Advice For Kettle Plumbing

[notung]

Hi all,

I was able to buy a half-converted S/S keg from another forum member, and need some advice on my options plumbing it with a weldless setup... The keg already has a 265mm hole cut in the top, and a 25mm hole cut for a tap. The tap hole is the one I'm thinking about at the moment...

I have decided I want to put a weldless bulhead & ball valve on it, then attach a pickup with a 'hop stopper' straining device using S/S mesh.

Wayne from Beerbelly said that their weldless kettle kit would seal the hole, as the flanges were 35mm. That would allow me to use 1/2" fittings etc. I suppose what I want to ask is... would there be any advantage just fitting 25mm parts & ball valve? Or are 1/2" better for some reason? I would probably feel just a bit more confident that it was watertight... Here are some prices quoted on the Geordi S/S website:

BSP BARREL NIPPLE 25mm $6
2x BSP LOCK NUT 25mm $5 each

BSP 3pce FULL BORE BALL VALVE 25mm $43
BSP MALE HOSETAIL 12mm $23

I'd also need a couple of nice washers & teflon seals to go with this, along with a compression fitting to attach my pickup tube (these can be brass/copper). Anyway, can anybody make some recommendations on which direction I should take?

Thanks!
Cameron

 

[Cocko]

IF you are going weldless tap... Don't forget to tape up the thread EVERYWHERE!!

My mistake, was where the bulk head goes thru the keg, you know.. where the nut that squashes the silicon washer..... Tape the shank!

BTW: I am drunk and confused and can't even check what I just wrote.... I hope it help... :icon_drunk:

I hope help this is... Oh no, I have become yoda!!!

 

[Andyd]

to be honest I don't see much advantage in going full 25mm bore, since you're going to want to throttle the flow significantly through that openning (unless you do nothing but batch sparge).

There is an advantage to a 3 piece valve though, from a cleaning perspective, and I will someday move to 3 piece with triclover fittings, but until then my 1/2" brass fittings will do just fine

Andy

 

[enoch]

Hi all,
I was able to buy a half-converted S/S keg from another forum member, and need some advice on my options plumbing it with a weldless setup... The keg already has a 265mm hole cut in the top, and a 25mm hole cut for a tap. The tap hole is the one I'm thinking about at the moment...

Wayne from Beerbelly said that their weldless kettle kit would seal the hole, as the flanges were 35mm. That would allow me to use 1/2" fittings etc. I suppose what I want to ask is... would there be any advantage just fitting 25mm parts & ball valve? Or are 1/2" better for some reason? I would probably feel just a bit more confident that it was watertight... Here are some prices quoted on the Geordi S/S website:

Are you mixing internal and external sizes here?
1/2 inch /13 mm nipple/thread require ~22mm hole to fit so a 25mm hole will have a bit of slop but Wayne's bulkhead would do the trick. If you aren't wed to stainless a brass flanged nut on the inside should cover the 25mm hole too (only $3 at Reece).

When you talk about 25mm fittings that is the internal diameter. No way its going to fit through a 25mm hole.
Cheers

 

[3G]

1/2 or 12mm is all you need. The three piece ball valves are handy but not essential.
Good idea to get all stainless from the start.

 

[notung]

Are you mixing internal and external sizes here?
1/2 inch /13 mm nipple/thread require ~22mm hole to fit so a 25mm hole will have a bit of slop but Wayne's bulkhead would do the trick. If you aren't wed to stainless a brass flanged nut on the inside should cover the 25mm hole too (only $3 at Reece).

When you talk about 25mm fittings that is the internal diameter. No way its going to fit through a 25mm hole.
Cheers

Ah yes, I think I had gotten myself really confused! In this case it sounds like the 1/2" bulkhead & fittings are the way to go! Thanks for helping me to clarify.

 

[TidalPete]

Ah yes, I think I had gotten myself really confused! In this case it sounds like the 1/2" bulkhead & fittings are the way to go! Thanks for helping me to clarify.

I think you will find that Geordi sell ss compression fittings (HERE) & ss all-thread. This is where I got mine a few years ago. Better to go stainless all the way if you can afford it.

TP :beer:

 

[enoch]

Ah yes, I think I had gotten myself really confused! In this case it sounds like the 1/2" bulkhead & fittings are the way to go! Thanks for helping me to clarify.

You can make up a brass one fairly cheaply. A neat thing with Wayne's that you don't realise until you see it in the flesh is that the inner washer isn't loose it is actually welded to the stainless threaded bit. It doesn't rely on thread tape to stop leaks, only the silicone washer.

 

[notung]

After ages of tinkering, the keg kettle had its opening ceremony with yesterday's brew day! I thought I'd better post some pics of how the fittings worked out, and give some thanks to the people who helped me as well...

In the end, I got the weldless kettle assembly & some 1/2" copper from Beerbelly and the SS compression fitting & 3 piece ball valve from Geordi. Thanks for the recommendations people! The straining device is a 'Hop Stopper' which I ordered from the US-based Innovative Homebrew Solutions. Dennis, who runs that business, was incredible helpful in customising the assembly so I could buy my own BSP compression fitting here (rather than him giving me an NFT one). He brought down the price too of course...

The kettle siphons out the wort down to the remaining 200ml, and did an amazing job filtering out whole & pellet hops. I've included a photo of the strained kettle after yesterday's brew day (Munich Dunkel).

Now I just need to learn to turn the spiral burner down to a rolling boil - waaaay too much evaporation yesterday!

Thanks for the advice and to retailers like Wayne for being great to deal with. Cheers arthur from the forum for the keg!

 

[lespaul]

what are the benefits of going stainless steel?
just sterilisation?

 

[jimi]

After ages of tinkering, the keg kettle had its opening ceremony with yesterday's brew day! I thought I'd better post some pics of how the fittings worked out, and give some thanks to the people who helped me as well...

In the end, I got the weldless kettle assembly & some 1/2" copper from Beerbelly and the SS compression fitting & 3 piece ball valve from Geordi. Thanks for the recommendations people! The straining device is a 'Hop Stopper' which I ordered from the US-based Innovative Homebrew Solutions. Dennis, who runs that business, was incredible helpful in customising the assembly so I could buy my own BSP compression fitting here (rather than him giving me an NFT one). He brought down the price too of course...

The kettle siphons out the wort down to the remaining 200ml, and did an amazing job filtering out whole & pellet hops. I've included a photo of the strained kettle after yesterday's brew day (Munich Dunkel).

Now I just need to learn to turn the spiral burner down to a rolling boil - waaaay too much evaporation yesterday!

Thanks for the advice and to retailers like Wayne for being great to deal with. Cheers arthur from the forum for the keg!

Good work, just a tip though, your last pic looks like you've got about 10g of hops stuck up the side of the kettle. Knock em off the edges as the boil goes and you'll get a bit more out of them.