Is There An Easy Way To Join Two Bigw Pots?

[Beerisyummy]

Hi AHBs,

After my first brew on a new rig I've been looking at the cheapest way to up the volume without buying bigger pots. Is it possible to just cut out the bottom of a second pot and just silicone them together?
There are plenty of silicones available that are food grade and allow for temperatures over 200c. Can anyone see any drawbacks to this method?
There's hardly any pressure on a joint that's only ever going to be 200mm under the surface and the strength should not be an issue. As a builder and fish guy I sleep well enough with half a tonne of water just off the bedroom and plenty of fixtures around Sydney that rely on nothing more than silicone adhesive.

Cheers
Ross.

 

[NickB]

Buy a bigger pot! What you're proposing may work, or you may burn yourself horribly with hot wort...

 

[Malted]

The problem with these pots is that they are slightly tapered so that they will stack, i.e. the bottom has a smaller diameter than the top. That means you may have quite a gap to fill with silicone.

 

[Blitzer]

I'm starting to think a Health & Safety video would help a lot of us. Me included.

 

[petesbrew]

Hi AHBs,

After my first brew on a new rig I've been looking at the cheapest way to up the volume without buying bigger pots. Is it possible to just cut out the bottom of a second pot and just silicone them together?
There are plenty of silicones available that are food grade and allow for temperatures over 200c. Can anyone see any drawbacks to this method?
There's hardly any pressure on a joint that's only ever going to be 200mm under the surface and the strength should not be an issue. As a builder and fish guy I sleep well enough with half a tonne of water just off the bedroom and plenty of fixtures around Sydney that rely on nothing more than silicone adhesive.

Cheers
Ross.

And what happens when you need to pick up the pot? Seriously, dude, that's a pretty effing stupid idea.

Oh whatever, do it. Just please post the fail pics afterwards.
Thanks for making the afternoon more entertaining.

edit: I'm no builder or fish guy, just a DIY guy and a firm believer in Murphy's Law.

 

[GalBrew]

Yeah, I would advocate the purchase of a 40 or even better 50L pot.

 

[Verbyla]

Not a good idea. Silicone wont bond the 2 pots together it will only act as a temporary glue. You might get a few brews successfully done using this method but eventually it will bite you in the backside!

 

[sp0rk]

Just look for a 50L keg on ebay or gumtree
probably cheaper, easier and much more safe

 

[scottc1178]

If you are going to do it, video tape it. something very funny and painful is bound to happen.

 

[warra48]

No need to be rude to the OP. It's a perfectly reasonable question, and one which others have asked over the years I've frequented this forum. Nothing wrong with exploring budget ideas for equipment.

I've seen Beerisyummy's fish tanks, and they're perfectly safe, and do a brilliant job.

My 40 litre ali pot only costs about $85 back in 2007. Don't think they've gone up much, if any, since then. That's about the cost of a couple of slabs of decent beer.

 

[sponge]

There's some cheap aluminium 40L pots on eBay etc. that will be much better than a silicone solution.

 

[scottc1178]

Just look for a 50L keg on ebay or gumtree
probably cheaper, easier and much more safe

I agree, I have 2 x 50 litre kegs, one as a HLT with an element and an stc-1000, and the other as a boiler. they work brilliantly.

all you need is a grinder and a few stainless cutting discs to take the top out, and a decent quality hole saw to put in the taps.

 

[Beerisyummy]

And what happens when you need to pick up the pot? Seriously, dude, that's a pretty effing stupid idea.

Oh whatever, do it. Just please post the fail pics afterwards.
Thanks for making the afternoon more entertaining.

edit: I'm no builder or fish guy, just a DIY guy and a firm believer in Murphy's Law.

I'm glad to keep you entertained mate.
Not that it really bothers me, but in my own defence I use plenty of different products on a day to day basis and I'm well aware of the capapilities of different materials. Many people doubt the holding capacity of silicone and I suppose I would have had the same doubts 15 years ago.
Today I can safely say that your'e the one who sounds a little stupid, although I can see why you'd think it would fail. A lack of understanding is to blame and I wouldn't expect any less from a weekend warrior.
If you can't stick two pots together with the appropriate silicone and get 20+years of useful adhesion then maybe this sort of thing isn't for you. For fecks' sake, I haven't even said I'm going to do it. I was simply toying with the idea.

I assure you that if I did decide to stick the two pots together, without the use of a razor and some soapy water, no one on this forum would be able to get them apart. Flame throwers excluded of course.

