My simple two receptacle all grain build

GC89 · 08-09-2009, 08:42 AM

Im making the jump to all grain so I thought I would share it all with you and hopefully gain some insight from those who have already been there.

At this stage things will be kept simple, mobile and storable. I am in college so this system needs to stay be able to be tucked away at my parents house and brought out on my brew weekends

I am going with a two keggle system. The first will be the HLT using a 5500W ULD element and THIS PID (anyone have experience or imput on this pid?). The second keg will be the MLT which will be drained and sparged through back into the HLT which will then be used as a BK. I am planning on having both drain fittings located at the bottoms of the kegs. Still debating on going weldless or saving some money and welding fittings on. I have yet to see a weldless kit to install an element so that may make up my mind for me. If anyone has cheap sources for weldless or weld on stainless fittings, valves, ect I would appreciate it.

Pics up tomorrow

**Sawdustguy** · 08-09-2009, 12:36 PM

Are you planning to have the wort drain into a bucket from your MLT and then pour it into you HLT or are you planning to go no sparge?

Sizz · 08-09-2009, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GC89

If anyone has cheap sources for weldless or weld on stainless fittings, valves, ect I would appreciate it.

I did a lot of reasearch trying to find good prices for my build. The store 'KLG Stainless' on Ebay was generally the best for fittings. Check out my parts list here for specific parts/vendors.

wilserbrewer · 08-09-2009, 01:16 PM

If you have the ability to weld, by all means I would weld. l'm a cooler / kettle three vessel brewer but if I wanted to fit up some kegs i would consider silver solder. Search around, some are doing nice work this way.

fittings here:
Bargain Fittings

GC89 · 08-09-2009, 07:32 PM

I have a 20 qt pot I was planning on draining my sparge water into that and then sparging through back into the hlt/bk but I also have a 10 gallon bucket so I may just empty into that. I have a nice mig here and even some stainless wire but its been a long time since I have welded stainless. I know kegs are spun so there thickness and consistency is not even which I figured would make welding with a mig tricky. Any experience with a mig on a keg? Its definitely cheaper to weld fittings in and less worry of leaks later on I am just concerned how they will turn out. So if I go ahead and weld I was thinking one of these cut in halve and welded on the bottom of each keg. Then the valves ect.

wilserbrewer · 08-09-2009, 08:33 PM

While a nipple cut in half would work, i believe most prefer to weld either a full or half coupling so as not to have exposed threads that could get damaged.

Half Couplings

GC89 · 08-09-2009, 09:49 PM

I wondered about that but figured a male would save space but female is definitely safer. The other thing I was debating is welding an elbow on the bottom so it turns then has the valve and then some 1/2 stainless tubing extending out past the rim and then down. I want to make it easy to convert to a stationary 2 or 3 tier system someday when I have the space.

GC89 · 08-10-2009, 04:58 AM

pics as promised

Heres my jig to cut the tops of the kegs off.

I'm making a trip to my local good will and other thrift stores tomorrow in search of a 12'' lid

GC89 · 08-13-2009, 08:48 AM

Finally found time to search for a lid. Couldnt find anything 12" or bigger at any of the thrift stores and finally stumbled on and 13" platter I guess it was. Anyways looked like it would work so I went home measured it out, set the jig and finally got my kegs cut.

I plan on making the one on the left and in the first pic showing the inside the MLT, and the right and second the HLT/BK. Went classic on the lid and used a 57 ford radio knob for the handle. Going to pick up a few more things tomorrow hopefully.

GC89 · 08-21-2009, 04:23 AM

Finally got my controller parts from auber. Nothing too fancy just the PID, 3ft thermocouple and 40A SSR. Now I need a bit of help wiring it. Anyone have any good links showing diagrams using similar parts? I am having a tuff time finding any, thanks