just "completed" the new brew kettle

i bought a keg last weekend. took it to a coworkers house to cut the top out and drill the hole in the side. final assembly is done, however i am a little unhappy with our converted keg. 1st off i really want to get it acid cleaned. it is just filthy looking on the outside. second, the drain in the bottom is about 3 inches from the actual bottom. if i were to put a piece of copper tubing with an elbow toward the bottom then put the steel mesh on, would it get the beer below the valve? other than that, happy to be out of the turkey pot. heres some pics.

me (left) and good friend/cobrewer shawn (right)


brass valve (cleaned of course with vinegar/peroxide)
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/7756/dsc045033no.jp

inside shots.

Yep, you can add a short piece of tubing so the braid lays on the bottom. You might want to bend it so the braid is off to one side, that way when you whirlpool, less of the hot break will be drawn into the fermenter. Can't waste wort, you know.

thanks david!

david_42 said:

Yep, you can add a short piece of tubing so the braid lays on the bottom. You might want to bend it so the braid is off to one side, that way when you whirlpool, less of the hot break will be drawn into the fermenter. Can't waste wort, you know.

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I stopped worrying about leaving the hot break in the kettle. I get as much wort out of the kettle as I can and let the trub settle in the carboy for about a half hour. When I did this on my last batch the wort was nice and clear when I racked it into the primary fermenter. A side benefit is that racking it into a second carboy helps oxygenate the wort. Your SS mesh will filter out the hop material from your kettle so it should work good. I'm thinking of doing the same thing to mine. If you ever go to a counter flow or plate chiller you will have to use this method anyway.

Here is a glass of wort I poured out of the carboy after racking the batch into the primary. I had to let it set for about 30 minutes so I could get enough clear wort to measure the OG.

Looks good! As david_42 says, you can use some curved tubing that goes from the valve to the bottom of the kettle. They call it a "diptube". Check out the "Hopstopper" in the vendor's forum. It uses a copper diptube surrounded by a mesh cage. You should be able to approximate the same concept using steel braid.

Don't worry about the outside appearance of the kettle. Wait until you see what one boil session makes the bottom of the thing look like.

Looks good! What did you use to cut the top out? Also, what size nipple did you use to install your valve?

Truble said:

Looks good! What did you use to cut the top out? Also, what size nipple did you use to install your valve?

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Thanks! We started to use a cutting torch, but it ran out of gas before we ever broke through. So its got a nice toasted spot on top. After that we just used a side grinder with a cutting disk. Worked really well. Took about 10 minutes to cut it out. The nipple on the side is a 3/8 close nipple. We'll see how that works. Might end up stepping up to a 1/2 though just for flow sake.

On a lighter note... what's up with white boys flashing gang signs?? :rockin:

Lounge Lizard said:

On a lighter note... what's up with white boys flashing gang signs?? :rockin:

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They can't be too gangsta . . . look at all the Star Wars stuff on the shelf

Looks like my house pre-marriage!

Nice Keggle Subwyking!! Did you "buy" it with beer in it??

Thats my neighboor throwing up the "hook em horns" gangsta sign. my entire pad was all star wars stuff. the majority of it is packed away now. my wife didnt really care that the posters were retro. they werent going up in the living room. the keg did have beer in it when we bought it. 5 year old beer. i now know what that smells like. and it aint good.

Isn't that kind of dangerous throwing the "hook 'em horns" sign this close to Lincoln?

Nice job on the keg, btw. Now I'm off to pick up some supplies to build an immersion chiller.

UNOmar said:

Isn't that kind of dangerous throwing the "hook 'em horns" sign this close to Lincoln?

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No, not lately.

That's for sure. I was born and raised in Oklahoma. So I'm a huge Sooners fan. You can imagine I got quite a few looks around these parts when I go out in full OU regalia.

I'm a Cyclone fan myself. Not a whole lot of respect when your team only beats the huskers once every 10 years (although it has been better lately). The girlfriend is a husker fan, but she doesn't read this, so Boomer Sooner and Go Clones!!!

[Edit] I apologize for the hijack/sidetrack.

subwyking said:

That's for sure. I was born and raised in Oklahoma. So I'm a huge Sooners fan. You can imagine I got quite a few looks around these parts when I go out in full OU regalia.

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Where in OK are you from? I'm from Owasso. I'm PCSing to Tinker later this year. Can't wait.

I think I need to re-read this thread. I'm not too smart or handy, unfortunately! But...I've got friends who are.

So I need a keg, need to cut the top out of it somehow, get a hole drilled near the bottom and put a spigot in there. Then I can just fill fermenting buckets from the spigot. I figured if it was a couple inches from the bottom. Now I'm hearing about the need for some sort of tube inside? HELP!

The braided ss mesh inside is to act as a strainer and filter out the hops and break material when transfering to your fermentor. Is it 100% needed? No, but many people use them and really like it.

subwyking said:

That's for sure. I was born and raised in Oklahoma. So I'm a huge Sooners fan. You can imagine I got quite a few looks around these parts when I go out in full OU regalia.

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I went to HS in Oklahoma (MWC) and my wife is from Nebraska...used to be some pretty tense times around the table at Thanksgiving, I must say. Many a time when I had to leave the house to stop from punching my MIL.

I need to get you and loopmd and the other bugeaters here hooked up with my BIL. He got me started drinking beer six years ago at his retirement party up there (a keg of scotch ale), so I need to return the favor and get him started brewing now.

Sam75 said:

Where in OK are you from? I'm from Owasso. I'm PCSing to Tinker later this year. Can't wait.

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im from Pawhuska OK. its about 30 minutes west of Bartlesville. one of my buddies who is stationed here with me is from Owasso. his last name is holland.

El Pistolero said:

I went to HS in Oklahoma (MWC) and my wife is from Nebraska...used to be some pretty tense times around the table at Thanksgiving, I must say. Many a time when I had to leave the house to stop from punching my MIL.

I need to get you and loopmd and the other bugeaters here hooked up with my BIL. He got me started drinking beer six years ago at his retirement party up there (a keg of scotch ale), so I need to return the favor and get him started brewing now.

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let the brewing begin.