On another note, WTF would anyone try to pick up a pot with 30-40l of scalding hot wort onboard? How does one do that safely?

Oh, I just read it again. "....when you need to pick up the pot? Seriously, dude, that's a pretty effing stupid idea." I couldn't agree more.

 

[Beerisyummy]

The problem with these pots is that they are slightly tapered so that they will stack, i.e. the bottom has a smaller diameter than the top. That means you may have quite a gap to fill with silicone.

Thanks for the input.
I already factored that in and it would actually make the join easier to fill. It's no more than 5mm all round and if it were 20-25mm wide it would be one seriously strong joint.

The things I was wondering about are cleaning issues or anything that could affect the flavour of a wort. No one seems to mind about the use of silicone gaskets, or hosing for that matter.
As someone who is new to the brewing game I was just putting it out there. Just incase I missed some obvious problem specific to brewing.

Cheers

Ross.

 

[Cocko]

Thanks for the input.
I already factored that in and it would actually make the join easier to fill. It's no more than 5mm all round and if it were 20-25mm wide it would be one seriously strong joint.

Or you could cut the bottom off one and make the cut off bottom end the top of the double pot. So join the 2 original tops of the pots, being the same size.

Not that I think your plan will work but please keep us posted.

:icon_cheers:

 

[Beerisyummy]

Yeah, I would advocate the purchase of a 40 or even better 50L pot.

That's probably what I'll end up doing. For now it's just a budget thing which I can overcome by simply throwing a spare element into the spare pot and doing a side by side batch.
It would just be a whole lot easier if I could use what I have on hand to make a bigger vessel.

 

[poppa joe]

I remember BATZ saying he had 2 20Lt Pots joined.??
Ask Batz... :unsure:
Cheers
PJ

 

[Nick JD]

Make beer in the first 19L pot, and put the other one on your head so the satellites can't hear your thoughts.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I find this quite an interesting idea - more interesting given the fact that it is being floated by someone with extensive experience using silicon in a non trivial way.

Concerns for me would be

1 - OK silicon is strong. Is it going to stay that way after it gets heated to 100 for a couple of hours, cooled down again and repeat..... presumably dozens of times. I have no doubt it would hold the first time - will it hold the 20th or 50th time? You dont want to find out the answer is no just as your favourite kitten walks past the brew pot. I've never heard of silicon being used in this sort of application before... maybe it is and its just something I've never heard of, but it would be worth checking out before you decide to go ahead. If its not used this way, there's probably a reason.

2 - My shower. In my shower there is silicon sealant stopping the water I rinse my goolies with, from falling on the downstairs neighbor's heads. It doesn't leak - but there is an impressive array of unscrubable mold growing between it and the tiles. Unscrubable things make brewers sad. No idea if that would happen with the way you intend to bond the surfaces - but you're the pro and its a question I'd be asking of you if this were my idea

3 - Internal shame. You spend $40 on 2 woolies pots, an hour or two of your time cutting them up and sticking them back together again and you will have.... an ugly, cheap arsed, stuck together work around pot. Sure it might work perfectly and if ghetto cheaping out is your thing - it will probably bring a smile to your face every time you use it. BUT - if you're like most homebrewers I've ever met - what'll actually happen is that you're going to spend the next year or so looking at that thing and dying inside a tiny bit whenever you see it. Eventually you'll cough up the cash to buy the pot that deep inside you always knew you should have bought in the first place, relegate the silicon wonder to the darkest back coner of the shed and wish you'd saved yourself the $40 and the thinning of your self esteem.

I sort of want you to do it just to prove it works - hell, I remember asking on this forum once why people were so fixated on tig/mig welding of fittings for brew vessels when a nice silver solder job could be done at home by anyone with a bernzomatic torch. People howled and told me how the solder would melt on my burner and how it would never be strong enough. I considered offering to solder two bits of brass together and paying $1000 to anyone who managed to get them apart again with anything short of a pair of bolt cutters and another torch.....

I dont think its that good an idea and I dont think you should actually do it ... but I do like the lateral thinking and I do think people need to open their minds up a bit on occasion (except me of course)

TB

 

[Batz]

I remember BATZ saying he had 2 20Lt Pots joined.??
Ask Batz... :unsure:
Cheers
PJ

Not me poppa, I've never joined two pots together.

To our original poster go with a keg mate, I'm sure someone here would have one for you.
I have one here that a once mate asked me to look out for, yours if you can get it.

Batz