SS Brewtech Dead Space problem

Hopefully I can get a little help here. I own 3 SS brewtech kettles (2-20gal kettles... HLT & BK and a 15gal MT). The problem I have is that I am always left with a little over a gallon of water/wort remaining in the dead space. While I like their pickup tube design, I feel like that is a large contributor to the issue.
Anyone else having this issue and is there a simple fix for this? Having a hard time hitting my efficiency.
Thanks for the help

Why is the dip tube not getting more? I would think it should only leave 1/8" or so on the bottom. Can you adjust it closer to the bottom?

If this is in the BK, you can just pour the last bit into your fermenter..... Maybe through a strainer.

Do you have a hose attached to the valve that is below the level of the pot? It needs to be this way to keep the siphon going.

If you do, you may have a leak which is causing the siphon to break.

Spartan1979 said:

Do you have a hose attached to the valve that is below the level of the pot? It needs to be this way to keep the siphon going.

If you do, you may have a leak which is causing the siphon to break.

Click to expand...

yep. Without a hose there's no way to get a siphon effect below the spigot. I usually have about 6-8 oz of wort left with their dip tube setup.

The hoses are all attached below the valve level, and are air tight. They run to pumps which pump perfectly without losing a prime. The only issue is when it gets close to the bottom of the kettles, and it happens on all the three kettles. Im still at a loss

orings on the pick-up tube missing or damaged?

Nope. Brand new

1 gallon in the 20 gallon kettle is about 1 inch. Your problem is 1 inch from the bottom of the kettle. Fill with 3 inches of water, drain and confirm flow stoppage point, then find the air leak at the water level mark where flow stops. that said, Three kettles, all with the same problem, points to another factor, maybe an unlevel surface or the inertial reversion flow effect. Do you live below the equator?

No I live in the northeast... Bench is level... I'll have to test ur method tho

So I've figured out that the pickup tubes are the problem... The gap is from the pick up tube and the bottom of the kettle is more than 1/2"... In a 20 gallon kettle that is a significant amount of water/wort to leave behind... Any ideas on how to fix or change this?

Perhaps a piece of silicon tubing cut at an angle leaving say only an 1/8 inch or so.

Also, if you are pumping quickly, you may break siphon slightly above the dip tube inlet via a suction whirlpool of sorts....perhaps pumping the last bit a little slower....

I'd go back to SS Brew Tech .... Their customer service is pretty good.. ...secondary approach might be Norcal, they make custom 1 off SS parts. Just post what you need under Jay's thread on the sponsor showcase.

BTW I was only kidding about the "inertial reversion flow effect". There isn't such a thing, north or south of the equator.

Call them and ask what this means....

Ss Brew Kettle 20 Gallon SS Brewing Technologies What really sets this boil kettle apart from the rest is the first ever integrated trub dam and pick-up tube assembly that we've designed into the back of the 304 Ss 1/2" ball valve (3pc). We thought it would be cool to help brewers pull off a more efficient whirlpool before transferring their wort out to their fermenter. And with a few beers and a little stroke of hopped up genius (pun intended!) we came up with what will go down in home brewing history as a pretty clever little solution to what is a pretty important part of the brewing process!

Tipping your brew kettle towards the outlet would help...

Spartan1979 said:

Do you have a hose attached to the valve that is below the level of the pot? It needs to be this way to keep the siphon going.

If you do, you may have a leak which is causing the siphon to break.

Click to expand...

This was my first thought as well.....you shouldn't have that much left behind I get down to 1/8 with ss brew kettle the one time I didn't was due to a siphon leak...

I took a look at mine, I have the 20 (22) gallon model. The bottom of the trub dam, the thin rubber end, to the pick-up tube inlet is 1/2 inch. When installed however, the distance from the bottom of the kettle to the pick-up tube inlet is 3/8 inch since the rubber on the trub dam deflects.

Calculating the volume left, the diameter of the 20 gallon kettle is 17.625 inches, so 3/8 inches left is 0.39 gallons, if you happen to be so unlucky that it's 1/2 inch, then it's 0.52 gallons

In my boil kettle with break and hop material, I estimate that only 1/3 of the .39 gallons I have left is wort. For me anyway, it's a small loss with 10.75 gallons going to the fermenter.

The silicone tubing solution that's been suggested, won't be ideal, you would have to insert it into the ID of the pick-up tube because of SSBT's design. that will slow down your flow out of your kettle

You can account for it in an equipment profile like the one in beersmith.