18 Gal Keg Boiler

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Tony

Quality over Quantity
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well these arnt the flashest pics but i have my 18 gal boiler up and running.

I an soeting out teething problems with gear before it all gets mounted on the stand that i havne built yet :)

did a 50 liter batch in it today and all went well, the built in imersion chiller is the best, i love it. It chilled 50 liters to 20 deg in 20 min and the hose from the outlet goes to a sprinkler on the lawn. I also use it to top up my pool so nothing wasted.

cheers
 
Tony said:
well these arnt the flashest pics but i have my 18 gal boiler up and running.

I an soeting out teething problems with gear before it all gets mounted on the stand that i havne built yet :)

did a 50 liter batch in it today and all went well, the built in imersion chiller is the best, i love it. It chilled 50 liters to 20 deg in 20 min and the hose from the outlet goes to a sprinkler on the lawn. I also use it to top up my pool so nothing wasted.

cheers
[post="73154"][/post]​

Tony,

Nice, That's one big puppy. Has the commodore got a customised droop front skirt with the burner operating that close? :eek:

What's the arrangement with the inverted tooheys keg. Does the drain enter through the original fittings?

Cheers

Borret
 
Nice work Tony, the old 18 gallon kegs make nice boilers.

Just a comment for anyone looking to do some keg cutting. When cutting the top out, make sure that you don't cut too big a hole. Leave enough room to be able to sit a lid back on. If you make the opening too large, almost the same size as the top of the keg, makes it hard to get a lid to fit on.
 
Yeah the 18 Gallon ones are nice because they have the prethreaded hole in the bottom for your tap too. Just need to fill/cover the hole in the side of them. Nice one.

Thinking about mounting my chiller permanently in my boiler too. How do you go cleaning it? Is it a PITA to clean the hop/break scum off the back of the coils closest to the walls?

Cheers, Justin
 
Not all of them have the fitting in the side. Mine came with the fitting on top. Only needed a tap welded in near the base and the correct threaded adapter to screw to the flexible hookup.
 
this is one without the hole in the side. I have one with the hole in the side but it has 1947 stamped into it and the oldman recons that is the first lot of ss kegs made so i didnt cut it up.

I just drilled a hole for the tap with a hole saw and clamped some fiber washers inside washers held by the tap on the outside and a 1/2 inch compression fitting on the inside. I have a 1/2 ss tube that runs to the lowest part of the keg to collect every drop.

OK..... for the imersion chiller i got 2 brass hose fittings form bunnings and cut the threads off them. I silver soldered them onto some 1/2 brass nipples and use the same method to seal as with the tap. The chiller screws into 2 compression fittings on the inside so i can just unscrew them (noticed i put them at the top to make removal easy) lift the coil out and wash it. Easy.

I was going to build a counterflow chiller but had concerns and the imersion chiller works great for me. I filter all the hops and most of the break out of the wort so i am not to worried and the beer is as clear as comercia;l beer these days.

I made the hole in the top the exact same size as the mash ton keg so the glass saucepan lid fits in snug :)

cheers
 
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