Kettle Ball Valve Location..??

Edit: I had this posted in Equipment, but thought this would be a better spot.

I am slowly piecing together my first all grain kit and I just got a great deal on a 62qt kettle. So I ordered a SS Ball Valve from Bargin fittings and I am wondering wheres the best spot to put it.

Looking online I see that some pot have the valve placed between the pot handles, where as the blingmans have the valve under one of the handles. Is one spot better then the other? Also about how high should I drill the hole from the bottom?

Thanks for the help!!!

When carrying it through doors, having it below the handle will mean it's sticking out the side and likely to get banged around. I'd center it between the handles unless your stand has the pots really tight against one another prohibiting them from being put handle to handle. As far as height, it depends on if you're putting in a false bottom, if you're not, put it as low as possible.

Look at where the bottom of the pot stops curving and place the washer from that spot. You wan't to make sure the washer will sit flush with the side. Mark it and drill. Go slow and keep checking to ensure you don't drill the hole too big. You can use pam or vegetable oil to help lubricate the drill bit.

There are also instructions on his website which explain.

As to where across the pot you place it, well that is personal preference. Whatever best suits your set-up. I personally put mine off-center as I placed a thermometer next to it.

I put mine about 2" off the inner floor of the kettle and soldered a 180˚ tube out of a copper 3/4" MPT to 1/2" pipe adapter, a very short 1/2" copper pipe, a couple of 90˚ copper elbows, and another short piece of pipe so the spigot is drawing wort from the bottom corner of the kettle (facing away from the center). After a quick (2-3 minute) whirlpool, I'm gravity feeding the wort out of the spigot, into a counterflow chiller and into a 6.5 carboy. The whirlpool piles the trub and hops up in the middle of the kettle and the spigot, with the extra piping, draws off the edge of the kettle, leaving 98% of the trub/hop pile in the kettle.