first time using a keggle

Getting ready to do my first 12 gallon full boil on sat.:rockin: Been doing 3 gall boils on stove for awhile now. I have the keggle & all the fittings are in place. After the ball valve on bottom of kettle I have a 6" brass nipple to attach the march pump & then plate chiller to fermenter. Aside from normal sanitation, anything I should expect when using this for the first time? I never used a pump or plate chiller before. I might do a test run today with hot water just to see how fast it will flow from pump though plate chiller to fermenter. Any advice or heads up, would be appreciated.

What are you using to separate the hops from the wort before entering the chiller?

Congratulations. My last batch was the inauguration of my Keggle.....You're gonna love this....especially when you add hops, it foams up....you panic....go diving for the propane valve....and then realize....it's ok.....it's gonna be ok!

If you don't already, I would suggest putting a valve on the out end of the pump to control out flow. It's amazing what a little flow control will do to help chill the wort. Do you have a pick up tube of some sort? And finally, what I do is recirculate the wort a little while chilling to get the whole batch down, then redirect to the carboy. I find this helps me get down to 65º - 68º quicker and easier.

dstar26t said:

What are you using to separate the hops from the wort before entering the chiller?

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I only have a 5" piece of 1/2" cooper with an elbow inside of kettle, there is about 2" from bottom of kettle to the elbow. no screen. I thought I would let the kettle sit for about 10 min after the boil before pumping/cooling.

Kilted Brewer said:

If you don't already, I would suggest putting a valve on the out end of the pump to control out flow. It's amazing what a little flow control will do to help chill the wort. Do you have a pick up tube of some sort? And finally, what I do is recirculate the wort a little while chilling to get the whole batch down, then redirect to the carboy. I find this helps me get down to 65º - 68º quicker and easier.

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I do have a valve after the pump. I do have a pick up tube inside of kettle no screen though (is this a problem) I like the idea of recirulating the wort. thanks

I'd use a hop bag. I took an old bazooka tube and cut it up and put it around the pick up tube and had big big problems with it getting stuck do to hop material. Once I went back to hop bags no problems. 2" off the bottom seems a little much to me. Mine is like 1/4".

Kilted Brewer said:

I'd use a hop bag. I took an old bazooka tube and cut it up and put it around the pick up tube and had big big problems with it getting stuck do to hop material. Once I went back to hop bags no problems. 2" off the bottom seems a little much to me. Mine is like 1/4".

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I measured it its 1 1/4" not 2" So if I put all hops in a bag I should be fine leaving pick up tube open.

Are we talking about whole leaf or pellet hops? or should you put both in bags?

For leaf hops, pellet hops shouldn't be a problem.

Pellets may not be a problem, but I use the bag for them too.