The perfect weldless fitting?

[ajwillys]

Hey all,
I believe that I have discovered the perfect weldless fitting for kettles. I did some searches and I'm shocked that I appear to be the first one to have found it. It's one piece on the 'liquid side', made of Type 316 SS, has a special groove for a gasket to sit, and has a NPS (straight) thread with nut for tightening to kettle AND a NPT (tapered) thread for affixing a valve. There's also no threads on the liquid side, which helps with cleaning. Best of all is that its only $16 right now, since its on sale. I just ordered four of them for the system I'm building.

Thru-hull fitting

EDIT: Just noticed that the link I sent doesn't say the type of SS but the product page on the Attwood marine site does. Also mentions that the gasket is silicone which means heat safe and (most likely) food grade.

 

[Reelale]

That may work fine, but how would you attach a pick-up tube? Or are you not using one?

 

[IrregularPulse]

If there is no threads on the ID of the liquid side, how can you attach your pickup tube/whirlpool tube or whatever else?

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

Pretty sexy for a bottom drain... Or you could have a welder pop a dip tube on it for you.

I think that is a really good find.

 

[ajwillys]

Yeah, no pickup tube. I'm using it as a bottom drain on the MLT with a Jaybird false bottom above it. For the BK, it will just not get the last little bit. Planning on putting it low on the BK so that after whirlpooling, it will get most of the good stuff and leave the trub/hop gunk behind. For an HLT, probably will just leave the last bit it of it as well. It's just water after all.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Pretty sexy for a bottom drain... Or you could have a welder pop a dip tube on it for you.

Hiring a welder for a weldless option doesn't make much sense

 

[IrregularPulse]

Yeah, no pickup tube. I'm using it as a bottom drain on the MLT with a Jaybird false bottom underneath. For the HLT and BK, it will just not get the last little bit. Planning on putting it low on the BK so that after whirlpooling, it will get most of the good stuff and leave the trub/hop gunk behind.

I know putting my port on my keggle is very low and would still leave over a gallon without a pick up tube. The bottom drain does seem like a good application for this though. I agree it's a good find and really probably wouldn't be hard to thread the ID if you wanted.

 

[Reelale]

Yeah, no pickup tube. I'm using it as a bottom drain on the MLT with a Jaybird false bottom underneath. For the HLT and BK, it will just not get the last little bit. Planning on putting it low on the BK so that after whirlpooling, it will get most of the good stuff and leave the trub/hop gunk behind.

Sounds like a plan...let us know how it works out.

 

[nostalgia]

I saw those when I was building my system, but dismissed it because there are no threads on the inside of the kettle. Am I reading that correctly, in that it's 3/4" NPT on the outside? That's pretty big.

I went with this from Homebrew Heaven. It's $10 more, but it's 1/2" NPT on both sides.

-Joe

 

[ajwillys]

I know putting my port on my keggle is very low and would still leave over a gallon without a pick up tube.

Very good point, these are obviously not ideal for a pickup tube however I never planned on having one for this application. These are going into 55 gallon SS drums for a 1.5 BBL system. The drum has a 90 degree corner at the sides/bottom so you can get them really low, probably lower than in a keggle.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Assuming a 1/2ID centered and the flange at the bottom of the keg (will have to be higher in reality) you get .59 Gallons left once the level of the water falls below the bottom of the opening of the port. .5 Gallons is a significant amount in my opinion.
This be said, you could always just tip it when it's that low.

Forumla was:
17/8 flange - 1/2" in port centered. puts the bottom of the hole at .6875 inches above the floor (assuming a flat bottom which its not either). Volume for 16" ID of keg with a height of .6875 inches is 138.16 inches^3 or .59 Gallons. This is in a lowest possible mounting of a flat bottomed vessel. Actual loss in a keg will be more.

 

[nostalgia]

Very good point, these are obviously not ideal for a pickup tube however I never planned on having one for this application. These are going into 55 gallon SS drums for a 1.5 BBL system. The drum has a 90 degree corner at the sides/bottom so you can get them really low, probably lower than in a keggle.

Then they're perfect for your application. I'd love to see this system come together, too. Do you have a build thread yet?
-
Joe

 

[ajwillys]

Then they're perfect for your application. I'd love to see this system come together, too. Do you have a build thread yet?
-
Joe

Not yet, its coming together slowly. Got the stand just about done. Just starting to buy all the parts now. Been meaning to make a thread, but progress has been slow so far. It will pick up soon though and I will create a thread.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Very good point, these are obviously not ideal for a pickup tube however I never planned on having one for this application. These are going into 55 gallon SS drums for a 1.5 BBL system. The drum has a 90 degree corner at the sides/bottom so you can get them really low, probably lower than in a keggle.

Bottom would be fine then. On the side with that large a drum you would loose a lot more. But this looks like a great option for the bottom drainers!!

 

[MrShake]

I'm totally digging on one for a bottom drain!

I did just notice that that fitting is for 1" pipe... would require a reducer or a MUCH bigger valve... just something to consider.

 

[Bobby_M]

No, that fitting is actually for 3/4" pipe. The 1" is the actual thread diameter so you'd need a 1.125" hole drilled. The problem with using it as a bottom drain on an MLT is there's no way to hold the false bottom down. If you have a straight sided vessel and the FB has no horizontal play, I suppose it's OK.

The more work, but cheaper option is a 1/2" hex nipple with silver soldered washer. It gives you 1/2" threads on both sides without reducers and whatnot.

 

[MrShake]

You think the silver solder is strong enough mechanically to stand up to the force of the lock nut underneath?

 

[Bobby_M]

It doesn't have to be because it would be backed against the hex part of the hex nipple.

From inside the vessel it would go hex nipple, washer soldered to the hex, oring/gasket, vessel wall, washer(s), ball valve.

The only thing the silver solder is for is to stop liquid between the hex nipple and washer, the only failure point in the nipple/coupling bulkheads.

 

[MrShake]

It doesn't have to be because it would be backed against the hex part of the hex nipple.

From inside the vessel it would go hex nipple, washer soldered to the hex, oring/gasket, vessel wall, washer(s), ball valve.

The only thing the silver solder is for is to stop liquid between the hex nipple and washer, the only failure point in the nipple/coupling bulkheads.

I'm a little confused.... Your saying you would put the bulk of the hex nipple inside the kettle?

If, so that defeats the best feature of the through-hull fitting, low to the wall for bottom drains.

If your soldering the washer near the end of the nipple, it would have to bear some mechanical stress as it would be the holding point by which the oring is compressed.

Though... more likely, I completely misunderstand... hahaa

 

[Bobby_M]

slide the washer onto the right hand side until it bottoms out against the hex. Solder it to the hex. Slide on the gasket/oring on the right side also and seat it against the washer. Insert this into the hole in the kettle and thread the ball valve on. It will likely hit the kettle wall before it can't turn anymore, but if not, make up the gap with another washer on the outside.

The flange on that thru-hull fitting is 1-7/8". You can get washers with a much smaller OD than that.

 

[MrShake]

ahh haa!! that would work great for a dip tube bulkhead, but for a bottom drain, you are sticking up quite a bit further than with that through-hull connection.. hence my confusion!