For those that use a pick up tube...

[Yesfan]

When you guys (and gals) are emptying the kettle to your fermenter, are you still tipping the kettle to get as much wort out as possible?

I recently got my pick up tube in the mail from bargain fittings, installed it, and checked for leaks. When I drained the water out of my kettle, I barely got below the bulkhead when the drain slowed to a trickle. Is this normal, or should it be a full drain until the level gets down to the pickup tube? It's starts trickling right at the one gallon mark on my 10 gallon kettle. I used teflon on all the threaded areas, except where the tube itself goes into its fitting.

I don't want to have that big beautiful hop cone slam into the pick up tube if I have to tilt it after whirlpooling.

 

[RoundKid]

Did you have a hose attached to the outlet?

 

[Yooper]

Did you have a hose attached to the outlet?

This.

When you use a pick up tube, the "siphon" works from having a hose attached to the outside of the ballvalve, where the hose goes to the bottom of the receiving vessel on a lower level than the kettle. If you don't have tubing attached, and you don't have it set lower than the kettle, it will stop when you get to the level of the ballvalve, losing the siphon.

 

[Yesfan]

Ah, so the trick is having the outlet of the kettle below the ball valve (like with an auto-siphon) by using tubing. I was just draining straight out of the spigot, no tubing attached.


Makes perfect sense now....Thanks guys!

 

[diS]

Yooper is a girl, and she holds a whip.. so be careful

 

[Yesfan]

Yooper is a girl, and she holds a whip.. so be careful

I've always known that she's a lady.



And I'm am very, very careful. I don't like whips.

 

[Felixio]

I don't like whips.

Then you don't use them right!

 

[Yesfan]

^^ LOL, no!


Now that I'm thinking about it, if the pickup tube is on one side, does it matter which direction you whirlpool? Looking down into the kettle, mine is to the left, so should I whilpool clockwise, or counter clockwise? Does it even matter?