Cut the keggle... Now what???

So I have been trying to find a keg to make into a keggle for a long time. After turning into my street I noticed my neighbor has a keg sitting in his garage. I gave him $20 bucks and I finally have my keggle. Cut the hole in the top and I am soaking it in bleach right now. The question is now what? The first thing I am going to add is http://www.brewhardware.com/wlsightglass/47-weldless-compact-sight-glass-with-2q-dial-thermometer. Going with weldless since I have no welding experience.

Now that I have a keggle I want to move into all grain. I am really just starting the switch. I noticed most keggles have a drain in it. I am a little confused as to what other accessories I need to add. Do I need a drain spout or should I just siphon it out? What exactly is the purpose of the false bottom?

The false bottom is to strain out the grains and hops that you brew with. And yes a bottom spout is pretty key as that is where the false bottom comes into play. I too am just starting all grain, and there is a lot of startup and gear that can make brewing all grain smooth and fun. Not to mention exciting! I have weld less fittings and they work great

And personally I would get the ball valve before the sight glass. Good luck your new venture. Cheers

t-jarks22 said:

And personally I would get the ball valve before the sight glass. Good luck your new venture. Cheers

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Here's my setup so far. Very simple. But the pump is a big help

Well first off what will it be used for.... ? A mash tun or kettle?

I use a cooler for my tun and keggle to boil in.

I have a weld less ball valve and then a pick up tube. You don't really need a false bottom if its just a boil kettle...
And a sight glass isn't nessasary either. I bent a price if aluminum and marked the gallon increments on it and hang it over the edge ...

edit since you are considering siphoning it out. Im guessing its just a kettle..... you are going to want a valve. I would save the money on the sightglass for now. If you are stating AG im sure there tons for u to buy .....

Buy or make a grain bag and start doing BIAB brewing today. "wilserbrewer" on this former sell them for about $20.

This will get you started really fast and cheap into all grain. You can then decide later if you want to go down the multi-vessel path.

You can make a wood stick or other to mark liquid levels, buy a (bobby_M) sight glass later.

For now use your auto siphon to drain kettle (PIA get a ball valve ASAP).

A wort chiller is not an option unless you go with the no chill method (Aussies really like the BIAB and No chill cube method).

Good luck,

Chris

mjmac85 said:

So I have been trying to find a keg to make into a keggle for a long time. After turning into my street I noticed my neighbor has a keg sitting in his garage. I gave him $20 bucks and I finally have my keggle. Cut the hole in the top and I am soaking it in bleach right now. The question is now what?

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The first thing I would do is dump and rinse out that bleach, then go pick up Palmer's" How to Brew".

Ya man... bleach is caustic to metals. Go to oxyclean for the keggle. Dont want to ruin it before you even use it.
I am still in the process of building my system. Its a long process. Start with the most worthwhile additions first. A sight glass is next to worthless IMO. I originally just guessed based on the notches in the keggle. Then I measured 1gal at a time and notched my big metal spoon. Then I got a bigger keggle, and now I am back to guessing. When its all cooled and I dump it into the fermentor, then I get my volumes. To each his own, but if measuring is important to you, notch your spoon or something else that you can dip. Save that money and get the ball valve. I use two kitchen potholders and actually pick up the keggle anytime I need to drain it, and I dump it. Strike water, sparge water, mashout water, finished wort. Speaking of... anyone have some motrin?

Get that bleach out ASAP!!!

There are some simple all in one false bottom/ weldless ball valve setups you can buy





I'm not really sure what the consenses is on these things. This is mine but I haven't used it yet and can't speak from experience. I'm not using a sight glass on my mash tun but I did install some thermometers.





I still need to add a sparging mechanism

I've been brewing All Grain for about 4 years now. If I were to start over from day one again, I'd go with a 10G BIAB, electric setup.

1 keg with 5500W heating element, 1/2" ball valve, 1/2" sightglass and thermowell.
Large bag for grain with an over head pully for lifting the full wet bag.
Plate chiller for chilling
1 pump for chilling and recirculating during mash
Small control box with a PID controlled, switched 240V 30A outlet for element and 1 switched 120V outlet for the pump.

The first thing I'd add to your keg would be a 1'2" Stainless Steel ball valve with pickup tube. Get the weldless kit from Bobby_M or Bargain fittings.com

I found a small 9" false bottom for pretty cheap on amazon and just used barb fittings and silicone tubing. Can get kinked when using a wort chiller but easily avoided. So far works really well and was cheap

For now you can easily start brewing all-grain with just a grain bag. What you have created with the keggle is a brew kettle. With BIAB you use the same vessel for everything (but no matter how you brew, the larger kettle is required to boil off wort).

Depends on what you want to spend and how much work you're comfortable doing. Stainless isn't the easiest to drill through, but you cut the top off, so you understand that. I just converted a EuroKeg into a BK with two 120v. elements and 1/2" ball valve. The bottom is concave and I whirlpool so I'm not worried about a false bottom or screen. Never have been.

At the moment going to do Brew in a bag. Seems like the best way to go. Bleach is out and rinsed. Thanks for the heads up. Looking like I will need a new propane stand. Was using a turkey fryer and the LHBS said that they have issues heating kegs since the burner is far from the bottom. So probably going to do one of the custom brew bags and the ball lock with dip tube from brewhardware. I was looking at his sight last night and was amazed that the step bit was only about 11 bucks. The store charges 40+. Thanks for the help!

mjmac85 said:

At the moment going to do Brew in a bag. Seems like the best way to go. Bleach is out and rinsed. Thanks for the heads up. Looking like I will need a new propane stand. Was using a turkey fryer and the LHBS said that they have issues heating kegs since the burner is far from the bottom. So probably going to do one of the custom brew bags and the ball lock with dip tube from brewhardware. I was looking at his sight last night and was amazed that the step bit was only about 11 bucks. The store charges 40+. Thanks for the help!

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Not all step-bits are created equally. You'll definitely want cutting oil too. Stainless has a tendency to harden with heat from friction. Be patient and keep stopping to oil the bit/hole (I like oiling the bit and letting it run down into hole as you cut).

I have friends/neighbors who use turkey fryer burners. Do a test before you spend money on another one. Fill keggle with water and see if it holds a rolling boil. Best to fill it with hot tap water to see how long it takes to go from 120/130 to boil.

O grabbed an oak dowel from Home depot and marked it off with one gallon increments for my first boil kettle.

I have a KAB 4 banjo burner and I added a wind screen to keep the heat focused on the bottom of the pot. Some people have raised the burner to get the heat closer.