80l Keg Conversion, Tap And Pickup Tube Location

[Phrak]

Guys and girls,
I've begun the conversion of an 80L Newcastle Brewery keg that I picked up recently. Chopping the hole in the top was a breeze, and my the 30cm lid from my 20L BigW stock-pot fits perfectly on the rim.

When I finished cutting the top out, I saw the base was different to what I was expecting.
It's a bit difficult to see the depth of the ridge-ring in the photo, but it's ~5cm high at the peak.



Any thoughts on where would be the optimum location to position the end of the pick-up tube?

I guess my concerns are:
* How the ridge will affect the trub during a whirlpool,
* where to position it to pick up the cleanest wort
* how to reduce/prevent wort wastage as much as possible

I mainly use pellets and don't currently have any form of filter on the pickup tube.

Thanks for the advice
Tim

 

[Frenzel]

g'day Phrak,

My boiler is just the same. I dont use a pick up tube just a hole about 3cm from the base & a welded 1/2inch nipple with ball valve. I use a hopsock and after draining tilt boiler a bit to get as much as posible out I am left with about 1.5l of trub & wastage. My boiler already had the hole in it, if i was to do it from the start i would put the hole a bit lower.

Frenzel

 

[Phrak]

Thanks for the feedback Frenzel

I did some whirlpool testing last night before drilling the hole. I found that the centre ring-ridge-thing seems to do a reasonable job of holding the (test) trub (stainless metal shavings from cutting the top out) in a nice little pile.

I ran a few tests with the pickup tube in different locations. The most practical location for least trub/maximum liquid collection seemed to be just forward of the ridge opening.

I've tried to (poorly) visualise it here:


Now to pickle and install the brass fittings to finish the kettle! :super: