keggle setup advice,

[stretch69]

hi guys,

trying to get my AG setup going, i've made my mash tun cooler now i'm converting two kegs,

i've noticed you can get thermometers that stick in the side by themselves or ones that are paired with the sight glass, is one better than the other?
Also i'm leaning towards a sight glass for the HLT and Kettle, any opinions on that?, there seem to be a million different opiniions online,

With all these fittings the costs are starting to add up quickly, thank god my wife doesn't realize how much all this stuff costs


stretch

 

[Truman42]

For a sight glass just drill a hole in the side of the keg and fit a 1/2 inch elbow. Fix a hose tail to the elbow and use some clear silicone tube fixed at the top with an eye bolt or similar.

Instead of an elbow you can use a stainless T and mount your thermometer to the end of that. Just make sure your probe is long enough to reach inside the HLT. You won't need a thermometer on your brew kettle.

Alternatively you can just drill another 1/2 inch hole into your vessel and mount the thermowell through that.

Here's a picture of my sight glass on my HLT

 

[Truman42]

Just to add I wouldn't bother about a sight glass on my kettle. I have one because I use a crown urn but if I was building one from a keg I wouldn't add one in. You need one on your HLT so you can accurately measure your strike and sparge water volumes to transfer to the MLT. But in your kettle your only concerned about pre boil volume and end of boil volume.

For that you can use a ruler or stick with markings measured out. If you have the money for fittings and could be bothered drilling the holes (and have a decent hole saw or step drill bit to do so) then by all means add one to the kettle, but its not really required.

If you are after a thermowell with dial gauge I have one for sale. It's yours for $25 including postage if you want it.

Don't drill your holes for the valves and sight glass to close to the bottom of the keg where it starts to curve as it will be a bitch to seal. Better to have it up a few inches and use a pick up tube instead. You can see my sight glass elbow is on the curve of the keg and was hard to stop it from leaking.

 

[pk.sax]

Slightly cheaper way to do the ghetto silicon tube sight gauge:

Use a 90 degree compression fitting. Fit a small length of copper tube in the compression fitting and clamp the thinnest wall silicon hose you have to it. Lower profile than a elbow and hosetail and cheaper to make + comp fitting makes it nearly no threads for wort to invade and for you to clean.

I've just laid hands on a really well made clear tube sight gauge fitted to a hlt and it is the bomb.

 

[stretch69]

thanks guys,

with these thermowell things am i able to put the sensor of a stc1000 in it down the track if i go down the HERMS route?,

sorry i didn't even know what a thermowell was til tonight,

i've got a stc1000 setup with my keezer, so i'm happy to make another in the future if its needed,
i'm just really keen to get everything going,

 

[jezza79]

just use a stick with the markings i was going to put a sight glass on and anthony from craftbrewer talked me out of it......so glad he did!
and as truman said, dont drill anything to close to the curve go a tad higher and just adjust beersmith to to allow for a couple extra litre loss.

 

[Truman42]

thanks guys,

with these thermowell things am i able to put the sensor of a stc1000 in it down the track if i go down the HERMS route?,

sorry i didn't even know what a thermowell was til tonight,

i've got a stc1000 setup with my keezer, so i'm happy to make another in the future if its needed,
i'm just really keen to get everything going,

If you go down the herms route you dont really want to put the probe in your mash tun.
You want to measure the temperature coming out of the herms at the outlet from the coil. For this you can use a T fitting and mount the probe on top with the wort coming out the side.
I used a 1/2" screw in push fitting with a small piece of tube out the top. I fed the probe wire through the tube and siliconed it in place. However you wont fit the standard plastic probe from the stc and will need to buy a small stainless probe from ebay.

Heres a pic of it from the outside

 

[stretch69]

okay thanks heaps guys

 

[stretch69]

how do you actually join the t piece or elbow to the actual keg, is it a 1/2 inch hole with a nut and seal inside and outside?

 

[woodwormm]

I think you'll find 1/2 inch bsp needs a 20mm hole.. (happy to be corrected, just going from memory here)

going a bit :icon_offtopic: , one thing i've seen recently which made great sense to me, you can make your vessels bottom draining by turning the keg upside down and using triclover fittings on the standard outlet (spear removed). makes for a neat bottom draining vessel (if electric) without having to drill/weld pickups in, obviously if gas fired you couldnt really do bottom draining easily.

 

[brewologist]

Hey ya,

I've just been through all this setting up my plumbing system. The thread diameter of 1/2" BSP fittings (male end) is 20.955 mm.
I find a 22mm hole saw is best for cutting holes in pots, kettles etc. The 22mm bit creates a really tight fit.

The good thing is us can also use it when you turn your fridge into a kegerator.
Drilling the holes for taps.

The Lenox brand holes saws are really good. Make sure you get the arbor too.

Cheers and Beers.

 

[Truman42]

You can get an elbow with a male fitting then screw on a brass backnut push through the kettle wall and screw a stainless nut over a silicone washer or an O ring.

so Brass backnut:kettle wall:O ring:stainless nut

Or you can buy a stainless nipple which is male male thread. Screw this into a female elbow, screw a back nut onto the thread, push through your vessel wall and then slide on the O ring and screw a stainless nut onto this.
Brew shops sell stainless washers with a recess that the O ring seats into. I use these on the inside of my vessel but others just use a flat silicone washer, stainless washer and nut.

You dont need a seal on the outside but you will need a back nut as the threads are tapered so the nut gives the vessel wall and inside nut something flat to tighten up against.

To drill my holes I used a step drill bit. (A good one not a Bunnings cheapo) Mark your hole with a centre punch to stop the bit sliding, then I drilled a pilot hole first with a cobalt drill bit then used the step bit. But use lube such as oil or drilling compound dipping the bit into the oil often and dont let the bit get hot. It takes a while so be patient.

What printed forms section says is a good idea, mount your valve under the keg. You will get no mash tun dead space then and its what I did.

See this post here

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/69055-another-keg-mash-tun-build/?p=976322

 

[JDW81]

I've got one of these. Fits perfectly on a 50L keg, and only took a few days to turn up from the states. I think the price may have gone up since I bought mine though.

Would probably make one myself if I needed another one, but if you're after the easy option.....

JD

 

[brewologist]

Hey JD,

That is a real cheap price for a sight gauge. I was going to buy one in Oz but the price was around $70.
Probs would have got that I had of seen it.

I ended up making one with a T piece (thermometer too), hose tail fitting, eye bolt up top and silicone tube.

 

[JDW81]

Hey JD,

That is a real cheap price for a sight gauge. I was going to buy one in Oz but the price was around $70.
Probs would have got that I had of seen it.

I ended up making one with a T piece (thermometer too), hose tail fitting, eye bolt up top and silicone tube.

Biggest hassle with that one was marking the 1L graduations on it. Took about 2 hours and 4 or five beers if I remember correctly.

 

[brewologist]

The 4 or 5 beers part of that sounds good.

I was thinking 5L graduations might be good enough to get close to strike water vols etc.
Maybe even halve the 5L marks to get 2.5L increments.

The only problem I foresee with the silicone tube is that it is stretchy so I might end up being a bit out with the volumes if the tube moves.


Edit: Sorry, that post was a bit off topic but it might help stretch when he decides what sort of sight gauge he's putting in his brew rig.

 

[stretch69]

I'm thinking now about doing the t piece truman suggested with a thermometer and tube.

I looked at the link, it ends up being 63 delivered, I'm not sure how much you paid JD,

beer belly have a really nice one for 58 which is 11 inches or 70 for 16 inch, I've got no idea what a standard one is for a keg.
You still have to buy the adapter as well for 15 plus washer, nuts etc so prob about 80 all up for the 11 inch but the v quality looks really good,

Either way prob leaning towards truman's way atm coz its cheaper

 

[Tex083]

Im in the same boat, want a vol. marking on my keggle, temp im not too fussed about as I no chill. If I was cooling to pitching temp I would want to be able to check the temp.
http://www.brewhardware.com/wlsightglass/49-lk
This is the kit I was going to buy, but postage is a bit expensive. $59 delivered
If you buy 3 the postage stays the same, so maybe find some locals who want the same Im in Melb sorry. You can get a kit with a thermometer and a sight glass, very cool stuff.

 

[stretch69]

They do look pretty cool but it said they're made out of polycarbonate tubing, so you have to be careful what chemicals you clean it with and they recommend heat shield haha, I'm not sure what beer belly's ones need, haha I don't know what to do. Luckily I'm just polishing my kegs atm.

I dunno if you're interested or not tex but someone gave me this link about how to make in immersion chiller and why they're good, it kinda sold me, you can use it to whirlpool and get down to pitching temps really quick
www.mrmalty.com/chiller.php

 

[spog]

in my original keggle i installed a sight glass but found that it was a pain to clean, (as well as another place where contaminants can hide.) far too many unnecessary joins etc. i now have a strip of stainless steel which is bent at one end so it hangs over edge of the keggle,i marked volumes on it with an engraver,
just use a measuring jug,dump 10 litres of water in,mark it, then add another 5,mark,and keep going until you are satisfied.
i marked upto 40 l . cheers..spog... forgot to add,if you are using gas to heat your keggle,DO NOT mount the thermometor directly above the openings around the bottom rim of your keggle. i once once had a glass faced dial thermometor over heat and explode,i damn near shit myself,it blew glass across the width of my shed at waist/crotch level.