Sanke fermentor thermowell, racking tube

I've rigged up a sanke keg with spud for thermowell welded about the lower third mark. Thinking I should get thermowell length that ends about the center? Kind of wondering about the thermal mass and convective flow behavior of wort in the keg related to ferm chamber temp control.

Also welded a 2" tri-clover ferrule for a racking tube, but haven't been able to find one in 1/2". Thinking of drilling solid blank and welding 1/2" dip tube through it, but not keen about using compression fitting to terminate it.

Any experience/ideas?

Thanks

Glacer tanks have Caps with cut outs, that you might be able to easily modify to be a dip tube/racking arm
http://www.glaciertanks.com/TriClamp_End_Cap_SS-TriClamp_End_Cap_2_with_1_Cut-out_SS304.html

With all the churning that occurs during fermentation as long as your thermo well is not in the yeast cake, you should be getting an accurate reading of the beers temp in the fermenter where you have the spud.

Could weld a long ferrule to the top of the end cap, then drill the end cap and weld in the racking arm. Connect to the keg by clamping the ferrule end, and terminate the arm by clamping a second end cap to the cap end.

Bsquared said:

Glacer tanks have Caps with cut outs, that you might be able to easily modify to be a dip tube/racking arm
http://www.glaciertanks.com/TriClamp_End_Cap_SS-TriClamp_End_Cap_2_with_1_Cut-out_SS304.html

Click to expand...

Good idea, save some drilling, but then I still need to go from 1" to 1/2" and do some welding.

alien said:

Could weld a long ferrule to the top of the end cap, then drill the end cap and weld in the racking arm. Connect to the keg by clamping the ferrule end, and terminate the arm by clamping a second end cap to the cap end.

Click to expand...

Kind of something like this? and hookup a butterfly valve
Damn, they don't make a 2", just a 1.5". Too bad I can't use a 1.5" ferrule....

Get two and use a 1" SS tube , or just get the 1-1/2" racking cane and a 2"x1-1/2" reducing cap.
http://www.glaciertanks.com/product.cgi?group=3469&product=3470

That would sure work, but the cheap bastard in me would break out in hives.

Maybe if I win the Brewmaster Controls giveaway, I can use my BCS 462 money for some of those sparklies

I use one of these for racking and blow off. I don't have a thermowell. I just tape the probe to the outside of the keg. Works great!

maida7 said:

I use one of these for racking and blow off. I don't have a thermowell. I just tape the probe to the outside of the keg. Works great!

Click to expand...

I saw those, and they looked slick. I actually started out with this idea that I could make "fuel" after the zombies take over, and then realized I could ferment in it too!
Already has thermowell and now just need to figure out cheap racking solution.

Vintner's vault have those in 2" Dale, might be able to beat them down to $200 if you catch them on a good day

http://thevintnervault.com/product/1410/Tank-Racking-Arms---TriClover.html

Jesus Tom, you guys are killing me. Along with going against my cheap bastard philosophy, all that fancy stuff would set me back more than my 3 keggles and fermentor thing combined, including acquisition, fittings and welding.
But I do appreciate the feedback

Probably end up drilling out blank cap, welding tubing through it, make an index mark for the arm, bend the output to clear ferm chamber and terminate with compression fitting. Unless I score the control panel giveaway

I'm sure the compression cap will be fine, stainless brewing I think uses a compression cap on the end of a thermowell if memory serves.