Draining a MoreBeer! Heavy Duty Brew Kettle

[yetanothersteve]

I bought a MoreBeer! Heavy Duty Brew Kettle - With Ball Valve (32 Quart/8 Gallon)
BE308
https://morebeer.com/view_product/8...ew_Kettle_-_With_Ball_Valve_32_Quart_8_Gallon

It does not have a dip tube or bazooka screen on the inside. There is only a welded fitting with 1/2" Female Pipe Thread (FPT) on the inside. From what I have read the location of the fitting is high enough up to lose a gallon of wort without tipping the kettle when near the end of the draining process.

My thoughts on what to add to use it as a brew kettle that drains without the need for tipping. I only brew with whole hops and will be doing a hot transfer of wort to a stainless conical using high temp hose.

Thought #1

Bazooka screen
Watts 12" Flexible Braided Stainless Steel Faucet Supply Line
http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay...gId=10051&cmRelshp=rel&rel=nofollow&cId=PDIO1

Because I do not want the bazooka screen sticking straight out to the middle of the kettle I also thought this type of elbow would work well to allow the screen to point more to the bottom and side. Hoping Lowes or the Home Depot has this in copper or stainless instead of brass that needs to be pickled. I only found brass from my searches.
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

And the clamp to affix the screen.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_64665-408-B...mp&pl=1&currentURL=/pl__0__s?Ntt=murray+clamp
​

Thought #2

Compression fitting
http://www.lowes.com/pd_27335-104-A..._prd_lis_ord_nbr|0||p_product_quantity_sold|1

or this elbowed compression fitting

http://www.homedepot.com/Plumbing-P...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

Hacksawed piece of copper as dip tube
http://www.lowes.com/pd_12466-69305..._prd_lis_ord_nbr|0||p_product_quantity_sold|1

Scrubbie to block hops (Pure copper or stainless from Choreboy - avoid cheap imitations.)
http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/chore-boy-ultimate-scrubbers/ID=prod4175-product

Or affix the clamp and the bazooka screen from Thought #1 to the dip tube.​

Any other thoughts or suggestions?

 

[samc]

It will cost you more $$$, but I went to http://www.fcpi.com/ContactUs.html and bought 1/2" parker SS compression fittings and 1/2" SS tubing which they cut down and bent for me to reach the bottom of the kettle. I have a SS false bottom, but you can just affix a SS scrubbie on the end of the dip tube to filter out leaf hops.

The trip to Fluid Connector products is fun either way to see all the stuff they have that you can use to rig up your brewing set up in the future. One guy there is a brewer so if he helps you it's even better to get things done.

 

[yetanothersteve]

samc, thanks for the suggestion.
It will take awhile before I can brave crosstown traffic and make it over to FCPI, but that does sound like the way to go. $$$ is ok as long as it works correctly. Sounds like I might learn something while over there as well.

 

[yetanothersteve]

Think I found a solution that is stainless and not rigged out of random parts.

Diptube from bargainfittings. Now I just need to wait to get the kettle to find out if the coupling is edge welded even with the inside wall or welded at the center.

http://www.bargainfittings.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=44_45&product_id=94

 

[jmitchell3]

did you all ever find a solution to this diptube issue with the morebeer heavy duty kettle?

 

[Jaybird]

Use a street 90 and a close nipple. Less than $12 shipped from our store.

Cheers
Jay

 

[Konadog]

I have the same kettle, and when I was using is as my boil kettle I first used the dip tube from bargainfittings. This put the pickup out in the middle of the pot, not good for whirlpooling. Next I added a 90 deg elbow, this didn't work well as I would have had to cut the dip tube down to make it fit. Next I tried a 45 and that worked better, but still not what I was looking for. Lastly, and still this way on my larger 15 gallon pot it to just use a 90 elbow and point it down like Jay said.

Sometimes it's the easy way that works best.