converting kegs: questions

[bluetokamak]

So I'm trying to start brewing 10 gallon all grain batches. I'm in the process of converting several kegs into brew pots. I have 3 kegs, and wanted to get your opinions on what to do with them.

I'm guessing I'll probably end up using one of them as a mash tun, and one of the as a boiling pot. The mash tun will have a false bottom and spigot (1/2" stainless w/ tube to bottom of keg), and the boiling pot will just have a 1/2" spigot (again stainless ball valve).

Just wanted to get some feedback on this setup, and whether I should use the third keg for anything or just get rid of it. Tips, suggestions?

Thanks.

Kevin

 

[FooFan]

Most use the third keg as a hot liquor tank. Something to heat up water in. Valve, temp gauge and sight glass.

Doesn't need to be a keg but you will require somekind of vessle.

 

[rekoob]

I think most use something inside the BK to get closer to the bottom and maybe something to attempt to keep the trub out of your carboy.

a HLT is a very nice to have, use the third one for that.

as for the hole placement or how many you want/ need for valves and or other ports.... I have NO idea, I have been trying to figure that out myself.

 

[bluetokamak]

Most use the third keg as a hot liquor tank. Something to heat up water in. Valve, temp gauge and sight glass.

Doesn't need to be a keg but you will require somekind of vessle.

How necessary are the sight glass and temp gauge? I guess it would be somewhat difficult to observe water level without it? And the temp gauge could be inserted through the top or something, right? Trying to set this up for as little cost as possible. The HLT is used just to heat the water for mash?

Anyone have any suggestions on a false bottom that doesn't break the bank, most I've seen are about 90, was looking at this one: false bottom sanke

 

[bluetokamak]

I think most use something inside the BK to get closer to the bottom and maybe something to attempt to keep the trub out of your carboy.

a HLT is a very nice to have, use the third one for that.

as for the hole placement or how many you want/ need for valves and or other ports.... I have NO idea, I have been trying to figure that out myself.

So I'd need a false bottom for the BK as well? I know some people use a hops bag for the hops, but trub can still be an issue as far as clogging/sediment? Could it be filtered in-line somehow?

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[bluetokamak]

Most use the third keg as a hot liquor tank. Something to heat up water in. Valve, temp gauge and sight glass.

Doesn't need to be a keg but you will require somekind of vessle.

I posted a link on the last post to sabco's false bottom but I guess a mod has to approve the post, maybe because of the link, but is there anything that will work as well for less than 90?

Thanks.

 

[mredge73]

Sight glass is not necessary but helpful, some use a stick or mash paddle with notches to check their water level. You can use your boil kettle as a hot liquor tank and transfer the runnings in another vessel or use your old boil kettle since you should not need more than 4-6 gal of water to sparge with.

The HLT will need a thermometer and valve, optional sight glass.
The Mash Tun will need a thermometer, valve, false bottom, optional sight glass.
The Boil kettle will need a valve, recommended sight glass, and optional hop filter.

I have a 2 vessel 2 burner set up, both with sight glasses and thermometers, one with a false bottom and the other with a hop filter. My boil kettle doubles as my HLT and my runnings go into a bucket until my boil kettle/ HLT is empty. Most folks will run a 3 vessel 3 burner setup, I plan on upgrading but I will use my old brew pot as the HLT since I sparge with only 4-6 gal of water. Hope that helps.

 

[FooFan]

I have a three vessel setup with 2 burners. One for the HLT and the other for the BK (my MT is a cooler). In my HLT I have a sight glass with volume stickers on it (got them from Bobby M). The HLT makes life kind of easy on brewday. I just take my hose and set it in HLT, turn the water on and watch the volume. I fill-up all of the water required (mash and sparge) that way when I want to heat up my sparge water it's measured and just needs to be heated about ~20 degrees or so.

Because you have three kegs I would go for the HLT and really consider the sight glass. They cost a few bucks but are nice to have.

Bobby M sells them and has great videos on how to install and put volume stickers on them.

Bobby's site http://www.brewhardware.com/

Just me .02... best of luck and let us know how it goes.

Cheers

 

[slakwhere]

for any vessel you want a sight glass in, look into BobbyM's sightglass/thermometer combo kit, i think bargainfittings has one as well. 1 hole, 2 devices.

sight glasses are GREAT, i couldn't imagine brewing without them

-measure water in HLT
-measure first runnings into BK
-measure water out of HLT for batch sparge
-measure second runnings/third runnings/pre boil volume in BK
-measure post boil volumes
-measure wort into fermenter(s)

 

[LordUlrich]

Equipment choices are always personal, what I would do is:

boil kettle- thermowell, ball valve, just let the trub settle rather than filter (this is what my new converted keg is setup like)

mash tun- false bottom, ball valve (or consider bottom drain), thermowell

HLT- ball valve, thermowell and sight glass.

 

[biggc1]

Just an fyi I ordered one sight glass from Bobby and one from bargain fittings and Bobby's was superior by far.

 

[rekoob]

Equipment choices are always personal, what I would do is:

boil kettle- thermowell, ball valve, just let the trub settle rather than filter (this is what my new converted keg is setup like)

mash tun- false bottom, ball valve (or consider bottom drain), thermowell

HLT- ball valve, thermowell and sight glass.

like this set up. I have a a new three burner set up that is pretty close to this but as you are finding out it is really what works for you. I don't have a sight glass in any keggles right now but I do plan on getting at least one for the HLT, right now I just use a stick with marks on it.

