Pickup tube for boil kettle

[harley03]

...and that article was about...? link?

It was a dip tube made out of copper pipe that was oriented down towards the bottom of the kettle in order to get all the wort out when drained. I tried to find the article on the brew your own website but could not. I just received my copy in the mail two days ago.

 

[ScubaSteve]

It was in the latest BYO. That's a good design for a dip tube...you could probably even build a diverter plate into it.

+1 on the copper choreboy....as good as SS, I guess.....

 

[DIXIEBOY1]

Weird i know but new to this so what is the purpose of adip tube?

 

[HornetSparky]

Weird i know but new to this so what is the purpose of adip tube?

Not weird, we all learned someplace.

In general, a dip tube allows you to siphon from the very bottom of a kettle. Some folks have stands that allow them to drill a valve into the bottom center of a concave-bottomed kettle, which is ideal. For those of us that rest our kettles on a burner (as opposed to having a heating element inside them), a center-drain kettle is not an option. So, when we install a spigot in the side of our kettles, it has to at least be above the bottom corner of the kettle. Without a bent dip tube, you'd leave a lot of wort behind, and that wasn't easy to make. This is particularly true with a keggle that has a concave bottom, like mine.

So, dip tube for all my friends.


Sparky
Making beer and hard cider in Southern Virginia since 2011.

 

[HornetSparky]

Weird i know but new to this so what is the purpose of adip tube?

[edit] duplicate post. My apologies.

Sparky
Making beer and hard cider in Southern Virginia since 2011.

 

[GOV-]

I came across this thread and thought I would pitch in my setup. I am new to brewing so anything I devise comes from great minds in the brew community. Thank you everyone.

I chose 3/4" valves for flexibility down the road. The 1/2" mash tun valve will go into a cooler (sole reason it is 1/2"). The 3/4" valves will go into kegs. Washers, o-rings and lock nuts are not shown. The copper stub out will be replaced with a short piece of soft copper tubing for side pick up. The pink line represents the keg/cooler wall.

How high up from the bottom of the keg is recommended for the spigots?

 

[bronco8777]

I came across this thread and thought I would pitch in my setup. I am new to brewing so anything I devise comes from great minds in the brew community. Thank you everyone.

I chose 3/4" valves for flexibility down the road. The 1/2" mash tun valve will go into a cooler (sole reason it is 1/2"). The 3/4" valves will go into kegs. Washers, o-rings and lock nuts are not shown. The copper stub out will be replaced with a short piece of soft copper tubing for side pick up. The pink line represents the keg/cooler wall.

How high up from the bottom of the keg is recommended for the spigots?

I would place the valve as low on the vessel as possible before you get to where the side curves into the bottom as you want to be certain that the surface is flat to ensure a good seal. If you feel that you are leaving too much hot water (HLT) or wort (BK), you can always add a pick up tube.