Am I about to ruin my kettle? Weldless Ball Valve Kit

[P_Bio]

I want to add a ball valve to my boil kettle, 60 qt heavy aluminum http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CHJI7G?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00. I got the weldless ball valve kit from more beer http://www.morebeer.com/products/stainless-weldless-ball-valve.html and was about to drill the hole and now I'm worried.

1) How does this kit work with the curvature of the pot. The flat washer area where it screws in is flat and the kettle is not. If this was a thinner aluminum I would think I could just bend the pot to form the ball valve, but this is a pretty thick aluminum and I'm not sure this would be the case. Any experience doing this?

2) Because the pot diameter is so large 18", 1 gallon is roughly equal to 1 inch of water from the bottom of the pot. The instructions say to place the ball valve 1" from the bottom (at least). Is this too low?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to ruin the pot so I want to be sure this will work before I drill. I've seen plenty of you tube videos of people doing it successfully but just looking at it I got that "I don't know" feeling.

 

[paulshe]

I have the 10 gallon version of the pot and installed similar weldless ball valve with no problem and no leaks for a couple years. 1 inch from bottom is about what I did then I added an elbow as a dip tube to go a little lower when draining the pot.

Just be sure to use the step bit and go slow.

 

[joebob296]

Personally, I wanted to save money so I put on 3 weldless fittings on my fist boil kettle. Of those 3 weldless fittings, every single one of them leaked. They were a pain every step of the way. I got fed up and bought a ss kettle with couplings and a TC professionally welded on. Now, that was just my experience, there are a multitude of people on HBT that will attest to the weldless fittings. But for me they didn't work out. YMMV

 

[jtratcliff]

I haven't done this, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt....

The curvature issue is the same for all weldless installs. I think the silicon washers take care of that. Once you get things installed and tightened down, you should be fine.

As for height, you'll want the bottom of the bulkhead/washer to be sufficiently up away from the curvature on the bottom of the kettle. If that's 1" then so be it. You'll probably add a dip tube anyway, so a little higher won't hurt anything. I've seen folks mention 1.5" or 2" as well. You just need to make sure that your washer/bulkhead won't hit the bottom curve.

 

[adamranders]

I put one on my 8gal aluminum pot, no probs.

 

[kh54s10]

I have weldless valves on both of my 10 gallon stainless steel kettles and a weldless sight glass with thermometer fitting on my HLT. I have been using them for a couple of years not and they have not leaked a drop. In my experience with silicon/rubber washers most times they leak it is because the fitting is tightened too much, distorting the washer and causing the leak.

With your aluminum kettle you don't have much choice unless you know someone who can weld aluminum. To get fittings welded in professionally would probably cost as much as the kettle itself. Or you would have to get a new kettle with welded fittings.

 

[P_Bio]

Great, thanks! I'll give it try and hope for the best!

 

[brew_ny]

post pictures or didn't happen

 

[mbbransc]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1436235697.156022.jpg

I added one yesterday. Leak tested with water and no leaks.

 

[Peruvian802]

I have two aluminum Winware 40 quart pots that I drilled as kettles. Smooth as butter. Measure twice, drill once.

 

[jafo28]

I've got these from BobbyM (Brewhardware.com) they are super easy to install and no leaks.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzjJwnruUAw[/ame]

 

[kevreh]

I'm ordering parts for my new kettle and plan on using silicone on the inside before I tighten everything. Specifically Food Grade RTV silicone. RTV silicone is stronger than the stuff you buy from Home Depot. Adding silicone helps prevent the bulkhead from rotating, not to mention extra insurance against leaks. I plan to add a bead of silicone before tightening then smoothing it out with me finger after tightening, to get a nice smooth surface.