Stainless Welding in Denver area

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Bane

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I'm looking to convert my kettles for all electric. I need two more ports put on each kettle. Anyone know of a local area welder that would do this for a reasonable price?

Thanks,
 
I'm looking to convert my kettles for all electric. I need two more ports put on each kettle. Anyone know of a local area welder that would do this for a reasonable price?

Thanks,

This is not the exact answer for which you're looking, but if you check out the bulkheads at Brewhardware.com, you'll find they have several that might do the job.

https://www.brewhardware.com/category_s/1838.htm

I have kettles with both welded fittings and Bobby's weldless fittings. His weldless ones are just as strong as welded, and don't leak.

I just had a couple holes drilled in a 20-gallon kettle so i could add the TC ports, one low for a heating element, one high for my steam slayer.

It's an option if you don't find someone who can do good stainless welding.
 
I saw his instructions for silver soldered fittings that look interesting, my first preference is welded though. (https://www.brewhardware.com/category_s/1888.htm)

By the way, what's a steam slayer?

Thanks,

This is not the exact answer for which you're looking, but if you check out the bulkheads at Brewhardware.com, you'll find they have several that might do the job.

https://www.brewhardware.com/category_s/1838.htm

I have kettles with both welded fittings and Bobby's weldless fittings. His weldless ones are just as strong as welded, and don't leak.

I just had a couple holes drilled in a 20-gallon kettle so i could add the TC ports, one low for a heating element, one high for my steam slayer.

It's an option if you don't find someone who can do good stainless welding.
 
I saw his instructions for silver soldered fittings that look interesting, my first preference is welded though. (https://www.brewhardware.com/category_s/1888.htm)

By the way, what's a steam slayer?

Thanks,

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...denser-no-overhead-ventilation-needed.636955/

It's a long thread, maybe longer than anyone can be expected to slog through.

Brewhardware has a device https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/steamslayer.htm that was inspired by the thread; short version is that steam from the kettle moves into the stainless "T" where it is cooled by the spraying water; it contracts which creates a partial vacuum pulling more steam into it. The water goes down the tubing out the bottom into either a bucket or a sink drain (what I do).

I used a couple 90-degree elbows to elevate mine, but it's essentially the same system.

slayer2.jpg slayer3.jpg slayer1.jpg slayer5.jpg slayer6.jpg slayer4.jpg

A video showing it in operation:

 
I'm looking to convert my kettles for all electric. I need two more ports put on each kettle. Anyone know of a local area welder that would do this for a reasonable price?

Thanks,

It's not always a matter of choice. Welding is a niche skill and good, cheap labor is hard to find.

It is sometimes very difficult to find someone local that has the ability and time to take on your project at a price you'll be willing to pay. If the price seems too good to be true, you may want to ask some questions to be sure they know what they are doing. Welding stainless steel is a skill that a lot of professional welders THINK they have and it's either an ego problem or simply ignorance.

First, ask if they have any experience welding stainless. Ask what kind of TIG machine they have. Ask what they do to prevent sugaring on the back of the weld. If they say "nothing" or seem confused by the question, keep moving along. The only two ways to prevent the back of the weld from looking horrible and being a cleaning mess is to back purge the vessel with argon or use solar flux. With that said, a sugared weld area is not the end of the world on a hot side vessel but you'll be a lot happier if the welder prevents it. If you've gotten quotes from several places, make sure you know if they'll be accounting for the back gassing or not. At least you'll be able to compare apples to apples.

In many cases, the highly skilled welders that are aware of the various techniques would consider this "sanitary grade" welding and will have had experience working in pharmaceuticals, chemical processing, dairies, and other food processing plants. Here's the rub. Welders capable of this kind of work are busy doing that kind of work for top dollar. No one with a couple hundred feet of welding work over at Johnson and Johnson wants to put a couple doohickies on your kegs for $20. Some shops will offer to take the job and tell you to come back next week...only to find that some higher priced job took priority while you weren't looking. Worse yet, don't fall for a handshake deal with the welder in the back. You may come back to find that your 90 pounds of kegs and parts were sold to the scrapyard and the boss doesn't know who you are. Get something in writing showing what you dropped off, what work is to be done, when and for how much. This doesn't bode well for the stories of bartered welding labor for a couple six packs of homebrew (unless it's a friend of a friend).


Long story short (I know, too late), a relatively handy DIYer with my pull through tool and solder kits can do a better job than most welders will.

LaborTC15PTsolder-2.jpg


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Heh.. scary welding stories.
I had just the opposite experience with my local stainless shop. I bought a kettle with riveted on handles and I didn't like the heads protruding into the pot so I dropped off over there and asked them to weld the handles and fill the 8 holes. Picked it up a week later to find a beautifully done job and a bill for $50 which I think was very fair.
 
I learned to silver solder ss and have soldered about a dozen fittings and spuds on various kettles and keggles. You can buy a silver solder kit for about $15, that includes an oz of solder and some liquid flux. You need a good propane or MAPP torch, something that provides more heat than the hardware store pencil-tip torches.

If you are reasonably diligent, you can make nice solder joints. A good primer.
 
I'm looking to convert my kettles for all electric. I need two more ports put on each kettle. Anyone know of a local area welder that would do this for a reasonable price?

Thanks,


I have a guy in Arvada that did mine, very reasonable in price and quality work. PM me if you want more info.
 
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I'm looking to con◇vert my kettles for all electric. I need two more ports put on each kettle. Anyone know of a local area welder that would do this for a reasonable price?

Thanks,

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