Drilling a kettle for a spigot

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briandickens

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So, my wife got me a 15 gallon kettle for Christmas and my sister got me the Zymico Weld-b-gone Kettle Conversion Kit. Sweet, right? So, anyone have any advice for where to put the hole? It needs a 7/8" hole, which should be easy enough. Is this tough to do? I don't want to F up my kettle. Should be easy enough, right?

I also got a Bayou Burner (SQ14) and a Barley Crusher. I am so stoked to brew!
 
briandickens said:
So, my wife got me a 15 gallon kettle for Christmas and my sister got me the Zymico Weld-b-gone Kettle Conversion Kit. Sweet, right? So, anyone have any advice for where to put the hole? It needs a 7/8" hole, which should be easy enough. Is this tough to do? I don't want to F up my kettle. Should be easy enough, right?

I also got a Bayou Burner (SQ14) and a Barley Crusher. I am so stoked to brew!
Do you plane on using it as a HLT or a Boil kettle? I am no expert but if you are going to use it as a HLT you should get the false bottom and set in the bottom and let that dictate your tap hight as for the boil kettle, I would say as close to the bottom as possible. Just make sure that you have enough clearance for all of your parts so you can make a good seal. S.:rockin:
 
I'm using the kettle as my boil kettle. So I think I'll try to get the hole as close to the bottom as I can. Or maybe I'll drill an inch or so off the bottom to make sure i have enough room for everything. I don't want to screw up the kettle.

That link to the wiki is very handy. Thanks! I figured drilling a little smaller than 7/8" would be a good idea.
 
If you get sticker shock when you try to buy the step bit and decide to cheap out and use a bimetal hole saw, make sure you go smaller and use a file to open it up for a tight fit. I'd go at least down to 3/4" which is a sixteenth of an inch smaller.
 
Bobby_M said:
If you get sticker shock when you try to buy the step bit and decide to cheap out and use a bimetal hole saw, make sure you go smaller and use a file to open it up for a tight fit. I'd go at least down to 3/4" which is a sixteenth of an inch smaller.
I agree. I drilled my keggle with a 3/4" bimetal hole saw from home depot just a couple weeks ago. It was an absolute piece of cake, the holesaw went through like a hot knife through butter. 5-10 minutes with a dremel and a grinding stone cleaned up the hole and enlarged it just enough that the 1/2"NPT pipe nipple is a nice snug fit in the hole.
 
Just make sure you drill hole high enough so the washer on the inside isnt on the curved bottom. I found the spot by placing the washer on the inside first so see where it would be the most flush.
 
found the spot by placing the washer on the inside first so see where it would be the most flush.

that's what i'll do. then mark it on the outside and drill the hole. can't wait.
 
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