So it begins

[franklinswheat]

So I got around to cutting the top off of these two yesterday with my angle grinder. Took about hour and fifteen minutes total only used 2 discs. Cuts a little jagged still have to file them down. I'll be using one as HLT one as brewpot. Using 10 gallon rubbermaid at mashtun. Still gotta build up a stand and get another burner. How much more am I looking at cost wise for adding all he extra stuff for the keggles? I'm leaning toward the weldless stuff. Also I see slot of people use the sight glasses how much easier does that make things?

 

[JoshuaWhite5522]

sight glasses are great, I am envious of my buddy who has one on his HLT, I plan on putting one on my system soon, I'm going with welding it on though.

 

[outside92129]

many folks here use the following 2 sites:
http://brewhardware.com/
http://bargainfittings.com/

Bobby_M from BH is on here quite a lot and has good advice/experience. The folks from BF pop in on occasion too.

 

[krenshaw]

many folks here use the following 2 sites:
http://brewhardware.com/
http://bargainfittings.com/

+1 on both of those sites.. i think between them both i purchased just about everything i needed.. a sight glass on my HLT is one of the best installs ever! (thanks bobby).. very easy to gauge how much you are putting into your MLT

 

[franklinswheat]

Thanks. Usually I see the sight glasses on the HLT but sometimes see them on the brewpots also. Any reason I dint just put one of the HLT?

 

[JoshuaWhite5522]

the local HBS owner mentioned that having one on your brew pot is a handy way of telling how much you have boiled off and lost due to wort contraction during cooling. IMO its not worth the work/cost. Others may have reasons for it to be on the boil kettle.

 

[slakwhere]

i have one on my BK and use it a fair amount. it heats my sparge water (my hlt heats separate water for HERMS), tells me when i've sparged out my pre-boil volume. gives me a post boil volume. lets me see how much wort is going into the fermenters.

they're a bit more of a pain to clean, since wort gets in them, but since they are boiled for an hour i don't worry TOO much about it.

 

[bblack7489]

the local HBS owner mentioned that having one on your brew pot is a handy way of telling how much you have boiled off and lost due to wort contraction during cooling. IMO its not worth the work/cost. Others may have reasons for it to be on the boil kettle.

I recently installed one on my BK, but I haven't brewed with it yet. My reasoning was that since I brew 10-12 gallon batches and I split it into two fermenters, it would help me make a more even split. I'm tired of ending up with 4.5 gallons in one fermenter and 6 gallons in the other one.

Also, when I'm sparging and pumping wort into my boil kettle, it should let me see how the flow rate is balancing without having to get off my lazy a$$.

 

[franklinswheat]

While waiting for my fittings to come in from bargain fittings I decided to start with this.

 

[LandoLincoln]

Bobby M's weldless sight glass / thermometer / brush combo for about $50 - definitely worth it.
Weldless SS ball valve kit from bargain fittings for about $25 - necessity.
Copper dip tube made yourself for about $10 - necessity.

Don't forget to order a step bit from Bobby's site as well if you don't have one.

 

[franklinswheat]

Still waiting for fittings.. Did this today

 

[yukonCorneliusKeg]

May I ask how you did this? I would like to polish my kegs to look like that.

 

[Chrisharvey]

Yeah how do you polish kegs??? Don't forget to make sure there are vent holes in your keg bottoms so they don't explode

 

[KES]

Good question. I'd like to know as well. (keg polishing: mine need some)

 

[franklinswheat]

Actually Bobby m has a post under the sanitation area i think. There's a link to a website in there also that breaks the process down for you and also tells you what specific equipment you need. Basically angle grinder a series of different grit sanding discs and time.

 

[Flomaster]

keg polishing 101: www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/polishing-your-keg-more-than-clever-euphemism-54025/

-=Jason=-

 

[franklinswheat]

Got my fittings last night HLT done except dip tubes because I'm an idiot and selected the wrong option on website so I don't have the 1/2 inch coupler necessary. On side note called guys and bargain fittings directly. Very helpful.

 

[franklinswheat]

Anybody know where I can get a 1/2 inch stainless coupler so I don't have to wait 5 days for it to get here? Everything else is stainless so I don't want to use brass from home depot or lowes.

 

[slakwhere]

if you have an evco house of hose they prolly have it... or perhaps a grainger?

 

[franklinswheat]

Thanks. I have a grainger near me in Albany I also tried fastnail. They can have them for me
Tomorrow morning at 7am so I'm gonna grab them.

 

[franklinswheat]

Brew pot complete

 

[yukonCorneliusKeg]

Brew pot complete

Wow great polish! I know you and others have mentioned another thread to look at regarding polishing, but how did YOU do it? I want to know how you accomplished it and if you found an easier way. Thanks in advance.

 

[franklinswheat]

First I cleaned the outside of the kegs with goo be gone And paint thinner. Then I used the metal grinding wheel to get out the large dings Nd scratches. Then i used the gator grit 60 flap sanding discs and then a 120 grit. I spent about 45 mins per keg with each of the discs but in retrospect I probally would have more time working the bad spots instead of just making sure the whole keg was equally sanded. Between each step i washed the keg off with water. After that I switched to the medium grit pink sanding pad and then to the fine green disc. If I were to do it again i would probably get a coarse medium and fine and spend more time with those then with the two flap discs. Or maybe just one flap disc. Last I went to the polishing pads. Started with the gray number 2 and then the green number 5 metal polishing stick things. The polishing is in my opinion the hardest part because the polish gets lodged into the welds and the lettering. I still have some around the AB lettering. I then hand wiped them down with a soft cloth to get off some of the left over polish and black marks. Obviously the longer you take on each step the better results you'll get. Again I would have spent more time with the finer grit pads to get all the little scratches out if I were to do it again. Also I probably spread it out over a few days because I spent probably 5 or 6 hours on these in one day and I got a little lazy because I just wanted it to be over.

 

[franklinswheat]

Just got my couplers and finished the dip tubes. Is exposed Teflon tape ok like this?

 

[slakwhere]

totally ok.

 

[franklinswheat]

Before I left for work I finished my immersion chiller. I used 3/8 inch copper tubing with 3/8 to 1/2 compression fittings which I couldn't get to grab at all. So I tried my first attempt at soldering. Havnt finished the garden hose fittings yet or completely a test run so I'm not sure if it's going to leak or not yet? Anybody with more experience than me how bad does this look.

 

[franklinswheat]

Ok so basically I'm Turing this into my all grain conversion thread. Built this quickly today. Square frame made out of wood sprayed with 2000 deg high heat paint. I also notched out the wood for the two metal bars in the middle to set the keggle on. Will build a shelf underneath for the burner.