Keg Hole Dimension

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BuckyBrewing

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I am in the process of converting my Kegs to Keggles and have been wondering where people have been drilling their holes in the Kegs. Where do people drill there holes for the ball valve and their electric elements? I think that I want to put the holes 180 degrees apart from one another and 1/2 way between the handles. How far from the bottom of the Keg should the hole be? I looked around for dimensions for the hole but have not found anything. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Dennis
 
You want the hole as close to the bottom as possible without getting into the curved part on the inside of the Keg. If I remember correctly the centers of mine are close to 3.5 inches from the bottom. I think I read somewhere that 1" above the bottom skirt weld for the bottom of the fitting works well. Yuri has a video on youtube that should give you a pretty good idea
 
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I saw that video, but he didn't really give much detail on its location vertically. Where do people usually put their elements relative to the ball valve? Do you think 180 degrees from it is a good location?
 
That's where I put mine. My system isn't up and running yet, but for me the idea was to have the cord out of the way. That's why I put it on the opposite side of the valve.
 
OK I finally put the holes in one of my kegs. That was a PITA. It took almost an hour to drill 1 hole. I don't know if I am doing it wrong but it just took that long. As the hole size got larger it was quicker to go through the steps on the bit, but the smaller holes took a long time.

Am I doing it wrong? I have been using a ton of cutting oil and using all my weight and running the drill slow.

I ended up putting the element hole 90 degrees from the ball valve. I figure it would be easier for the pick up tube to fit inside the keg with a false bottom if I ever make one.

1 down 1 more to go this weekend. Hopefully I will be all set by the end of this weekend so I can start brewing some beer at my house instead of my friends....
 
With a new step bit it should take 2 minutes or less to drill the hole. After drilling several holes with my step bit I had to start using a small high quality bit to get a pilot hole started. Even with a worn down step bit it never took me more than 10 minutes to drill the hole. Maybe you are going too slow?
 
I'd say too fast or not enough pressure, you have to lean in on those step bits for them to do the work of peeling away ribbons of stainless.
 
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