reasons why NOT to use a keg as an ebiab kettle?

[haeffnkr]

Hi,
I want to mimic one of the several ebiab builds on this forum.

I see several folks using bayou classic pots and not half barrel kegs.
I see that the BC pots have a nice strainer basket.... but why else?
They are more expensive then a keg.
A keg has a nice "well" for trub to settle before it goes in the fermenter.

Am I missing anything?
I want to build my ebiab right the first, time... appreciate some opinions.

thanks Kevin

 

[pvtschultz]

I love my BiaB eKeggle and am brewing with it again tonight. I'm honestly trying to think of something that I don't like about it and am coming up short. I flipped mine upside down and cut the bottom off so I could clean mine in place. Works great!

 

[DustBow]

Just make sure you get the top cut off as wide as possible and get the edge sanded down as smooth as possible to avoid problems with it snagging/tearing your grain bag.

 

[haeffnkr]

Just make sure you get the top cut off as wide as possible and get the edge sanded down as smooth as possible to avoid problems with it snagging/tearing your grain bag.

Did that already -
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/1st-beer-attempt-ever-lots-pics-biab-291598/

But I really like the upside down keg idea -
I plan to weld in some fittings for a pump, dip tube, sight glass-thermo and element.

Anything else?

 

[brooklanebrewing]

The reason I don't use a keg is that I wanted to do 10 gallon batches. I use a 20 gal kettle. With the 18 - 20 lb. grain bills I've been doing, the volume is somewhere around 16.5 gallons. Otherwise if you just want to do 5 gallon batches I do not see why a keggle wouldn't work.

 

[wrench]

I do 10 gallon batches in a keggle with BIAB without a problem, but I'm not going for super high gravities. The current opening on my keggle is 12", but I'm thinking of opening it up all the way to the edge so it doesn't squeeze the bag and make a mess as I pull it out. In terms of the rough edges, I have a grommet I got from the LHBS to cover that edge. Other than the easily-overcome issues just mentioned, I can't see a downside.

 

[schmagy]

I did a 24 lb grain bill last night in mine... works great. Drained the wort to a bucket while I batch sparged. For sure going to get a pump soon.. Full buckets of hot water are a little scary.

 

[haeffnkr]

I did a 24 lb grain bill last night in mine... works great. Drained the wort to a bucket while I batch sparged. For sure going to get a pump soon.. Full buckets of hot water are a little scary.

How many gallons of water did you have in the keggle with 24 pounds of grain?

 

[schmagy]

Roughly Nine. I measured with a bucket. It was my first brew on my e-keg and I was using up old ingredients since i hadnt brewed since I decided to go electric.

I was shooting for 1.33 mash ratio, but was just not that precise as I was mostly doing a first test of a new system. there was probably 3-4 gallons of headroom? roughly... very roughly...... no way you could get the grain out without tipping the unit upside down.

 

[brooklanebrewing]

My impression of the biab setup is to have a one vessel system. That is why I run full volume (no hot liquor or transfer vessels). For a 10 gal (actually 11) belgian wit that i do I start w/ 19 lbs. grain and 14.5 gal water. this is also a 90 min boil. Too much for a keggle to handle w/out adding more water.

I have a keg that I planned on using for a keggle but found an 80qt. kettle w/ false bottom on ebay for $125. I've never looked back. Just hoping to add as much insight as I can.

Good Luck!

 

[schmagy]

You can do it that way... you get better efficiency by batch sparging it though, and it only takes a few minutes and some hot water.
When I did a 5 gal batch I would just pull the bag an drop it in the other kettle i had hot water in, then pour the two together.

I usually do 11-12 gallon batches in my keggle. I use one heated keg for hlt and boil, and an unheated keg as a mash tun. Temps fall off some near the end of the mash, but I usually use 73-74% eff on my recipies. I usually get a full 10 Gal to the kegs.

Preheat 15 gal of hot water to 163-165. Settles in at 151ish. 9ish gallons for the mash, and refill the keg n reheat. Sparge with two batches of 3 gal 172 each, running the wort into buckets.

Drain off the extra hot water for cleaning, and pour the wort into the kettle.