the output of the CFC. If you have an immersion chiller you'd want a thermometer on the brew kettle.

*Edit or apparently for resale value, which is a good idea.

**Bobby_M** · 02-26-2009, 02:42 PM

Just for the record, I never get grain or hops in my sightglass tube. It just doesn't happen, ever, but YMMV. Does anyone with a site on their BK have problems with hop debris in the tube?

**Bobby_M** · 02-26-2009, 02:51 PM

Oh, you don't need two threads for the same topic

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/need-some-tips-my-3-kegs-system-105655/

**conpewter** · 02-26-2009, 04:42 PM

Yep I got confused with the two threads things. Good to know that you don't get any grain or hops in the sight glasses, as mentioned I've never had one on the MLT or the boil keg.