Drilling Holes in a MegaPot

[RichH]

Has anyone successfully drilled a hole in the reinforced band around the top of a Megapot?
I want to install a Blichmann Autosparge and want to get it as close to the top of my 15gal MegaPot as possible. (or would mounting it an inch lower below the band be OK?)

I was also thinking of getting the closed loop flex sight glass from BrewHardware, https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/flexsight-l.htm, and would need to mount that as close to the top as possible also.

Thoughts?

 

[PlexVector]

I have a 10gal megapot that I mounted a whirlpool port on the boil kettle just below the band and works fine for me. Just have to remember to close the port off until you have a hose connected. The sight glass could be problematic in that you could get floaters in the tube during use if that is a real concern. I wonder if someone has actually drilled the band and what their experience was also.

Edit: There are a couple of things going for you with the sight glass if you want to mount on the band. The hole is smaller and it looks like it seals from the inside. As for any hole in the band you will have to rely only on the inside seal.

 

[RichH]

I may move to the polycarbonate sight glass that thru-mounts only at the bottom. I wasn't thinking about that top band when I purchased that sight glass.

Or is a sight glass on a mash tun really even worth the hassle of getting floaters clogging it up?

 

[PlexVector]

@RichH,
I've found that a sight glass on a MLT is useless unless your using it to manually keep the level at a particular position while fly sparging, so you don't need that for auto sparge device, and if you are recirculating then it can be an indication of mash compaction if the sight glass inlet is near the bottom of the MLT and drain.

 

[dmcman73]

A sight glass on a MLT in my opinion is more trouble that it's worth. Use a sight glass on your HLT to measure how much you're pumping into the MLT, this is what I do and it works perfectly for me.

 

[RichH]

That resolves it. I'm leaving the sightglass off my MLT and mounting the autosparge below the band.

Still interested to see if anyone has any experience with drilling that top band on a MegaPot.