Kettle jacket and burner skirt

[kyt]

After many questions and mulling things over in my head, I finally picked up a roll of aluminum flashing from Home Depot (they sold a thicker gauge than Lowe's). It's about 95% complete.
The burner skirt goes almost all the way around, with just a gap for the burner inlet (what ever it's called). The legs come out at an angle so I cut slits most of the way up. Since the roll is 14" x 10', there's a 2" bend on the top deck with an aluminum rivet in each corner.
The kettle jacket is ~16" diameter, the kettle is ~14", giving about 1" gap all the way around. The ends of the piece have a .5" bend in opposite directions so they slide together in the back. This way I can get it off for cleaning and whatnot. Cut outs on the front for both ports and on the sides for the handles. I left the center piece for the handle cut outs so the handles won't get so hot.

I still need to trim up parts of the skirt covering the deck. On 3 sides will restrict heat flow up the jacket. Might need to bend a few parts here and there on the skirt as it still wants to return to its coil shape.

Tools used :
Tape measure
Pencil
6" plastic square
Straight offset snips 3" blades
Pliers
2 pieces of wood for bending the metal (I don't have break thing)

Should be testing it out tomorrow. Think it'll work?
Anybody foresee any complications?

 

[JUST_BREW_IT]

Interesting

I was thinking of making a heat shield for my burners with the same flashing.

Let us know how it works.

 

[kyt]

no problem, about to get started, but the beer I'm making is a small batch, so I won't be able to comment on how well it heats.
On the skirt I cut some tabs into the sides and bent them down to keep it from shifting around. It's obviously homemade lol
I left some corners that overlapped with the kettle jacket, and bent them up so the jacket as to stay out away from the kettle. I've seen other people drill holes and put bolts through them to keep the jacket offset, but I don't really want to scratch up my kettle, if at all possible.

So long as none of it melts or gives off any fumes that kill me, or ends up in the beer, I'll consider it a success. lol

 

[kyt]

Working great so far. I took 6.5L of water from 20°C to 40°C in only about 5min with the burner in really low. But it's also sunny, and a humid 82°F outside. Doughed in and stalled at 50°C, had to turn the gas up a little. Took 7min to hit 60°C for first rest.
That jacket really channels the heat straight up. It's a face melter lol. Good thing the boil won't require much stirring!

 

[purplehaze]

I am glad to see others using this, great job. This really saves on propane and the time it takes to boil.

My first one was made from flashing also. It lasted quite a few brews but eventually the aluminum began to get brittle at the bottom.

Here are a couple of things you can do to make it work just a bit better.
-Keeping the gap the same around the entire pot keeps the heat even.
-Reducing the gap more towards a 1/2 inch forces the heat to ride the outside of the kettle instead of riding along the outer aluminum.
-Wrapping it in a fiberglass welding blanket kicks up the heat letting you lower the flame even more.

 

[kyt]

What gauge sheet are you using that turned brittle?

 

[purplehaze]

Not sure where I bought it or what gauge it is but it was the only one they had. I got a lot of beer out of that aluminum before it started to crumble but have since gone to SS.