thermo in keggle??

oops! title should read Thermo, not therno! I am getting ready to make a purchase from Bargain Fittings. I have three kegs that I am going to outfit w/ thermo's, sight tubes, and valves. am trying to stay cost effective in my build, so I am wondering if I NEED to have a thermo on my boil kettle? I am going to install one on bothe my MLT an my HLT. Is it vital to have one on my boil kettle? It would save me $50.00. Any thoughts?

 

Not that you have to have one but I use mine with an immersion chiller to know when I am done chilling.

 

I am thinking about a CFC to replace my immersion chiller. I have a probe thermo for checking my wort temp. Where would I place a thermometer if I use a CFC? ( In line, in the keg?)(READ:<--Noob)!

 

I don't use one in the boil kettle or a sight tube (something to take apart and clean) If your using a CFC you are going directly into a fermenter that should have a thermometer on it . What are you fermenting in?

 

I think it really depends on where you are cooling the beer at. If its in the boil kettle then yes. You would want to know when its a the desired temp so it doesn't sit there being cooled for too long.
If you're not chilling in the keggle then there is no need for it.

 

I don't use a thermo in the boil kettle (a boil is 212*, altitude adjusted). No sight glass in the MLT, it will clog with grain and the sight glass in the HLT will tell you how much water is in the MLT. I do use a sight glass in the boil kettle to keep track of preboil volume and boil off for final volume.


If you use a cfc you can put a thermometer inline with a tee or just push it through the wall of the outlet tube on the way to the fermenter. This will work if its single pass cooling or recircing to the BK.

 

The sight glass on the MLT is only beneficial if you're going to direct fire it and heat your strike water directly in there. I like having a thermo on my boil kettle so I can see from across the garage if I'm about to start boiling. I don't know if I'd spend an extra $50 for it though.

I absolutely enjoy sight glasses on the HLT and BK. I've never taken mine apart to clean.

 

I have one in mine, but it's more of a luxury and certainly not a necessity. The benefits are that you can keep an eye on the temp as it's getting ready to boil to gauge how much time you have before you need to really pay attention to it. Then, if immersion chilling, you can keep an eye on cooling temps.

Of course, you can do all that with a handheld thermometer, so like I said, it's a luxury.

 

I ferment in a standard ale pail with a thermometer. I would like to get a food grade 15 gal. fermenter soon. i have seen some sight glasses with a return(??) tube at the top?? what is the purpose of that, and is it necessary?

 

Perhaps your looking at the ring-bolt that holds the top of the sight glass tube in place.

 

I know what that looks like, but I have seen some sight tubes that appear to have a second elbow at the top of the tube. I am not sure if that ws for support (like the eye bolt) or if ther is a purpose to the second elbow?

 

I can't imagine why the return back into the vessel on top. I've seen them too. I know that if you don't put a short nipple on the inside of the bottom fitting, you can get boil bubbles in the tube that will sometimes "burp" some wort out of the top. That would stop that from happening. However, that's a waste of an expensive fitting.