Fitting A Ball Valve To Your Urn

[tavas]

Hi all

I've seen a few queries about fitting a different type of valve to the various urns out there so I thought I'd share my take on it. This has worked for me with no problems and it may help you. I have a Birko but I'm sure it will apply to any urn (I also did it to the crappy ebay urn before getting seeing the light).

Step 1 is to remove the old valve. I used two big shifters as the urn wall is thin and you will warp it. The Birko was quite tough, but go steady and be patient.

 

[tavas]

Once removed, I fitted up a piece of brass all thread. Some people are worried about using brass, others concerned with corrosion. Both are fine, as backed up by John Palmer in the latest edition of Beer and Brewer.

Comparison against OEM valve.

 

[tavas]

Simply slip the new valve through the hoke and tighten up. The hole will fit a 1/2" threaded pipe, or you could use a stainless nipple. Your choice really. I had easier access to brass all thread.

I used a silicon rubber washer on the inside of the urn and another on the outside, but you could possibly do without the outside one. You may need to try both to see what works.

I only did mine up finger tight and half a turn with a shifter. They don't need to be super tight.

 

[tavas]

Finished product with gratuitous shot of grain mill in background.

I hope that helps. I bought all of my bits from either Craftbrewer, TWOC or Bunnings. No affliation to either, just bought what I needed at the time. Approx cost os between 440 and $60 depending on if you use a brass valve or a stainless one.

 

[Phoney]

Nice one Tavas, I bought all of my bits & bobs from CB. Came to $74... (ball valve, 1/2" barb, 2 silicon o'rings, 2 SS washers & 2 SS lock nuts)

If you havent already done so, fill it with water and heat it up to boiling to ensure it's water tight before your first brew. I had slow leaks at first, it took a few more loops of plumbers tape around the thread of the barb until the nuts are only just able to screw over that it was properly sealed up.

Also, unscrew the the ball valve at the end of each brew. You get little bits of hop debris stuck in there that you want to clean out....

 

[Fents]

Once removed, I fitted up a piece of brass all thread. Some people are worried about using brass, others concerned with corrosion. Both are fine, as backed up by John Palmer in the latest edition of Beer and Brewer.

Comparison against OEM valve.

You can actually use that exisiting thread thats on the original tap. the old tap unscrews from that thread and you basically use the same thread but backwards so you have thread on the outside to screw a ball valve to and just enough thread on the inside to screw the original nut back onto. good pics and work anyway.

 

[tavas]

Thanks Fents. I didn't notice about using the original thread as I had some all thread ready to go. Good thinking, it will drop the price down a bit more.

Cheers

 

[smilinggilroy]

BIG thanks to all.
This is EXACTLY what I needed to know in yesterdays post.
Great pics. Tavas, (a thousand words in a pic.-many thanks) I have the same Birko
Is the silicon hose easy to remove from the barb as I will be using the same hose for racking? (12.5mmI.D.)
Cheers.

 

[tavas]

hi Roy.

Yep, silicon hose just slips over the barb. I don't even use a clamp to hold it. Easy on, easy off.

I thought I would do a thread on this as I've seen it come up a few times. Only got a chance yesterday as I had the valve off for a clean.

 

[TSMill]

Nice write up. I've done the same with one small tweak. The original locknut from the urn is quite wide, so I used it as a socket for connecting a 1/2" x 3/8" barb elbow on the inside to act as a pickup tube.

:beer:

 

[Deebo]

Dragging up an oldish topic. Decided I finally need to replace the tap on the urn but am unsure where is there best place to get a 1/2" SS 3 piece ball valve? (Looks like craftbrewer is out of stock)

 

[dcx3]

I got mine from "brewtal" on -bay. I cant remember the price.Send him a P.M.

 

[slash22000]

Officially raising this thread from the dead, mods let me know if I should just create a new one.

If I'm reading this correctly, all I need to install a worthwhile tap on my Birko is a couple of shifters, a 1/2" ball valve like this, and a bit of steel thread/nut/washer from Bunnings? Is there a big difference between the $20, $25, and $49 versions?

