Weldless Fittings vs. Welded Fittings for Keggles

[millaj92]

I have 3 kegs I want to convert. I plan to have one HLT, one MLT, and one keggle. Where is the cheapest place online to get stainless fittings such as ball valves, temperature gauges, and sight glasses and things like that?

 

[ajhill]

I have 3 kegs I want to convert. I plan to have one HLT, one MLT, and one keggle. Where is the cheapest place online to get stainless fittings such as ball valves, temperature gauges, and sight glasses and things like that?

Hey,

My dad has a saying for this: "Only The Rich can afford to buy cheap things".

That being said, I bought three combo thermometer/sight glasses from Bobby M from N.J. His prices were reasonable and a lot of thought went into getting a good solid product, designed for homebrewing. I have enjoyed his videos as well. He deserves to profit from all the knowledge he has shared with the community.

As to the fittings, I plan on purchasing them from http://www.bargainfittings.com as they are a supporter of this forum. They are very reasonable and friendly as well.

Why not support the people who help make this a great forum for home brewers?

Cheers,

Al

 

[millaj92]

Good info. Thanks!

 

[otownpyle]

Awesome info.

 

[justinakajuice]

I have 3 kegs I want to convert. I plan to have one HLT, one MLT, and one keggle. Where is the cheapest place online to get stainless fittings such as ball valves, temperature gauges, and sight glasses and things like that?

After a bunch of looking around on the interweb, I just purchased 2 weld-in fittings, and 1 weldless setup for the cooler MLT I'm putting together along with some misc. pieces from bargainfittings.com

Cheapest I could find for most of it and they just happen to be a sponser of the site, too.

 

[pigroaster]

I actually bought 2 weldess fittings at first. Just enough to have one attachment on the HLT and MT. Each one was $14 online as that was the only place I could find the couplings and o-rings, etc. I was lucky enough to meet up with a friend who has been a welder for some time, welds for one of his jobs, and has a mig welder at his house. I was also able to find more ss couplings for $1.89 a piece at an agriculture store. Now I can have a lot more attachments on the keg for a lot cheaper. After borrowing an argon tank, getting the 8 couplings together, and dragging everything to my friends house he welded everything. It is much more solid and my nerves are at ease about the whole setup being much more solid, leak proof, and not having to worry about any washers or o-rings. I only had to fork out $19 for 2lbs of stainless wire for the welding.

The whole preparation of cutting the holes took forever for me, even with the vast array of drills and conduit punches available.

Now I have room for sight glasses, thermometers, and ball valves on all my kegs.

I am heading from Ontario, Canada to Az soon. What is name of agricultural store with ss fittings? Thanks

 

[Leobeezer]

Hey Guys, I am new here. This is all great information so far. Are certain vendors better than others for fittings welded or weldless? Does anyone here have a favorite go to person for fittings and boiling equipment? Thanks guys, just looking to start my brew setup and am undecided about welded or weldless.

 

[SpikeBrewing]

I'm obviously biased but I wouldn't go anything but welded. Something that will last a lifetime and will never have any issues is a strong selling point for me.

With that being said feel free to check out our kettles! www.spikebrewing.com

 

[kal]

When done correctly, weldless is every bit as solid and permanent as welded.

For example, most people do not know this but all of the fittings on Blichmann kettles are all 100% weldless. That includes the thermometer, the ball valve, and the two holes for the sight glass. All 100% weldless.

Blichmann kettles are not inexpensive. They are (IMHO) a good example of building something for long term use and robustness over cost. I'm sure if they felt welded would cause less issues, they'd go welded. They've been doing weldless now since the launch of their kettles. They certainly do do welding with their products, just not with their kettle fittings.

There's a lot of bad press on weldless fittings, mostly because there have been some extremely poorly implemented weldless fittings sold over the years that left a bad taste in peoples' mouths.

Kal

 

[StainlessBrewing]

It's all personal preference really. If you have a welder or want to buy one welded...go for it! Wayne at Bargain Fittings posted a nice thread about soldering your own fittings and BobbyM at Brew Hardware posted a video on how strong the joint is in that thread as well. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/soldering-stainless-steel-155782/ And last, there are hundreds of people using weldless fittings making award winning beer. It's all up to you! If it drains, doesn't leak, clean and rigid...doesn't matter what way you go.

 

[Spartan1979]

If you decide to go weldless, take a look at kal's website. It tells you how to do weldless fittings the right way. I followed his instructions and I've been very satisfied with weldless fittings.

 

[Leobeezer]

After checking out all my options, I ordered a boil pot from Brew Toys, they had a sale in the vending showcase, and are vendors here. I guess they just opened up so I got 5% off anything I ordered, sweet . After alot of motivation from you guys, I decided to go weldless, the guy at Brew Toys guarantees the fitting anyway so even if there is a problem I can send it back. I will let ya'll know how I like it after my session tomorrow. Sunday porter, yuuuum! Anyone else buy from them?

 

[Garyr2973]

I don't even think the BrewToys.Net site is up anymore unless they moved it.