Sabco Brew-Magic Kettle Dimensions

I have three kegs and I'm in the process of building my brew rig. My goal has always been to match the design of my kettles to the Sabco Brew-Magic MLT, HLT, and BK and match the exact locations of the fittings that Sabco has installed. I'd buy the system, if I only had thousands of dollars. I realize there are many other funcional builds out there, but I'd like to match Sabco kettles, specifically.

I'm hoping there is a Brew-Magic owner out there that would be willing to take some pictures and some measurements to the location of the fittings for each of their kettles. If I counted correct, it would only be a total of 9 pictures with 9 dimensions, three for each kettle. I'm sure there are many DIYers that would like to have this information, as well, in order to build there own economy rig after this great system. I realize it would take some of your time, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance Brew-Magic owners.

craigsphillips said:

I have three kegs and I'm in the process of building my brew rig. My goal has always been to match the design of my kettles to the Sabco Brew-Magic MLT, HLT, and BK and match the exact locations of the fittings that Sabco has installed. I'd buy the system, if I only had thousands of dollars. I realize there are many other funcional builds out there, but I'd like to match Sabco kettles, specifically.

I'm hoping there is a Brew-Magic owner out there that would be willing to take some pictures and some measurements to the location of the fittings for each of their kettles. If I counted correct, it would only be a total of 9 pictures with 9 dimensions, three for each kettle. I'm sure there are many DIYers that would like to have this information, as well, in order to build there own economy rig after this great system. I realize it would take some of your time, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance Brew-Magic owners.

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Brew-Magic owners, if dimensions were too much to ask for, then just pictures would help. Any help would really mean a lot.

craigsphillips said:

Brew-Magic owners, if dimensions were too much to ask for, then just pictures would help. Any help would really mean a lot.

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Must not be any Sabco Brew-Magic owners on this forum. I could have sworn there were a few.

I don't own the Sabco system myself, but I'm curious why you want to duplicate the positions of the fittings.

Wayne

Have you tried calling Sabco? If the case is that you want the dimensions to put Sabco parts in a keggle, trust me buying their kegs with parts welded in is the way to go. Keep in mind, they have a few different levels of their system. My dad bought their "Economy" package when he moved on from stove top brewing. The kegs are definitely top notch. But compared to the cost of putting my keggles together on my own, it seems like a no brainer to DIY.

Maltose said:

Have you tried calling Sabco? If the case is that you want the dimensions to put Sabco parts in a keggle, trust me buying their kegs with parts welded in is the way to go. Keep in mind, they have a few different levels of their system. My dad bought their "Economy" package when he moved on from stove top brewing. The kegs are definitely top notch. But compared to the cost of putting my keggles together on my own, it seems like a no brainer to DIY.

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I wasn't sure calling Sabco would get me anywhere. In otherwords I thought they wouldn't want to share the information, but maybe I should give it a try. I'm aware they have different levels of product, but to be honest I can't afford any of there levels. I already have kegs and would like to DIY the project, just want to match my setup the best I can to their setup. Are you able to get any pictures of your dads kegs? Thanks, alot.

BargainFittings said:

I don't own the Sabco system myself, but I'm curious why you want to duplicate the positions of the fittings.

Wayne

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Hey, Wayne. I like the way the Brew-Magic is setup and I also figure that they have done substantial research and planning and have proven that their locations work or why would professional brewers continue to buy this system for their pilor breweries. I guess in the end I'm hoping to DIY a project that mimics this system and figured a Brew-Magic owner would be able to guide me a little that's all. Do you have any suggestions as to where to locate things on kegs? Thanks.

My last post was a little ambiguous, sorry. I meant that it is cheaper to DIY keggle based on YOUR application.

I wouldn't worry about exact dimensions, just mark out your fittings where it will be most accessible to you.

I think I'm heading over there this weekend, I'll try to snap some then.

craigsphillips said:

Hey, Wayne. I like the way the Brew-Magic is setup and I also figure that they have done substantial research and planning and have proven that their locations work or why would professional brewers continue to buy this system for their pilor breweries. I guess in the end I'm hoping to DIY a project that mimics this system and figured a Brew-Magic owner would be able to guide me a little that's all. Do you have any suggestions as to where to locate things on kegs? Thanks.

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I am not trying to rain on your parade but there are hundreds of members here who have built successfully built keggles without ever looking at a Sabco Brew Magic. All it takes is a little thought and enginuity. There are many threads on the forum on building keggles. Have you done a search of the forum and read these threads?

There are a number of pictures of Sabco brew magic systems. If you want to duplicate them bad enough you can figure out the demsions by proportion. Print out a picture of a brew magic, you can easily find out the dimensions on a standard keg and proportionally work out the dimensions on the Sabco.

