Drilling enameled pot?

[sendkyleanemail]

I have an 8 gallon enamel coated pot I have been using for my brewing. I am sure it's not ideal, but I like the dimensions and I am able to do a full boil in it for a 5 gallon batch.

I have decided a spigot on my brew kettle would be a nice upgrade to my operation. My question is: Is there any harm in drilling a hole for a spigot in an enameled pot?

 

[doctorsbro]

, only thing that might happen is, the pot is more than likely normal steel, and when you drill a hole in it the now exposed edge of steel may rust, but i think you will be fine since it would not be in contact with your beer

 

[P-J]

Yes. (IMHO) When you attempt to drill it you will see why. The enamel coating is basically a layer of glass bonded to steel. It will crack/shatter and expose the base metal. Of course you can do that - but. In the realm of cooking, it is said to scrap any enamel pot where it is chipped or damaged.

I'd suggest that you take a look and see if you can find a comparable turkey fryer kettle. No?

 

[Revvy]

One of the first questions I ever asked on here was this, and I was told that if you scratched off the enamel the steel under is very prone to corrosion, and is pretty weak. Don't bother.

After all these years of brewing I still don't have a valve on any of my kettles. I use a wort chiller to cool my wort, and then rack it to my fermenters with my autosiphon, and I've now been using it this way for so long I haven't felt the need to change it.

 

[sendkyleanemail]

I like the idea of getting the wort into the Carboy while it is still hot as a measure to further reduce chances for an infection, but maybe I just need to relax and have a homebrew?

 

[Revvy]

I like the idea of getting the wort into the Carboy while it is still hot as a measure to further reduce chances for an infection, but maybe I just need to relax and have a homebrew?

There's very few fermenters you could do that to anyway. Thermal shock will make glass carboys often go boom (there's been a few bloody messes that way-literally), and folks have posted on here about melted better bottles. Some folks say the same thing would happen to a bucket, others worry that the hot wort would leach chemicals out of the bucket....that leaves the aquatainers no-chill brewers use and maybe kegs.

There's really no need to re-invent the wheel because you're freaked out about something that millions of homebrewers do every day with no problems.

You just need to relax...

 

[jspence1]

Hot wort + glass carboy = Big Bloody Mess Just an FYI if yours happen to be glass

Damn I type slow

 

[sendkyleanemail]

Good advice

 

[sendkyleanemail]

I was doing 3 gallon boils then transferring the hot wort into a glass Carboy with 2 gallons of pre boiled, cooled water. No explosions, luckily.

Sounds like my next investment should be a wort chiller!

 

[ThreeDogsNE]

This can be done without much of an investment. If you are half-way handy, wrapping copper tubing around a bucket to make an immersion chiller is a pretty easy and cheap project. The needed hose fittings are just a few dollars. Simple tubing benders can be had for very few dollars, if you are uneasy about it, or like "pretty" bends. Far cheaper than the chillers sold in catalogs.