Space under spigot on keggle

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dmbnpj

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Just brewed our first AG batch yesterday. Nothing went right. I think one of the biggest problems was the amount of space underneath the spigot inside the keggle. The wort we lost underneath our spigot measured about 2.3 gallons!? Our spigot is as low as possible on the keg to where the washers would still fit. I guess my question is since we are losing that much wort we have to compensate by adding more water. But, in doing that, doesn't that create a very watered down beer? It seems that we would have to modify each recipe to some ratio and figure out to add that much more grain each time. Seems like we were doing something wrong. Was wondering what others out there with spigots drilled through the sides of their keggles do?

Thanks for any help.
 
Just tilt the keggel to dump the rest through the spigot. Use a funnel and strainer if you are worried about the hop and break material, trub. Just remember to sanitize the strainer really well.
 
A dip tube is the right solution here. Basically attach a straight piece of copper to extend out to the center of the keggle, at the center, put in a 90 degree elbow, and then run a straight section down to within a quarter inch or so of the bottom.

You can use pliers to crimp the fittings a bit so that you do not need to solder the joints.

A dip tube creates a suction when the wort is flowing out and you will be able to drain the keggle pretty much dry.
 
Dip tube here too. I've had problems with it in the past though because I didn't want to solder those joints, so I would lose the siphon sometimes.. When that happened I would just sanitize a jug and bail it out, in the process getting plenty of oxygen into te fermenter. You just can't lose out either way.
 
OK, we tried that with regular 1/2" plastic tubing with water before we started yesterday and that didnt work. I guess we were losing the siphon somewhere with that. We will try copper.

What is the solution for the keggle turned into mash tun? For ours, we attached a SS braided line on the inside of the keggle. I guess for that, the only solution is to tilt it to drain as much as possible?
 
When I built my dip tube, I wrapped some Teflon tape around the ends of the pipe before cramping it down. Made a better seal.
 
Another problem we had was with the tubing we used that connected to the hose barbs on the spigots. We used the plastic 1/2" ID with the nylon braid in it bought from Lowes. We had no problems when we tested it with just regular water. But, once we drained the heated wort, the heat seemed to soften the plastic around the barb and began to leak there. Seems like it would be a PITA to have to clamp and unclamp SS clamps around those each time. Is there a solution to this?
 
a PITA to have to clamp and unclamp SS clamps around those each time. Is there a solution to this?

I was thinking of looking around for those spring clamps that they use on hoses in cars. The once that you just pinch between thumb and finger. Perhaps i should start looking right now.
 
Can you post a picture of the quick disconnects you are talking about? Where can you get them?
 
IMG_2958.JPG


Nevermind I think I found the place, McMaster.com? That is a picture of our fittings on our keggles. Do I need these
item_coolant_6739k92.gif
?
 
OK, I am back to the dip tube. I just made one tonight (soldered) and it doesnt work. I have a female 1/2" coupler on the inside of the keg connected to the spigot. From there, I made the dip tube. The dip tube is all copper, consisting of a male threaded piece about 6 inches of 1/2" pipe, a 90 degree elbow and another couple inches down to the bottom of the keg with a little bit of room to spare between the bottom of the dip tube and the keg. I tested with water filling it just above the spigot on the inside of the keg and opened the drain. The water drained out until it reached the bottom of the spigot but still left the remaining 2 gallons or so in the bottom. What could be the problem?
 
you have to have some sort of tube connected to the spigot on the outside that hangs below the bottom of the keggle. if you're using gravity to drain from the keggle to the fermenting vessel, you should have 2-3 feet or however much silicone or vinyl tube hanging from the outside of your spigot. the weight of the water column in the tube is what creates the suction in your dip tube to drain it all the way.
 
by the way, how do some of you combat the problem of your immersion chiller sitting on top of the dip tube (other than using a counter flow chiller)?
 
I just attached a piece of tubing to the outside of the spigot and let it hang down below the keg and the water stopped at the same spot?
 
Can I use teflon tape on the inside of the keg (where it will eventually be boiling wort)? Instead I was just using pipe joint compound.
 
i think teflon tape would be a better choice than the pipe joint compound. this is really odd because the first time i tried my dip tube, i just loosely fit the copper pieces together and it drained the entire keg... :confused:
 
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