Dead space in new Keggle

[hankisanerd]

I just got done putting the weldless ball valve and thermometer on a retired keg. I filled it up and checked the seals. Everything is good, no leaks. I do have 7 quarts left as dead space. Who a drop tube help with that?

 

[Deadalus]

Yes, a pickup tube would help. My pickup tube for more MT is centered under the false bottom and the one on my BK is angled to the side. HLT has a pickup mostly centered too. All the tube reach the bottom at their different locations. All are keggles.

 

[Deadalus]

Here's a pic of my BK inside. I'm brewing, just about to sparge, so can't provide the other two.

 

[Broken Crow]

Mine goes right to the center, but inside of a rather large filter, plus it's bent unconventially so it and the filter don't hit my electric element. I've got the silicon 'every drop' bushing to make it easy to get in and out, but want to replace it with one of Bobby's True-Bulkhead sets.

 

[Climb]

Consider a center drain in your keggle MLT & HLT if those aren’t drilled yet.

 

[hankisanerd]

This will work a lot better.

 

[Deadalus]

Here's my other keggles plus a little wider view of the BK. I didn't lay these out originally, they were part of a propane system so I had to work with some of the existing holes when I converted it to electric.

What type of system are you planning? Based on the number of kegs looks like you may want a three vessel?

A 45 or 90 can help to position the pickup tubes where you might want them. On my mash tun, the false bottom is hinged, so to get that out, I added a union. My false bottom is kind of loose, it could you use some silicon tubing around the edge to seal it. If you look carefully, I added a smaller dome shaped false bottom underneath. It was part of a some other used parts I bought so I put it to use! Those pillow type filters that @Broken Crow is showing are an alternative I think to my hop spider for the BK. It may also filter trub? I reposted the BK to show the whirlpool port. The upper port on the HLT is for recirculation to increase heat distribution. The midway up port on the MT is for recirculation through the HERMS coil. I've got ports for site glasses on the HLT and BK, but don't have a site glass on the MT.
HLT

MT

BK

 

[Broken Crow]

The large pillow-filter is just a 2'x1' SS 420-mesh that I folded and sewed with SS thread..contains a couple firm SS wires shaped to make sure it doesn't collapse under the weight of the trub. I throw my hop pellets in loose and run constant recirculation. Because of its size, it holds about 90% of the trub at the end and I can just pull the diptube out of the silicon bushing and lift the whole mess out.