Planning Boil Keggle for Electrical Conversion

[wh1te]

I am picking up a keg this weekend that I will be using for a boil kettle. At the moment I am going to be using propane and mashing in a cooler.

However I plan to eventually turn this into a electrical boil keggle controlled with a PID and all that jazz and get separate keggles for HTL and MLT.

Other than the ball valve I plan on putting in the bottom. Is there anything I should or should not do to eventually prepare this for the electrical conversion.

As in if i put in a port for a thermometer will I be able to use the same port for the temp probe when I want to hook it up to a PID. Or should I not drill a port for a thermometer now if I intend to change over "soon" (eventually.)

The final plan is to make a HERMS setup but to be able to brew between now and the ending point.

 

[friedpicklechips]

First off, if you're planning on going electric in the future, but haven't built your propane setup...why don't you start with electric?

You said: "Other than the ball valve I plan on putting in the bottom..." Do you mean bottom of the keg or side of the keg towards the bottom? Don't see how propane burners would work with a bottom mount.

And, yes, you should be able to use the same port for both a manual temp probe and a RTD probe for electric...granted they are the same size.

 

[wh1te]

I have the burner already and have been brewing on that with a 5 gallon pot the keggle will just be a size upgrade and an aluminum -> stainless upgrade.

Yes by the bottom i meant on the side of the keg with a dip tube. I didn't know if the temp probes used the same size holes. Now that I look at auberins again I see that I can get them with the same 1/2 in thread.

 

[crane]

I just finished building my BK and went all out. I figured if I am going to take the time now to solder in couplings I should just go big or go home. I have 2 1/2" half couplings for temp probe and sight glass. I added 2 1/2" full couplings for drain valve/dip tube and one higher up for recirculating to sanitize my CFC. Finally I added a half coupling for the element. I put the coupling for my temp probe on the backside of the kettle so the wire doesn't get in the way. That's the only problem I see with going from thermometer to temp sensor is that one you want to be able to see so you would put it in the front and the other you want out of the way.

You can always put in couplings now and not use them by plugging them up