I feel like I hit the Lottery

So I've been putting my feelers out to everyone I know to get some empty kegs so I can make the jump to 10 gallon batches. So to my surprise a friend came through huge. The guy said he was going to do a RIMS system with these kegs and I figured I'd ask other opinions as to what I can do with these kegs. Two of them have fittings in wierd places and the other two and untouched. The best part of this whole deal is the guy wouldn't take money for them so I traded him 6 homebrews and got what you see in the pics and an old 6.5 gallon glass carboy. I feel like I'm dreaming and I'm gettin made fun of by my friend who hooked me up cause he thinks I'm way to excited. Am I wrong to not being to wipe the $hit eating grin of my face? Onto the pics




The first 2 are upside down and the 3rd pic is of the bungs on the bottom of the kegs. All of the bungs that are welded in are 1 inch and there are a bunch of little odds and ends adapters and such

SCORE!

Prost!

Your friend just doesn't understand. I would be jumping up and down at my good fortune.

Those fittings are rather strange but they look functional at least. Are you planning to build a RIMS or HERMS setup?

To be honest I have no idea what system would be best. The fittings are in wierd spots. They are all 1 inch and the welds and everything are solid. Another note is that 2 with all the fittings on them have the tops cut off as well. I would like to go in the direction that allows me to use these things without going crazy. Its nice to have to blank pieces to work on so I'm not to worried if the other ones aren't what I really need.

Well they're one inch but looks like everything is threaded so you can really put anything you want in there.

Everything is threaded mostly with half couplers. I'm really confused as to what I can do with the bungs on the bottom. When I was first looking for kegs I was hoping to direct fire the mashtun. I can explore using heating elements but I don't want to wait forever to get it to a boil. Another question would I be able to get a false bottom with no hole and just pull my runnings straight from the bottom?

That's freakin' awesome.

The one with the multiple fittings looks to me like it is set up for an electric HLT. Just a thought. Do you know if the fittings were added by the guy that was going to do RIMS with them or if he got them that way? If he didn't add them I'd be a little concerned about what was in them before...

Pretty sweet is right. You better do something good with them.

It's hard to tell from the pics, but looks like some of those fittings are galvanized not stainless. I wouldn't be comfortable using galv. fittings for making beer, just double check those.

JMD87 said:

Pretty sweet is right. You better do something good with them.

It's hard to tell from the pics, but looks like some of those fittings are galvanized not stainless. I wouldn't be comfortable using galv. fittings for making beer, just double check those.

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I was thinking the same thing. Galvanized is definitely a no-no.

He made it certain that all the fittings are stainless. I don't have alot of info on the stuff because I talked to the guy for about 2 minutes. He lives next to my good friends parents so I'm twice removed from the situation. My friend let me know that he works at a VOTECH and thats where he got all the welding done, and the welds look good. I think the route I'm going at this point is to make a keggle out of one of the virgin kegs. I guess I'm going to have to research how well the electric elements will work with 10 gallon boils. The thing that is driving me crazy is why all the fittings are on the top of the kettles. I'm also wondering how well the kegs hold heat? If they can hold the temp good enough I may just put a sabco false bottom with no hole, and a valve on the bottom. Then I can put some barbs on the top fitting and make a sparge arm that can run through the top fitting and maybe change over to fly sparging(I'm a btach sparger now). The one with all the crazy fittings I have no idea. If I can get the 2 working quickly I can use my 8 gallon megapot as a hlt. To many thoughts its making my brain hurt

Krelja said:

Everything is threaded mostly with half couplers. I'm really confused as to what I can do with the bungs on the bottom. When I was first looking for kegs I was hoping to direct fire the mashtun. I can explore using heating elements but I don't want to wait forever to get it to a boil. Another question would I be able to get a false bottom with no hole and just pull my runnings straight from the bottom?

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You don'g want to use heating elements because you don't want to wait forever to get it to a boil?

Do you want to Race? :rockin:

My 5500 watt 240v (30 amp) element will smoke 99% of propane burners out there, ask around to electric guys who know.

I'm not hating I'd love to use heating elements if they work good. How long does it take to get and keep a rolling boil with 12 gallons of wort? I'm searching so many things right now that some of the info is getting lost in the mix. I know most of the elements use 1 inch npt threads and they are already fitted. So if I can use them I will. My friend made me promise that I would spend a little extra to make these things tits since I got them for nothing. And I'm not sure what I was looking at when I was looking at the heating elements but it may have been for like 25 gallon btaches or something like that I'm open to anything





brewing related anyway

Krelja said:

I'm not hating I'd love to use heating elements if they work good. How long does it take to get and keep a rolling boil with 12 gallons of wort? I'm searching so many things right now that some of the info is getting lost in the mix. I know most of the elements use 1 inch npt threads and they are already fitted. So if I can use them I will. My friend made me promise that I would spend a little extra to make these things tits since I got them for nothing. And I'm not sure what I was looking at when I was looking at the heating elements but it may have been for like 25 gallon btaches or something like that I'm open to anything





brewing related anyway

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I kept 13.5 gallons at a rolling boil with my PID controller set at 60% output.

When you come up to 200 degrees you better keep your eyes on the pot because at 100% power (what I use to get up to a boil of course) it will boil over forcefully in a heart beat. In fact, I was using my electric rig for a 5 gallon batch and only had 6.5 gallons in my keggle and almost had a boil over! Electric rigs have no problem getting to a boil or maintaining. I was using a camp chef burner before and this new set up cuts a ton of time off of my brew day. Short term it will definately cost you more, but I will never have to buy propane for brewing again.

If you want to learn electric check out some of the Pol's posts.

I still have a ton a research to do, but are there any heating elements that don't run on 220v. I only have a 100 amp service in my house and I don't think I can dedicate another 220 outlet due to all the other crap I have running. Right now I'm just working on the virgin kegs because for the moment I don't think I have the ability to rig up a RIMS or HERMS system. If I mess with the untouched kegs then I could have exactly what I want and I could have the heating element added in on the side so I can either boil with propane or electric. Also in all the systems I've looked at I have never seen fittings placed where they are on my kegs?

LOL dude serious.

for all of that you should've at least gave the guy a 5 gallon batch.

Looks like a sweet a$$ score.

If I were starting again I would be going with Electric. Those kegs you got from him look to be set up for a recirculation mash with electric. Do some research here on RIMS and HERMS setups and it should make sense.
Nice score.

I'm trying but it's all still confusing for me I think I have the ability to make whatever I need. My major problem is I'm more of a hands on learner not a reader apparently. To start out I'm going to work on getting the keggle done then I will have to start moving on to trying to make the mshtun work. I'm a little confused about the controllers but that will come eventually. They also seem to be the most expensive part of the project.
P.S. I would've given him more beer but supposedly he can't drink to much cause of health problems. I plan on dropping gifts off to him as the brew process gets bigger and continues

Krelja said:

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Here's my guess. The one on the far left is the mash tun. It's got a bottom drain which is nice. The false bottom would just go straight across and be held down maybe by tack welding some stainless bolts upside down to the bottom of the keg and use nuts on top of the false bottom. The port that would be on top when it's flipped right side up would be your recirculation return and eventual sparge input.

The next one in line with crazy ports is the HLT. The bottom port is the drain, again nice, since you don't need a siphon tube. The low port on the side is probably for the heating element. The two higher ports would be for the in/out of the HERMS coil which would be like 50' of 1/2" copper coiled inside the HLT.

If you're not quite ready to run RIMS/HERMS which would require a pump, you could still use the mashtun in a passive single temp/single infusion deal by just insulating it really well. I wouldn't recommend direct fire. It's a drag.