Brew Kettles

[wimbymoonshine]

Hey all,

im looking at purchasing a shiny new brew kettle and giving BIAB a go. Im thinking stainless steel is the way to go and am thinking of getting a pot with handles and a proper lid. Its a 50L pot thats 400mm in dia and 400mm tall. All up cost 35 (about AU$80) from ebay.

What do you guys use and what has it end up costing you?

p.s. Is it worth the effort to bore a hole and put in a SS tap or just use a siphoning cane?

 

[mika]

Think you'll find they're a pretty average sort of Pot, not a lot of wall thickness or base thickness (not good from a heat distribution point of view). The good pots are ~+$200 AUD. Maybe have a look at www.beerbelly.com.au for a comparison and see what you can make happen over there.

Pat (the Godfather of BIAB) uses an Auto-Syphon, but hasn't been pleased with the results of late. If you've got the know-how, or know a friend with the expertise a Tap is a nice way to go.

 

[Jazzafish]

I was given a dead keg from the local pub. Just cut a hole in the top and put a tap on the side. It does the job well and I recomend going that way.

That said, the pot you showed looks weak in the handles in the pic, but will do the job. I'd only tap it if the walls are thick enough

 

[ohitsbrad]

What grade of stainless steel is it? For that price you might find that its not the high quality 18/10. See here for an explanation.

I bought mine from here and like mika said they are around $200 for AUD for the 50 litres.

That said, I'm sure plenty of people use the lower grade stainless steel or aluminium or an enamel pot which I believe would be fine. They just might not last as long, which may not be a big issue to you.

I have siphoned out of the pot before, but not without hassle. Most of the time I end up tipping it into the fermenter. If you can find someone to drill a hole, I don't think it would be much of a problem or cost to poke some threaded pipe through, screw on some brass backing nuts with washers and gaskets either side, and add a $15 AUD brass ball valve. Personally I think I'll get around to that soon.

 

[Kleiny]

i use an old keg converted with a tap and a thermometer

all up cost around $50 it works well but you have to find a disused keg

if you buy a pot buy a good one and it will be the only one you will ever have to buy

good luck

 

[bconnery]

Hey all,

im looking at purchasing a shiny new brew kettle and giving BIAB a go. Im thinking stainless steel is the way to go and am thinking of getting a pot with handles and a proper lid. Its a 50L pot thats 400mm in dia and 400mm tall. All up cost 35 (about AU$80) from ebay.

What do you guys use and what has it end up costing you?

p.s. Is it worth the effort to bore a hole and put in a SS tap or just use a siphoning cane?

You should be able to tell from the weight and the feel of the base whether it is good to go.
If you got in on ebay that would make it cheaper than usual so it sounds alright.
Plus we have no real reference as to whether pots of this type are generally cheaper in the UK...
I picked up my aluminium kettle, 40l, for around 100$.
I would definitely go the tap if you can.
Search for goatherders site and look at his excellent step by step instructions on adding a tap.
Even an unhandy person like me was able to add a tap to the kettle.

 

[Airgead]

Wimby

I use a 40l Robinox aluminium job. Cost < 100 from Allquip. I know Alluminium has much lower bling value than SS but it does the job and costs a whole lot less.

i can also recommend drilling in a tap. I put one in mine and its the best thing I ever did. So much easier than siphoning. Easy to do too. I just drilled a 20mm hole and used some threaded brass pipe from the plumbing section, a flange nut on each side witha fibre washer and that makes a water (or beer) tight seal. Then you just screw a ball valve onto the threaded pipe and there you are. Leter you can get fancy and add pickup tubes and stuff.

Cheers
Dave

 

[sid]

yeh I have an old 50ltr keg I'm going to convert basically it will cost me $20 and a batch of beer out the keg, 5 doz hopefully, will have metal tap welded on and a hole cut in the top, at the moment theres a couple of holes in the bottom as well, but my mates a welder and will patch that with the metal from the top.

oops, It cost me 1/2 of that ($10), as for all grain brewing I'm going halfs on the cost, which is a good way to go if you have mates that brew.

 

[Fatgodzilla]

yeh I have an old 50ltr keg I'm going to convert

When using a keg for your kettle, how you heating the wort ? Immersion heating or gas flame ? Anyone got any photos for someone like me who has never seen a keg converted into a kettle.

