Patching a keggle

Any one have any fast and easy suggestions on patching a 1/2 inch hole in a keggle? A buddy gave me this for free. He had run a pipe out of the bottom and used it as a HLT. I can use it for now (gonna swap out new plumbing though) cause he gave me his brew stand which he had modified to allow the pipe to come out. Eventually I want to build a wood stand and will want to move the bulkhead to the side.

The question being, how to patch the existing hole in the bottom when I do?

Silicone Gasket/Washer

Then head to Home Depot and find a stainless machine screw with a nut and 2 washers big enough to cover the hole.

You should be able to get a 1/2" stainless plug, washer and locknut from some place like Bargain Fittings.

Cool, thanks.

Me I would find a good welder and let him tig a plate over it on the inside

Just use a 1/2" Brass or Stainless plug as mentioned above.

I really love my bottom drain on my keggle brewpot, you may want to think about using it. I use whole hops and have a small false bottom (about 8" around, just covers the middle) works well to strain out all the hops and a lot of the hot break, and I don't lose a lot of wort in the bottom of the pot when I drain to my fermenter.

Quick patch with a tig welder. It will take about an hour to do including cleaning the weld area and fabbing a patch that fits the contour and obstacles in the bottom of the tun. If they do sanitary stainless welds you wont ever have to worry about bacteria or infections from the patch. I'm a welder and thats the way I would do it, but thats just me.
Bob

IMHO, you're asking the wrong question. It should be "how do I integrate bottom draining vessels into my wood brew stand design?". Why? Because bottom drains are the cat's ass.

Thanks for the input guys. I'll think about leaving it as is especially since its going to be my HLT I shouldn't have to worry about moving it a lot for cleaning. I am curious though, if bottom draining vessels are so advantageous, why does everyone put their bulkhead on the side?

I think a bottom drain vessel would kinda suck on a propane burner (if it is a brew kettle) You'd probably burn the wort in the pipe. My silicone gasket wouldn't take it either. My stand is electric so I don't worry about it.

P.S. My next brew kettle will be a "bottom drain" using the Sanke fitting and a tri-clover clamp. Cutting the bottom of the keg out.

Since he said "HLT", it's all good. The reason a lot of people don't put bottom drains in is because they see other people put them on the side and copy it without thinking about it. It's a self perpetuating status quo.

The only issue I see with the one in the picture is that it does go slightly back uphill. You may want to put a 45degree elbow on so it's all downhill. The advantage in an HLT is that you don't have to dump or sop up the last of the water that doesn't quite make it into the diptube in a side drain bulkhead. The other advantage is that you can START draining an amount of water that would otherwise be below the side bulkhead. A keg will usually hold about 3 gallons before it hits the bulkhead. If you've got 2.5 gallons in there and open the side valve, nothing happens unless you fill the output hose with water first.

skylor60 said:

Me I would find a good welder and let him tig a plate over it on the inside

Click to expand...

This is what I had done on my HLT, works just fine.