Vent too close to bulkhead in keggle?

[broadbill]

hi all,

getting ready to drill my keg to install a weldless bulkhead and I noticed that if I place my bulkhead half-way between the two keg handles that it will be pretty darn close to the vent on the bottom of the keg. I'm guessing that the bulkhead will be off-set a couple of inches as well as a good couple of inches above the hole.

Do I need to worry about flames shooting out the vent and melting my bulkhead componets?

Thanks!

 

[k1v1116]

I doubt the flames will be an issue but I would put the valve inline with the handles so that when you pick up the keggle the valve doesnt poke you in a bad place and you dont have to rotate the keg all the way around before picking it up.

 

[BigKahuna]

I've pondered this very issue. What I came up with...is that if flame is shooting up the side of the keg through that hole...Maybe I need to turn down the gas a bit.
Still haven't tried it in practice...but I did what you're talking about...Just offset the Valve a bit.

 

[menschmaschine]

I would recommend off-setting the bulkhead from the bottom holes... being that it's weldless, there will be a silicone ring that could theoretically melt. Even if visible flames don't shoot up there, the heat above the vent hole will be significantly greater than non-vent hole areas. I wouldn't risk it. I have weldless fittings on my keggles and I off-set them from the vent holes and I'm glad I did... one less thing to worry about.

 

[broadbill]

Thanks for all of the responses. I was thinking of offsetting to get it away from the vent holes, but all of the stuff I've read on the interwebs seems to make a big deal of putting the bulkhead directly in between the two keg handles. Not sure if there was any specific reason for this...

Glad to hear others are bucking the trend in favor of getting the bulkhead away from the vent!

 

[DutchK9]

I don't remember exactly what it recommended, but mine came with instructions stating it had to be at least a certain height from the bottom because of the o-ring melting in the heat. I believe it was 6", but am too lazy to go measure it.

 

[BrewBeemer]

Place a short piece of stainless material inside the skirt over the hole with a couple 6-32 stainless screws and nuts. A fast clean and simple fix then install your fitting where you want unless you want to backup the hole with copper stock and Tig rosette weld it closed.

 

[menschmaschine]

Place a short piece of stainless material inside the skirt over the hole with a couple 6-32 stainless screws and nuts. A fast clean and simple fix then install your fitting where you want unless you want to backup the hole with copper stock and Tig rosette weld it closed.

I do something similar with my insulated mash tun keggle. I just covered the holes with metal tape because the heat through the holes was melting my insulation. However, with these vents closed off, I am very careful not to let propane build up under the skirt for fear of explosion. I wouldn't want my HLT and boil keggle like that... just because of the statistics (1 out of 3 is less of a risk than than 3 out of 3).