Drilling an Aluminum Turkey Pot for a Ball Valve

I am going to upgrade to a Northern Brewer mega pot with a ball valve here soon, and thought I would also continue to use my cheapo aluminum turkey pot for brewing but I would like to install a ball valve to aid in draining wort/sparge water. Anyone have any tips on drilling the pot and what kind of hardware I would need to install a ball valve?

Greg

Drilling aluminum is pretty simple, a bi-metal hole saw or a step bit will work great. A little bit of dishwashing liquid as a lubricant and a drill. In terms of hardware probably the easiest thing is to order one of the weldless kits that are available pretty cheap.

DON'T DO IT!!!!!!.....


I tried to do this and well, now I have a nice big stainless steel pot.

The cheap al pots are so thin that when ever trying to open or close the ball valve you will bend the sidewalls and even make it leak.
Just don't do it, you will not be happy about it at all.
Save the $$ for the weldless ball valve and just put it toward a better pot.

I must have missed the 'cheapo' part of your post. I second what FSR402 said. I was thinking of the aluminum kettle that I use which is the heavy restaurant gauge aluminum.

If you really want a spigot on that you would probably be best served finding someone who can weld aluminum because they would be able to reinforce the area around the bulkhead.

Why pay good money to someone to weld a cheap pot? Save your nickels and get a good pot, even a heavy-grade Al one.

FSR402 said:

DON'T DO IT!!!!!!.....


I tried to do this and well, now I have a nice big stainless steel pot.

The cheap al pots are so thin that when ever trying to open or close the ball valve you will bend the sidewalls and even make it leak.
Just don't do it, you will not be happy about it at all.
Save the $$ for the weldless ball valve and just put it toward a better pot.

Click to expand...

Same experience here. Was a waste of money. Pony up the extra for either an SS pot (if you're using it as a kettle) or a SS pot or cooler for an HLT.

-D

Llarian said:

Same experience here. Was a waste of money. Pony up the extra for either an SS pot (if you're using it as a kettle) or a SS pot or cooler for an HLT.

-D

Click to expand...

I still ended up using my weldless ball valve, but had to drop a $100 on a new pot first.

Llarian said:

Same experience here. Was a waste of money. Pony up the extra for either an SS pot (if you're using it as a kettle) or a SS pot or cooler for an HLT.
-D

Click to expand...

I say give it a shot, if you're getting the SS pot anyway you don't have much to lose. I drilled my AL turkey fryer pot out with a step bit and dishsoap and I have not had a bit of trouble in almost 1 year. I just used a large stainless and buna-n washer on each side of the bulkhead and it works great. Just go slow and let the bit do the work. It'll cut through that aluminum like butter.

OK, maybe I will wait a bit first to see how I can do at getting another pot. I have a line on two or three used beer kegs from Craigslist so we shall see how that turns out.

Greg

SW Brewer said:

OK, maybe I will wait a bit first to see how I can do at getting another pot. I have a line on two or three used beer kegs from Craigslist so we shall see how that turns out.

Greg

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If that falls thru, HERE is a good place to find some.
I have the 34qt for my HLT and the 60qt for my brew pot.