Maltose said:

My last post was a little ambiguous, sorry. I meant that it is cheaper to DIY keggle based on YOUR application.

I wouldn't worry about exact dimensions, just mark out your fittings where it will be most accessible to you.

I think I'm heading over there this weekend, I'll try to snap some then.

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Thanks, Maltose. The only way I'll afford to have a brew rig like this is DIY. Let me know what you find out this weekend.

Sawdustguy said:

I am not trying to rain on your parade but there are hundreds of members here who have built successfully built keggles without ever looking at a Sabco Brew Magic. All it takes is a little thought and enginuity. There are many threads on the forum on building keggles. Have you done a search of the forum and read these threads?

There are a number of pictures of Sabco brew magic systems. If you want to duplicate them bad enough you can figure out the demsions by proportion. Print out a picture of a brew magic, you can easily find out the dimensions on a standard keg and proportionally work out the dimensions on the Sabco.

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Forgive me, Sawdustguy, I clearly don't have your "ingenuity" or that of the others who have built successful brew rigs without following an example or seeking help from others. It's not that I can't pick a spot on a keg, drill a hole, and stick a valve on it. I'm trying to build a rig following Sabco's design, and I don't what to waste time reinventing the wheel when Sabco has done years of research and design when building their system.

Regarding searching the forum, when looking for a topic like "building keggles", you can waste hours and hours looking through hundreds of links that take you to hundreds of threads that really don't contain information specific to your objective, so you have to start a new thread. Of course, don't get me wrong, there are a lot of good threads on HBT and I read the forum frequently gathering new information and techniques. Bottom line, your proportioning idea sounds like it just might work, so I'll give it a try. Thanks for the advice.

The best advice I can give you is to actually layout your rig and your kettles and start measuring.

The sabco layout is designed for their cart and distances between the kettles.

The valve placement and pickups is fairly standard when doing the the drilling but you need to decide how you want your handle to valve position. Some like it with the valve between the handles and some prefer it to be on the "side" of the kettle - on the same side as the handle.

There is nothing wrong with their rig and most of the advice I've read here has been to try to help you.
I think in the end you will customize your system to your use some anyway, so you may have to redo some of the connections at some point.

A little planning on paper (or computer) now can save you a bit of worry later. Doing a mock up with some string and tape to simulate your tubing and valve position and then do some dry runs with your system like you are brewing to get a feel for the positions of your valves and tubing might give you a true feel of how the layout should be

Wayne

craigsphillips said:

Forgive me, Sawdustguy, I clearly don't have your "ingenuity" or that of the others who have built successful brew rigs without following an example or seeking help from others. It's not that I can't pick a spot on a keg, drill a hole, and stick a valve on it. I'm trying to build a rig following Sabco's design, and I don't what to waste time reinventing the wheel when Sabco has done years of research and design when building their system.

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You are kidding yourself if you think the Sabco Brew Magic is the epitomy of commercial breweries for the home brewer. It is indeed a good brewery and I liked it enough to loosely base my brewery on it. I would be lieing if I said otherwise. If you have a good look through the forum I think you will find that there are some breweries made from scratch by the members here that are far superior to the Brew Magic System or for that matter any other commercially made brewery.

I happen to like the Brew Magic System but after looking at it I noticed some things that could be done better. My system is a Brew Magic clone with many improvements. As a matter of fact my brew stand was purchased from Sabco. One thing I do not like is that there is a PLC built in and it tells you to manually open and close valves when the PLC should do it for you. I could go on and on but the message is, the members here are really ingenious on comming up with breweries that are far superior than anything available commercially. Don't ignore that and maybe you could learn a little more by reading their threads.

I agree with Sawdustguy, the Brew-magic has a few flaws. I kinda have a Brew-magic like system and think it's far superior to the sabco system. Don't trust that they know everything, if they did they'd lower that stand. Dig around on hbt and you'll find more useful info than just keggle layouts. BTW sabco's website has tons of pics of the brewmagic.

I have built 3 keggles, granted they need a bit of extras like the sight tubes + thermometers. I still think it funny the VERY person to order your hardware from has posted not 1 time but twice in this very thread...

I can not say enough how great www.bargainfittings.com is. They have guides on how to install EVERYTHING on a keggle and great prices too. (I went with weldless fittings) fast shipping easy to install and great instructions.

Also check out Bobby M's site glasses, they are more than likely the ones I will go with.

There is also a thread, if you search for I am sure you will find, on how to use the cut top as a false bottom + look up Passedpawns easy keggle cutting jig (works great...).

I realize this is an old thread, but I would like to find out how high the coupling is on a Sabco keg, because I purchased one of their false bottoms and the "universal siphon" to go with it (pretty snazzy!), and I haven't put any holes in my keg yet. I wouldn't want to get it wrong and have it not line up right.