Twice now when pulling out my grain bag I've almost flipped the plastic tap accidentally, last thing I need to explain to my boss is how I boiled my feet over the weekend. -_-

 

[citizensnips]

Yeah that's all you need, don't forget the teflon tape and O-rings though. Id recommend buying the stuff from craft brewer as its easy to get it all in one place and you can be sure it will fit together....plus if you got any queries you can give them a bell and they'll help you out. Bunnings will most likely have some SS nuts/washers but last time I checked they didn't have O-rings suitable to boiling point, not sure if they also sell ball valves? Also I bought one of the cheap Chinese ball valves of eBay and haven't had a single problem with it yet...touch wood. I couldn't see how such a simple piece of equipment could fail unless you were pretty ruff with it.
Cheers

 

[warra48]

Officially raising this thread from the dead, mods let me know if I should just create a new one.

If I'm reading this correctly, all I need to install a worthwhile tap on my Birko is a couple of shifters, a 1/2" ball valve like this, and a bit of steel thread/nut/washer from Bunnings? Is there a big difference between the $20, $25, and $49 versions?

Twice now when pulling out my grain bag I've almost flipped the plastic tap accidentally, last thing I need to explain to my boss is how I boiled my feet over the weekend. -_-

The big difference is that the cheaper valves basically cannot be dismantled, so cleaning is more difficult.
The more expensive valves are known as 3 piece, and can be totally dismantled for cleaning.
I use a 3 piece SS valve from CraftBrewer on my kettle. I think it's important, because I don't want any crud in the valve to contaminate my brew on its way to the fermenter.
The valve on my mash tun is just a cheapie from Bunnings. As the wort is boiled after draining from the mash tun, it does the job just fine.

 

[slash22000]

Yeah that's all you need, don't forget the teflon tape and O-rings though. Id recommend buying the stuff from craft brewer as its easy to get it all in one place and you can be sure it will fit together....plus if you got any queries you can give them a bell and they'll help you out. Bunnings will most likely have some SS nuts/washers but last time I checked they didn't have O-rings suitable to boiling point, not sure if they also sell ball valves? Also I bought one of the cheap Chinese ball valves of eBay and haven't had a single problem with it yet...touch wood. I couldn't see how such a simple piece of equipment could fail unless you were pretty ruff with it.
Cheers

I knew it had to be more complicated. The original guide doesn't say anything about teflon tape, is he just skipping that because it's 100% obvious to handy people who aren't me? I'm happy to buy all the gear from Craftbrewer, do they have everything though? They should sell a kit or something.

The big difference is that the cheaper valves basically cannot be dismantled, so cleaning is more difficult.
The more expensive valves are known as 3 piece, and can be totally dismantled for cleaning.
I use a 3 piece SS valve from CraftBrewer on my kettle. I think it's important, because I don't want any crud in the valve to contaminate my brew on its way to the fermenter.
The valve on my mash tun is just a cheapie from Bunnings. As the wort is boiled after draining from the mash tun, it does the job just fine.

Right, fair enough, looks like 3 piece is the way to go. Do you know why one of them is $25 and the other is $50? What is so great about the $50 one?

 

[Black Devil Dog]

I'm happy to buy all the gear from Craftbrewer, do they have everything though? They should sell a kit or something.

I bought mine from Craftbrewer at the same time I bought my urn and iirc they pretty much had it as a ready to install kit, just needed the tape.

The nut holding the original Crown tap was a bit hard to budge but I was probably being a bit tentative, not wanting to scratch my new Crownie and all.

 

[citizensnips]

For some knowledge on the matter scroll through a few of these, always helps to get your head around how it works, http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ball+valve+brew&oq=ball+valve+brew&gs_l=youtube.3..33i21.5400.5662.0.5960.4.4.0.0.0.0.177.379.1j2.3.0...0.0...1ac.1.11.youtube.kK7nKxi5pUA

 

[ridge runner]

This is cool and may do it to my urn but why do at all? I have no prob with the tap on it.
Just keen to know what it does for brew day?

 

[slash22000]

Well I'm sure other people have their reasons, but my primary reason (as I mentioned above) is that I've almost flipped the wee plastic switch on myself at least twice, which would have had the unfortunate effect of burning the shit out of my feet. For $25 seems like a bit of a "no brainer" upgrade. If it was $250 I wouldn't bother.