Hlt, Tun, Or Kettle?

[JestersDarts]

Hi All

I am after a bit of advice

At my dads place on the weekend and spied this in the corner of the shed..










Pwoar! Now what can I use it for

I am keen on building a gravity 3 vessel brewery, and want to make a mash tun out of an esky so really, should I use this as my HLT or Kettle?

If it were a HLT, I figure I would have to:

Get the bung hole welded

Use an immersion element,

tempmate probe over the top into water

and build a sight-gauge

fashion some sort of lid

= HLT ready.



Kettle, I would have to:

Get bung hole welded

Hop screen

replace tap??

= Kettle Ready.



Is this better suited to a kettle or a HLT? Or neither?

Have I got the above right, or is there something missing to make either vessel?

 

[raven19]

What is the volume JD?

If the volume is equal or larger than your esky MT - then I would use it as your kettle. If you use a hop sock (or pellets and no chill) you can get away with then simply welding the hole, add a gas burner and you are done. (or over hte side immersion element if going elec).

Then pick up an urn as your HLT (sightglass, etc already in place - easier).

Ideally your kettle will be equal or a tad larger than your HLT and MT - this also depends on whether you batch of fly sparge, and the size of your typical batch...

2c.

 

[JestersDarts]

What is the volume JD?

If the volume is equal or larger than your esky MT - then I would use it as your kettle. If you use a hop sock (or pellets and no chill) you can get away with then simply welding the hole, add a gas burner and you are done. (or over hte side immersion element if going elec).

I dont know the exact volume - I forgot to measure it yesterday. Perhaps someone knows what sort of keg this is?

 

[QldKev]

They are the imperial kegs, 82L.

QldKev

 

[mxd]

I use one of them for my keggle, as Kev said it's 80 ltr so perfect for double's and possably tripples.

Get the Bung welded, add a pick up tube and it shoulf be ready to go.

 

[yardy]

Is this better suited to a kettle or a HLT? Or neither?

definitely a kettle, see here http://www.homebrewdownunder.com/index.php?topic=1468.0 and here http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...mp;hl=18+gallon

cheers

 

[JestersDarts]

definitely a kettle, see here http://www.homebrewdownunder.com/index.php?topic=1468.0 and here http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...mp;hl=18+gallon

cheers

Brilliant - Kettle it is...
I can't see the pics at work (blocked hosting sites) but will have a look at home for some ideas.
Its a bit of a pita because all of this stuff is 3 hours away at my dads place - so I only get to his shed when i go visit on weekends. I'm in the process of converting him to AG, but he still has that blank look on his face when I explain that the goo in the can is what we are making ourselves. From scratch. Fresh. So explaining to him what the HLT is for, or a 90 minute hop boil is...

I need to show him first hand I think.

I'm getting him started on modifying this keg - I think I'll ask him to make a pickup tube and replace the tap, and weld up the bung for a kettle.

I plan to have big brew days down there on the farm, cube the wort, and bring it back to Adelaide to ferment / keg.

If this is 80L, Can I potentially do 60L boils (thinking end result = 3 cornies of product) ? And what implications for size of a mash tun or HLT would this mean?
Just so I know what to plan / look for next.

 

[mxd]

yep, you could "push to try 60ltrs after boil, but you would probably require about 71 ltrs pre boil, so there might be a bit of a boil over.

if you go for the 80 to 100ltr esky or similar for MLT, you shold be able to get a Mash (for standard 5% brews) in there for a 60ltr post boil. Then a 50 ltr minimum for HLT.

N.B someone with more experiance can let you know whether my assumptions are correct.

good luck, great find.

 

[JestersDarts]

yep, you could "push to try 60ltrs after boil, but you would probably require about 71 ltrs pre boil, so there might be a bit of a boil over.

if you go for the 80 to 100ltr esky or similar for MLT, you shold be able to get a Mash (for standard 5% brews) in there for a 60ltr post boil. Then a 50 ltr minimum for HLT.

N.B someone with more experiance can let you know whether my assumptions are correct.

good luck, great find.

Cheers - I do want to plan to brew comfortably though - not living on the edge with boil overs imminent, and not enough hot water on demand, MLT too large for single batches etc - Perhaps I will plan for double batches - so i'm thinking for a 50L esky for tun.. I may be able to get a 50L vessel I can make into a HLT also..
hopefully these sizes are about right - and i'm not planning myself short.

 

[mxd]

I have 50ltr HLT and MLT, and can do dbl batches, with no issues, I think I could only do a single batch of a big beer (8+%) though.

 

[Hatchy]

I'm planning on using the same vessel as a HLT & kettle until I can get my hands on a 3rd vessel. Has anyone tried this with success? I'm thinking my 1st runnings can go in a cube while I sparge. Apart from double handling can anyone see any problems with my plan?

 

[mxd]

I've seen that mentioned and I'm pretty sure there are still those who do it.

I have done that a couple of times, I used a fermenter as my work collector, till the HLT was empty and then usable as a kettle.

 

[manticle]

My kettle used to be two pots - 1 x 10L and 1 x 15 L. They were also my HLTs. Two boils in ecah pot per brew so I needed somewhere to put my runnings - spare fermenter was the ticket. Bit of a stuff around but that's the only drawback.

 

[raven19]

I have seen a few setups on various forums of using just 2 vessels (along with a HERMS and pump h34r: ).

iirc - newguy has a 2 vessel setup I think.