Boil Kettle - Weldless Fittings

Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum

Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Crusty

Well-Known Member
Joined
29/6/08
Messages
2,625
Reaction score
607
Location
Gulmarrad, NSW
I am looking to turn a 100lt stainless pot into a boil kettle & planning on going weldless.
Is this what I should be looking at in this order.
Parallel thread through vessel.........Hose barb > Ball valve > Stainless washer > Kettle > O-ring > Lock nut
Cheers
 
no expert here (building a kettle soon) but i thought you'd go

barb-ballvalve-washer-0ring-kettle-0ring-wasther-locknut-pickuptube......
 
printed forms section said:
no expert here (building a kettle soon) but i thought you'd go

barb-ballvalve-washer-0ring-kettle-0ring-wasther-locknut-pickuptube......
This one & This one both have one o-ring only.
I was under the impression that it's better to tighten up really hard against the washer on the wall of the pot & the o-ring with the lock nut on the inside only????????
 
well there you go. I'd say run with either of those both very reputable sponsor kit suggestions...

i guess i just added the extra washer and 0ring to compensate my dodgy machining/drilling!
 
printed forms section said:
well there you go. I'd say run with either of those both very reputable sponsor kit suggestions...

i guess i just added the extra washer and 0ring to compensate my dodgy machining/drilling!
You may be right though.
There's a few rigs on here weldless, so hopefully someone can chime in.
Cheers
 
Doubleplugga said:
this is all I did (just scroll down the page on the link below) with with the ball valves mate, works a treat. just replace the compression fitting with the fitting of your choice.
It's basically just the Blichmann way of doing weldless fittings.

http://theelectricbrewery.com/hot-liquor-tank?page=4
That's another way of doing it.
Cheers Plugga.
 
Crusty said:
This one & This one both have one o-ring only.
I was under the impression that it's better to tighten up really hard against the washer on the wall of the pot & the o-ring with the lock nut on the inside only????????
That's the way I did mine. Leaked first time with the extra o ring on the outside, took that out of the equation and all sweet
 
Not wanting to change your mind to go weldless but sooo much better to pay for the welding & get a 1/2" coupling or nipple fully welded into your kettle.
Depending on the way you want to set up your kettle components, either one is a much better option in the long run.
Been there, done that before getting a permanent welded fitting.

Do it once -- Do it right. :)
 
Crusty said:
I am looking to turn a 100lt stainless pot into a boil kettle & planning on going weldless.
Is this what I should be looking at in this order.
Parallel thread through vessel.........Hose barb > Ball valve > Stainless washer > Kettle > O-ring > Lock nut
Cheers
That's exactly how I do mine, never had any leaks.
 
I have one of these on my keg mashtun. https://www.brewershardware.com/Weldless-Bulkhead-1-2-MPT-X-1-2-FPT.html

It cost about $38 including postage and it rocks, seals perfectly, is super solid so your ball valve doesn't flex when you open it and I'm pretty sure you could shoot it out of a cannon.

Then again on my urn I have a threaded pipe through the wall with a ballvalve- washer - o-ring on the outside and one of those nice nuts on the inside with a rebate for an o-ring. Doesn't leak whatsoever.

Across my 3V system I have three methods of getting the liquid out!
 
This is what i have done for my MLT mash tun and kettle.

Barb, Valve, nipple, washer, o ring, keg wall, o ring, washer, socket.
Gives a great seal and you can screw a pickup tube or whatever into the socket.
Bought it all off ebay from dailyappliance2010 from china, except for the washers and o rings which i got from LHBS.
Had trouble with one of my nipples (giggle) which required some cleaning up of the thread, but is ok now.

Also bought a 1 inch nipple which i cut in half and welded into the kegs for heating elements.
 
Away from the conventional I did hose barb, valve, back nut, back nut (yes 2 ) through the pot and then another back nut.

This lets me take off all the fittings leaving only the thread on the pot with the three back nuts. The second back nut effectively locks in the other two and allows me to tighten and take off the ball valve and any other fittings (pick up tube etc) with out loosening off the back nuts and removing the thread.

Makes cleaning and storage simple and works very well.
 
I have weldless on my mash tun and boil keggle.
The Mash tun was a kit made up of parts from G&G in Yarraville, expensive but great gear.
THe Boil Keggle has a Gryphon weldless kit and 1/2 bore tap similar to this http://gryphonbrewing.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=64&products_id=465
I have only had 1 small leak and its because my shifter was too small to tighten the nut, once it was tightned it didnt leak.

The mash tun has a small amount of flex but its because its mounted in a K-Mart $19 pot. The Keggle has no flex because its 3mm stainless :)

I got my drill bits from ebay $20 (inc. postage)
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Tungsten-Carbide-Hole-Saw-20mm-Australian-Warranty-/261167182284?pt=AU_Power_Tools&hash=item3ccec6f1cc
 
Back
Top