Thanks mrklueber, I can't wait to get this thing up and running. I'm working on the finishing touches and then need to make a final decision on controls for this thing. I am really leaning towards the BCS system, but might still go with Kals panel.....it's still up in the air. Regardless, I still have a bit of work to do before I order controls.
MrNatural.......no I don't have any schematics of port placement. I essentially took information from Bobby's (
www.brewhardware.com) keggle conversion instructions on his site and merged them with Kal's (
www.theelectricbrewery.com) instructions. I also picked the brains of several other HBT'ers to help me tweak the measurements to accommodate the PICO false bottom in the MLT. I'm hesitant to post exact measurements, because it's really dependent on the exact components that you are using for your build. For instance, if you are using a JayBird false bottom, the dip tube is positioned above the false bottom and then 90's down through a hole in the false bottom. With the PICO, the dip tube must be positioned low enough to sit completely underneath the false bottom.
In the HLT, I experimented quite a bit with the heating element assembly, so that the dip tube didn't interfere with it. I am using 5500W Camco elements, which are "s" shaped, so I had to make sure that the dip tube ended up being positioned in the concavity of the element curvature. The trickiest part by far was the placement of the HERMs coil. You need to make sure that the coil sits just above the heating element without sitting directly on it, but is still low enough in the keggle to stay fully submerged. The HERMs coil tends to sag a bit and has a tendency to want to sit on the element. My remedy is to create a suspension system with 10 guage copper wire suspended from an inverted stainless eye bolt in the outer lip of the keggle top to support the coil side opposite to it's connection points at the inlet and output ports. Kal used stainless tubing for his coil and recommended 7 inches between the lower inlet port and the upper outlet port. I used 50' of 1/2" copper that I purchased from menards and had and 11" mortar bucket that I wrapped the copper around to create the coil, so that it would fit down through my 12" rough opening in the top of the keggle. Once I created the coil, it was closer to 10" tall, so the 7" measurement that Kal used wouldn't work for me. I ended up going with 9" between the upper and lower ports and removed 2 turns worth of copper from the coil (about 6 feet).
I could certainly give you some exact measurements of port placement if you want, but would hate to give you measurements that don't work for your components. Just let me know. Thanks man!