 

[geoffi]

Wimby

I use a 40l Robinox aluminium job. Cost < 100 from Allquip. I know Alluminium has much lower bling value than SS but it does the job and costs a whole lot less.

i can also recommend drilling in a tap. I put one in mine and its the best thing I ever did. So much easier than siphoning. Easy to do too. I just drilled a 20mm hole and used some threaded brass pipe from the plumbing section, a flange nut on each side witha fibre washer and that makes a water (or beer) tight seal. Then you just screw a ball valve onto the threaded pipe and there you are. Leter you can get fancy and add pickup tubes and stuff.

Cheers
Dave

Did you have any problems with the drilling? What kind of bit did you use?

 

[the_fuzz]

When using a keg for your kettle, how you heating the wort ? Immersion heating or gas flame ? Anyone got any photos for someone like me who has never seen a keg converted into a kettle.

Hey mate,

Check this out for a converted keg - makes it look pretty simple,

http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Gear/GSa.../GSboiler.shtml

Also check out goatherders site -

http://goatherder.googlepages.com/drillingakeg

 

[sathid]

My brew kettle is a 40L stainless camping job. However it has a very thin base.

Just wondering if anyone has used any kind of mesh under the kettle as a diffuser?

 

[sid]

When using a keg for your kettle, how you heating the wort ? Immersion heating or gas flame ? Anyone got any photos for someone like me who has never seen a keg converted into a kettle.

I'll be gas heating the keg at first (two ring gas burner, BBQ gas bottle), then depending on how that goes, we might convert it by putting an element into the bottom. So trial and error will tell. So long as it works and is cheap, we'll be happy.

The oz craftbrewer link in one of the above replies is the same keg and set up we'll be doing.

 

[mika]

My brew kettle is a 40L stainless camping job. However it has a very thin base.

Just wondering if anyone has used any kind of mesh under the kettle as a diffuser?

Think that would defeat the purpose, sap the burner too much. Be better off with raschlings (ceramic rings generally used as distilling filter media) or some such thing inside the pot acting to disperse the heat. I've heard of people using stainless nuts and the such, but think the thread would be too hard to clean and make sanitary.

 

[wimbymoonshine]

hey all,

thanks for the responses. I think the keg option would be great but buying or attaining a disused keg may be tough. Also i dont have angle grinders, MIG welders or oxi-torches to cut holes and invert bases.
But if i was too, where is the best place to source a cheap keg?

Also, buying portable gas cylinders is like buying explosives in the UK so im gonna heat on my gas stove (all bbq's here are charcoal powered webbers! sux!). The main element on my stove is pretty big and has a nice fast blue flame. Will this be enough to heat 30L of wort?

Cheers

 

[Stuster]

Also, buying portable gas cylinders is like buying explosives in the UK so im gonna heat on my gas stove (all bbq's here are charcoal powered webbers! sux!). The main element on my stove is pretty big and has a nice fast blue flame. Will this be enough to heat 30L of wort?

You can certainly try using your stove first, but most stoves aren't up to it (or take ages to get there). Pretty sure you can get gas bottles there (know my family has one anyway) and there's one here.

 

[tk75]

Also, buying portable gas cylinders is like buying explosives in the UK so im gonna heat on my gas stove (all bbq's here are charcoal powered webbers! sux!).

What Tha?! <_< HTFU u poms!

 

[sid]

Well i don't know about your gas bottles In the UK, but you should be able to find one somewhere, I think these gas bottles are used in outdoor patio heaters as well.
As for the keg, just look in your local trader, or online trader like e-bay etc, bound to have some of these in the UK. Takes a while, but they come up for sale sooner or later. Even getting someone to cut the keg and weld a tap on, might be cheaper than buying a big stainless pot, if you can get the keg cheap enough.

 

[Airgead]

Did you have any problems with the drilling? What kind of bit did you use?

No problems at all. Alluminium cuts like butter. I used an old 20mm spade bit I had lying around and it worked perfectly. With SS you need a proper high speed drill bit or hole saw.

Cheers
Dave

 

[troydo]

When using a keg for your kettle, how you heating the wort ? Immersion heating or gas flame ? Anyone got any photos for someone like me who has never seen a keg converted into a kettle.

have a look here:

http://troydo.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3202

thats my dodgy setup, but you can see how the keg is setup