Three-N-One Bulkhead - Stop Swiss Cheesing your Keggles

I hate drilling hole after hole in my keggles. So I kept thinking there has to be a better way. THERE IS...

I bought all my stainless from BargainFittings.com (you should do the same. Always friendly on the phone and always fast shipping.). Try your LHBS first of course, mine didn't have the right stuff.

Here is what I purchased
1 x KEG weldless bulkhead kit
- VALVE: 2 piece valve - SS
- HOSE BARB for valve: <NONE>
- INSIDE OPTION: COUPLING - Standard option
1 x 90 degree sight gauge add on / Welded kit
1 x 3" face Miljoco Thermometer with 4" Long stem
1 x 1/2" NPT Cross Stainless

Sub-Total: $74.75

Almost $80 after shipping.

That is a very good idea. Looks like it is going to give you a more accurate indication of the HLT since you are monitoring the exact water you are using. I always run my HLT pump to recirculate when heating water. All I need is the tee and a close nipple. I don't use a sight gauge, but this makes that option an easy addition.

I've already got the plug to fill the existing hole where I have my thermometer. It is mounted waaaaay too high, around mid tank.

Thanks for the inspiration! This will be my next modification.

Just curious. Does the thermometer give an accurate reading when HLT heat is on and water is not flowing? Or does it get compromised by the close proximity of the burner fire?

When you are filling from the QD does the level guage remain accurate or does it go higher than actual? I would think the path of least resistance would cause it to vary while the pump was on. Do you have some kind of restrictor in the top of the tube? Just wonderin.
Bob

Sorry, not a great idea.

Besides sticking out and being clunky looking, the sight glass will not read accurately when draining. You also have to plug the top when you need the diptube to operate.

Bobby_M said:

Sorry, not a great idea.

Besides sticking out and being clunky looking, the sight glass will not read accurately when draining. You also have to plug the top when you need the diptube to operate.

Click to expand...

Not trying to be a jerk, but it doesn't seem to stick out any farther or look any clunkier than the hardware on the pot in your profile picture .

Also, why would you have to plug the top for the diptube to operate? Gravity is going to force the wort in the keggle out of the ball valve fitting regardless of if the sight glass is open or closed. Only time I could see it being an issue is the last couple inches of wort at the bottom of the keggle, when you would get air sucked through the sight glass. And it shouldn't really be that difficult or much of an inconvenience to stick a small stopper or the tip of your thumb over it for a minute or two?

Seems like a decent idea, but I can see issues with the sight glass and draining, or filling.

But you can minimize the holes in the keggle, using the therm/sightglass combo, with separate ball valve for draining, or do the therm/ball valve as a combo, with the sightglass separate.

I think it's a good idea...I like the look....

I know the dip tube is lower then typical, but he can just fill a gallon jug up and pour them in and mark where his levels are... Then just remember your not getting everything back out so be sure to factor that back into your over all volume.

knuckleheadbrewing said:

I think it's a good idea...I like the look....

I know the dip tube is lower then typical, but he can just fill a gallon jug up and pour them in and mark where his levels are... Then just remember your not getting everything back out so be sure to factor that back into your over all volume.

Click to expand...

Do you mean sight glass? It's not so much an issue of marking the levels. The issue is the sight glass will not be holding liquid when the valve is open, making it difficult to know how much is draining. It essentially takes away the convenience of the sight glass.

Kudos for outside the box thinking, but I think it will fall short in actual use.

I think this idea has great merit. I will be using this concept on my HLT, but without the sight gauge option...for now. I've already plugged the hole formerly occupied by my HLT thermometer and put together an order on stainless brewing.com. This will be done before my next brew.

And for as clunky and unsightly? I don't give a damn how it looks if it improves my process.

As Bobby mentioned, your sight gauge will not be accurate during fluid flow, and you will need to seal the sight glass to maintain a siphon. You will need to deal with those issues, but otherwise it should work. I wouldn't want that particular setup, but I can see how you are attracted to it. Nice work.

I tried this on my Igloo HLT and found that the sight glass wasn't accurate.....ended up with air in the glass, so i constantly had to mess with it while pumping to get accurate volumes. I think the temp and drain together make perfect sense......

I'm with Bobby on this also, it's got problems that I'd rather just have another bulkhead to solve.
I do have my thermometer in the same bulkhead as the sight glass, but the problem starts when you add that valve.

duckredbeard said:

That is a very good idea. Looks like it is going to give you a more accurate indication of the HLT since you are monitoring the exact water you are using. I always run my HLT pump to recirculate when heating water. All I need is the tee and a close nipple. I don't use a sight gauge, but this makes that option an easy addition.

I've already got the plug to fill the existing hole where I have my thermometer. It is mounted waaaaay too high, around mid tank.

Thanks for the inspiration! This will be my next modification.

Click to expand...

Thanks. Pm if you have any questions.

duckredbeard said:

Just curious. Does the thermometer give an accurate reading when HLT heat is on and water is not flowing? Or does it get compromised by the close proximity of the burner fire?

Click to expand...

