Bottling Kettle

[emjay]

Most of my brewery stuff is stainless steel, and due to my brother using my equipment in a really infected batch, I decided to replace everything plastic. I hated spending money on it. I also have a bunch of sours that I'll need to bottle soon, and I don't want to contaminate some sours with cultures that were used in other sours, just because they used the same equipment.

So I'm looking at getting rid of ALL plastic in my brewery. My first target was the bottling bucket/spigot. Not only is it the most expensive of the plastic pieces I have (autosiphon, bottling wand, and bottling bucket), but it's also by far the bulkiest, and I didn't want to waste space with multiple bottling buckets. But a dedicated stainless steel bottling vessel seemed like an absurd waste of money. So I came up with this.

I almost didn't post this, as in retrospect it seems so obvious, and is EXTREMELY simple. But I've never heard of anyone doing this before, so I decided I'd share.

The Bottling Kettle

First off, this isn't for everyone. It requires a kettle with a ball valve and quick disconnect. If you already have this, it's a very cheap little project.

This solves more than one problem I had with plastic bottling buckets. The most obvious one is that it's far more sanitary, since you can obviously even boil water directly in it. And my kettle in particular - a Blichmann Boilermaker - has the diptube sitting about 1/8" from the bottom, meaning far less waste. You can also use whatever hop filter you normally use, to deal with trub if you want.

What you'll need:

• Quick Disconnect (must mate with kettle's QD)
• 90-degree elbow fitting (I'm using a street elbow + coupler right now since I had them on hand)
• MPT x 3/8" Compression fitting
• TWO 3/8" ID x 1/2" OD silicone o-rings (Only one in picture as I seemed to have lost the 2nd one!)
• 3/8" Bottle filler
• Teflon tape

Step 1:

Using teflon tape, connect quick disconnect to elbow fitting.

Step 2:

Align compression nut, o-rings, and fitting along the "top" part of the bottle filler like so, and tighten it all together.

Step 3:

Connect the bottle filler assembly to the elbow fitting using teflon tape.

And done!

Just connect it to your kettle when ready to bottle!

 

[TJTHEBEST]

Sweet! Now I don't have to buy a replacement bottling bucket. This came at the perfect time.

 

[smagee]

EDIT: removed.

 

[TJTHEBEST]

I'm a bit confused. This is intended to replace a bottling bucket? A bucket is ~$20 with accouterments; that kettle is $100 at least. Where does this become an improvement? I'm guessing that I'm missing something simple.

What do you use for your boil?

Edit: Looks like you removed it as I posted ...

 

[day_trippr]

Well, that looks like a good idea - but only if one already had the ~$30 worth of fittings laying about looking for something useful to do...

Cheers!

 

[Revvy]

Way beyond awesome!!!! I know some folks think it's a waste of money. But you know, if your system is all stainless, and you are trying to eliminate any sources of contamination in your system, AND you don't mind dropping a pretty penny on all the bell's and whistles, then screw it. If it works for you that's all that matters.

I think you need to come up with an SS bottling wand though. Seems to me you have all the fancysmancy and easily sanitized SS but then it all filters through a plastic wand at the end of the chain.

I'm sure you could come up with something similar with some ss parts.

I think you should post a write up with pics in my Bottling sticky.

 

[wyzazz]

You could even... ...wait for it... ...boil your priming sugar right in the bottling kettle! Very nice!

 

[BrewThruYou]

And my kettle in particular - a Blichmann Boilermaker - has the diptube sitting about 1/8" from the bottom, meaning far less waste.

Did this work? I have a Boilermaker too and even though the diptube sits that low, the spigot doesn't. In order to drain to the bottom of the diptube, you need to have a siphon going. I'm wondering if this pulls to the bottom of the diptube or to the spigot level.

 

[wyzazz]

The bottling wand is low enough that it will pull a sufficient siphon. I have a diptube setup on my bottling bucket with my bottling wand oriented just like is pictured in this thread and it works like a charm.

 

[emjay]

Well, that looks like a good idea - but only if one already had the ~$30 worth of fittings laying about looking for something useful to do...

Cheers!

Well, if you use Camlock QDs, you can get all the necessary fittings for about $25 from BargainFittings... the compression fitting is by far the biggest cost, and if you can grab one cheaply, you can reduce the price quite a bit.

But, for me, 2 bottling buckets with spigots costs a bit more than that. And of course, it's absolutely guaranteed that you'll never need to replace it due to infection (and obviously its way more resilient to damage as well), so it also protects me from future costs.

And as a sours brewer, many would consider 2 of everything plastic the absolute minimum. And even then, people have to risk a Berliner Weisse or, say, a Brett C beer, being infected by each other's cultures, or any number of cultures from a lambic.

Because this can be sanitized so well, you're really only limited to the number of bottling wands you want to have, which are both inexpensive and take up very little space. At the same time, there is NO space that needs to be taken up by bottling buckets, because this single kettle (which you'd already have anyway), can replace a million bottling buckets, and STILL do a better job at it!

And one of the most annoying parts about typical bottling buckets is that the spigots are generally fairly high. With the diptube in my kettle though, it only leaves behind something like half a cup - that's like ⅓ of a beer.

So, I know different people have different priorities, and different budgets, but look how much people pay to upgrade to stainless fermentors, for instance. This is relatively peanuts, when you think about it, to essentially upgrade to a stainless (or aluminum) bottling bucket. Even if it DIDN'T cost less than the two bottling buckets I'd need to buy, there are just so many advantages to it that it just seems like an absolute no-brainer to me... assuming you AT LEAST have a kettle with a ball valve.

Way beyond awesome!!!! I know some folks think it's a waste of money. But you know, if your system is all stainless, and you are trying to eliminate any sources of contamination in your system, AND you don't mind dropping a pretty penny on all the bell's and whistles, then screw it. If it works for you that's all that matters.

I think you need to come up with an SS bottling wand though. Seems to me you have all the fancysmancy and easily sanitized SS but then it all filters through a plastic wand at the end of the chain.

I'm sure you could come up with something similar with some ss parts.

I think you should post a write up with pics in my Bottling sticky.

You're right about the SS bottling wand. I was actually going to make a mention of that, but forgot to I guess. Even without it, bottling wands are pretty cheap, and take up very little space, that it's a huge to have two (or even more) many people who brew sours already do, but also have to deal with the expense and bulk of multiple bottling buckets (or else it's all a bit pointless IMO). Heck, I no longer even really need to take up space with even ONE bottling bucket. Right now, if I needed to replace all my plastic, it'd be just the bottling wands and autosiphons. And since I used o-rings with the compression fitting, bottling wands can be quickly swapped out as needed.

I've definitely been thinking about how to come up with a replacement bottling wand though. The main benefit I could see from it would be being able to run boiling water through the entire assembly to disinfect it. The only way I've thought of to directly emulate current bottle wand designs would require a bit of welding though.

I actually also meant to give you credit in the post as well, since it's an obvious riff of your method

Did this work? I have a Boilermaker too and even though the diptube sits that low, the spigot doesn't. In order to drain to the bottom of the diptube, you need to have a siphon going. I'm wondering if this pulls to the bottom of the diptube or to the spigot level.

That's kind of the point of a diptube
As long as you are bottling enough beer that it starts above the spigot, it will get the siphon going. If it didn't, having a spigot/diptube would be pretty useless overall! I THINK (but I'd have to test it) that even if it's a very small batch and only sits slightly lower, you can even tilt it to get it started.