How high to put a ball valve on brew kettle

I have a 32qt King Kooker aluminum pot that I picked up from Cabela's (measures 15x15x14.5). I want to add a ball valve so I can transfer the wort to my fermenter without having to lift the kettle. All of the recomendations I have found are for 40qt pots that are taller and more narrow than this pot, and they suggest putting the valve 1.5" from the bottom.

How high should I put the valve so I can leave the cold break in the kettle? I don't think I'll be putting in a false bottom since I'll be doing BIAB with this kettle, if that matters.

1.5" sounds about right to me. Use a dip tube and the actual valve height won't be that much of a factor.

I'm planning on making a couple of kettles this week and wondered the same. Question - is it a big deal if you add the cold break to the fermentor? I use hop socks but will generally pour all the other contents into the fermentor.

I just added a valve to my 15 gallon pot. I put it 1.5" up from the bottom, but could have gone a little lower...maybe 1.25". But, with the addition of a dip tube your golden at 1.5".

Bottom line is the valve needs to be far enough up to get the nut on the inside of the pot.

i just made sure all the hardware that will be present is above the bottom of kettle..i think it ended up just over an inch.. don't forget you need space on the inside for the nut to screw on!! after all thats said and done there no way its going to pull any sediment. untill yo8u install you dip tube of course

texashomer said:

I'm planning on making a couple of kettles this week and wondered the same. Question - is it a big deal if you add the cold break to the fermentor? I use hop socks but will generally pour all the other contents into the fermentor.

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I dump it all in since I don't have a good way to keep it out without a spigot or siphon. My beer is usually pretty clear, but I use whirlfloc in the last 10 minutes of the boil, and I cold crash for 3-4 days. I still get chill haze on some batches so I'm sure it would be improved if I left as much of that in the kettle as possible.

I was thinking there was an average volume of wort you should leave behind and that was where the 1.5" height came from. I guess I'll measure the volume of water up to the 1.5" mark on my kettle to see just how much wort that would be.

texashomer said:

I'm planning on making a couple of kettles this week and wondered the same. Question - is it a big deal if you add the cold break to the fermentor? I use hop socks but will generally pour all the other contents into the fermentor.

Click to expand...

After the chiller brings my wort down to the proper pitching temperature I pull it out and stir till I have a good whirlpool going then wait 10 minutes or so. I pour off almost all of the batch into the fermenter, leaving behind only the heaviest of the dregs (about 1/2 gallon or so).

Never had a problem so far.

I use Irish moss for the last ten minutes of the boil and my pellet hops are added without a hop sack.

bosco