It does not but I have a pretty nice burner. It is the camp chef explorer with 60k on each side. The keggle sits about 2" over the front so the heat doesn't effect the temp readings as far as I know. I will be converting to electric over the winter.

Rbeckett said:

When you are filling from the QD does the level guage remain accurate or does it go higher than actual? I would think the path of least resistance would cause it to vary while the pump was on. Do you have some kind of restrictor in the top of the tube? Just wonderin.
Bob

Click to expand...

It will vary, usually about 3 qrts in the system circ system. I get bubbles sometimes out of the rims tube. Which helps with the suction. I need to get the tube super tight.

Plus one about capping the sight glass (while draining), especially if you're using a pump. I found this out the hard way. Even during recirc it will suck air down that tube and lose your prime. Not to mention when you shut the pump off, the liquid comes flying back up that tube and sprays you with boiling hot wort. Not cool.

Looks good though, and I found a small piece of silicon tubing and a 1/2" copper cap worked great as a quick cap to pop on and off as needed until I take the time to move my sight glass to a dedicated hole.

Bobby_M said:

Sorry, not a great idea.

Besides sticking out and being clunky looking, the sight glass will not read accurately when draining. You also have to plug the top when you need the diptube to operate.

Click to expand...

I completely disagree with you. I think it looks a lot cleaner than 3 separate accessories coming on my keggle. Looks to me like someone didn't plan out what they were going to set their kettle up. I haven't had a measuring issue with my eyes before. All my equipment has (or is getting) sight glass with temp gauge. Simple math usually is needed anyway. I'm not worries about a quart or 2.

Demon said:

Do you mean sight glass? It's not so much an issue of marking the levels. The issue is the sight glass will not be holding liquid when the valve is open, making it difficult to know how much is draining. It essentially takes away the convenience of the sight glass.

Kudos for outside the box thinking, but I think it will fall short in actual use.

Click to expand...

I see the point. Maybe because I haven't brewed any super fancy step mashes I usually just have a good eye on how much water type stuff is going out. Used an approximation and a dip stick to see how much volume had moved.

I'm not trying to have a bigger dick contest here but sight glasses are kinda what I do. I'm glad you're happy with what you've put together but for most people, combining the sight glass with the bulkhead drain is just not the best way to go. A weak venturi effect happens when you're draining and the level in the sight glass will read way lower than the actual volume in the vessel. If that's not defeating the purpose of a sight glass, I don't know what is.

I know of at least a dozen of my past customers who insisted putting this combo together (valve and sight) against my recommendations and just about all of them later admitted that they reconfigured because they finally figured out what I was warning against.

I noticed you don't have a diptube in your parts list. Once you put one on, you'll also find that you have to put your finger over the sightglass hole if you expect the siphon to actually work.

Lastly, a 4" probe really isn't long enough after you get through the cross and bulkhead. I really recommend 6" because the last 2" should be inside the vessel.

On a less important note, you're really going with the claim that most 2-3 port installs look unplanned? I guess I agree. These things look like some real Sanford and Son specials.

Bobby_M said:

I'm not trying to have a bigger dick contest here but sight glasses are kinda what I do. I'm glad you're happy with what you've put together but for most people, combining the sight glass with the bulkhead drain is just not the best way to go. A weak venturi effect happens when you're draining and the level in the sight glass will read way lower than the actual volume in the vessel. If that's not defeating the purpose of a sight glass, I don't know what is.

I know of at least a dozen of my past customers who insisted putting this combo together (valve and sight) against my recommendations and just about all of them later admitted that they reconfigured because they finally figured out what I was warning against.

I noticed you don't have a diptube in your parts list. Once you put one on, you'll also find that you have to put your finger over the sightglass hole if you expect the siphon to actually work.

Lastly, a 4" probe really isn't long enough after you get through the cross and bulkhead. I really recommend 6" because the last 2" should be inside the vessel.

On a less important note, you're really going with the claim that most 2-3 port installs look unplanned? I guess I agree. These things look like some real Sanford and Son specials.

Click to expand...

I get ya. Thanks for the info. I'll probably reconfigure my stuff another 5 times before its finalized. I like to tinker a lot.

I do have a dip tube with false bottom on the other side of the keggle.

Thanks again for your insight Bobby_M.

I just built this up for my HLT, without the sight glass. While I'm sure it will give me a very accurate indication of my HLT temp, it will only do so when the pump is running. The thermometer probe (6") only goes into the kettle about an inch, since it has to go through the T and the bulkhead fitting. I use a pickup tube that pulls from the bottom inch of the HLT, so the probe is inside that tube. It seems it won't be accurate unless I have flow across that probe. I typically run the pump to circulate during water heating, but this would require me to do so for a temperature assessment.

I run the pumps a lot also. I usually do not have a variance. When it sits maybe a degree but since it is an analog dial it is very hard to tell.

I am looking forward to trying this. My previous configuration had the probe near the middle weld of the keg. Any less than about 7 gallons and the thermometer was just in steam.

Here's a photo of the contraption. Similar to yours. The inside shots show the thermometer probe that is inside the pickup tube. You can see the plug where the thermometer was.