 

[bluetokamak]

OK, just about ready to order everything from brewhardware after bobby gets the valves and couplings back in stock sometime this week.

I've been reading about using stainless braid hose instead of a false bottom, would this work alright for batch sparging in a keggle? It'd be about a hundred bucks cheaper than the false bottom.

How would I attach the hose to the coupling, a 1/2" compression adapter to copper pipe then worm clamp the hose?

And the boiling kettle doesn't really need anything as far as straining hops if using a hops bag, I think some people use slotted copper pipes?

Thanks guys.

 

[HopIowa]

"...It'd be about a hundred bucks cheaper than the false bottom..."

Yes, and you would get about $100 less performance...IMO, do whatever you can do to get yourself a false bottom, you will be thankful you did, plus not have to go through the frustration of a stuck or slow mash with limited efficiency using a braid. you are pimping your system, do it right.

 

[Yooper]

OK, just about ready to order everything from brewhardware after bobby gets the valves and couplings back in stock sometime this week.

I've been reading about using stainless braid hose instead of a false bottom, would this work alright for batch sparging in a keggle? It'd be about a hundred bucks cheaper than the false bottom.

How would I attach the hose to the coupling, a 1/2" compression adapter to copper pipe then worm clamp the hose?

And the boiling kettle doesn't really need anything as far as straining hops if using a hops bag, I think some people use slotted copper pipes?

Thanks guys.

All I have in my boil kettle is a copper diptube, bent to the bottom of the side of the keg, to leave behind the majority of the break and hops material in the bottom of the keggle.

 

[ne0t0ky0]

All I have in my boil kettle is a copper diptube, bent to the bottom of the side of the keg, to leave behind the majority of the break and hops material in the bottom of the keggle.

What's your volume loss with the side pickup? .5 gallon? .25?

I'm about to switch to side pickup from center and I'm interested in other folks loss calculation.

 

[bluetokamak]

Just an fyi I ordered one sight glass from Bobby and one from bargain fittings and Bobby's was superior by far.

Good to know, I decided on two sightglasses and that's where I'm ordering them from.

"...It'd be about a hundred bucks cheaper than the false bottom..."

Yes, and you would get about $100 less performance...IMO, do whatever you can do to get yourself a false bottom, you will be thankful you did, plus not have to go through the frustration of a stuck or slow mash with limited efficiency using a braid. you are pimping your system, do it right.

Have you had a lot of problems with the braid clogging? How well would batch sparging work with the false bottom do you think?

All I have in my boil kettle is a copper diptube, bent to the bottom of the side of the keg, to leave behind the majority of the break and hops material in the bottom of the keggle.

That seems like a good setup, do you just vorlauf then drain?

 

[Yooper]

What's your volume loss with the side pickup? .5 gallon? .25?

I'm about to switch to side pickup from center and I'm interested in other folks loss calculation.

I dunno. It's not right at the side, but about 1 inch in, so it gets near the bottom but not at the very bottom where it's concave. I never measured it, but I'd guess it's a bit more than a quart.

That seems like a good setup, do you just vorlauf then drain?

That's in my boil kettle. I have a false bottom in my MLT.

 

[horseinmay]

I've seen a thread recently about using the cut out portion of the keg as the false bottom. They remove the spear, and then drill/cut holes/slots in the dome and fashion a pick up tube to drain through it. There were some pretty neat ideas on that thread.

 

[bluetokamak]

I dunno. It's not right at the side, but about 1 inch in, so it gets near the bottom but not at the very bottom where it's concave. I never measured it, but I'd guess it's a bit more than a quart.



That's in my boil kettle. I have a false bottom in my MLT.

Did you use a compression fitting and 1/2" copper for that?

I've seen a thread recently about using the cut out portion of the keg as the false bottom. They remove the spear, and then drill/cut holes/slots in the dome and fashion a pick up tube to drain through it. There were some pretty neat ideas on that thread.

That's a pretty good idea, but a ****ton of holes to drill! I think I'm going to go with a 12" false bottom since it's a lot cheaper than the 15", about $40 vs $90, then $25 for the drain tube. Anyone have any experience using the 12"? I'm guessing I'll have to use a washer and a worm clamp to preload it to the bottom.

 

[dutchoven]

Anyone have any suggestions on a false bottom that doesn't break the bank, most I've seen are about 90, was looking at this one: false bottom sanke

You could cut your own false bottom, that's what I did. Here's my build https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/one-jig-cut-kegs-false-bottoms-233804/.

 

[bluetokamak]

OK, so I've got a question regarding the holes I'm drilling for the valves and temp gauges/sight glasses. I ended up with 3 valves, 1 therm, and 2 sight/therms. I'm wondering the best height for the sight glasses/thermometers. I already driller one of the kegs, 3 and 3/4" from the bottom lip (as low as possible), but am concerned that the temp probes might be covered by grain in one of the kettles and not read correctly, or is that not really a concern?... basically should I drill all holes (2 each keg) at the same height (lowest)? I've got them spaced about 5" apart.

 

[slakwhere]

whatever you decide to do, make sure the holes are not above the vents in the skirt of the keg, they'll heat your ball valves and melt handles/sight glasses/etc.