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Author Topic: Brew Kettle upgrade  (Read 5161 times)

cornershot

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Re: Brew Kettle upgrade
« Reply #15 on: January 14, 2014, 05:45:43 am »
The weldless bulkheads work quite well. It can be a bit unnerving drilling a big hole in your kettle but it's really easy. Use a step bit.
Or you can just use a siphon to transfer the cooled wort until you figure out what your brewery needs.

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Offline Jeff M

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Re: Brew Kettle upgrade
« Reply #16 on: January 14, 2014, 05:53:10 am »
I used to poor my wort into the fermenter through a stainless steel strainer.  took care of aeration AND tons of hop trub.
Granite Coast Brewing Company.
Building a clone of The Electric Brewery to use as a pilot system for new recipes!

Offline euge

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Re: Brew Kettle upgrade
« Reply #17 on: January 14, 2014, 07:30:30 am »
Buy a 20 gallon kettle. I think it's a little more versatile than a 15. If you go aluminum it's cheaper and the drilling is super easy.

I installed a blichmann thermometer and a weldless ball-valve. I love the thermometer- hated sticking my arm into the scalding steamy interior of the kettle just to take a read with the thermopen.
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Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Brew Kettle upgrade
« Reply #18 on: January 14, 2014, 12:11:21 pm »
+1 on getting a bigger kettle. even if you don't think you need it if you are going to upgrade, upgrade. If you just want a ball valve, add a ball valve
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Offline flbrewer

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Re: Brew Kettle upgrade
« Reply #19 on: January 14, 2014, 07:51:44 pm »
My only concern with going to a bigger kettle is that my 10 gallon fits my deep sink so well! (that is where I chill the wort w. an ice bath). I didn't necessarily want to go the wort chiller route at this point. It's inevitable I suppose.

Offline el_capitan

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Re: Brew Kettle upgrade
« Reply #20 on: January 14, 2014, 08:16:42 pm »
I have a 10-gallon Polarware that I've used for about 100 5-gallon batches.  It's awesome. 

As for boiloff, I've taken some data points and then graphed them.  They seem to fit a pretty nice linear equation.  I tend to boil off 0.0227 gallons per minute.  I just graphed all of my data points using Excel and then added a line of best fit.  Put time on the x-axis, and your measured boil-off on the y-axis.  Then choose "display equation" and the slope of your line is the rate of boiloff.  This seems to hold pretty true for me. 

That works out to about 1.36 gallons for a 60 minute boil, and 2.04 gallons for a 90-minute boil. 

I was shooting for 5.5 gal batches, which means that I was typically collecting around 7 gallons preboil.  This was never a problem in my 10-gallon Polarware.  It's a great kettle that I expect to last me a lifetime! 

Offline Jeff M

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Re: Brew Kettle upgrade
« Reply #21 on: January 14, 2014, 08:46:57 pm »
Flbrewer,

Remember, all we are doing is giving you something to think about before you upgrade.  you will make great beer in your current pot.  You dont even need to upgrade your current pot, just put a spigot on it since you where looking to upgrade to a pot of the same size with a spigot anyway.

Food for thought:)

Cheers,
Jeff
Granite Coast Brewing Company.
Building a clone of The Electric Brewery to use as a pilot system for new recipes!

Offline Jimmy K

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Re: Brew Kettle upgrade
« Reply #22 on: January 15, 2014, 07:17:58 am »
Remember, all we are doing is giving you something to think about before you upgrade.  you will make great beer in your current pot.  You dont even need to upgrade your current pot, just put a spigot on it since you where looking to upgrade to a pot of the same size with a spigot anyway.

That's true. Get a step drill bit and a weldless valve fitting and you'll have a valve for under $50.

Typical scenario we TRY not to fall into.
....................
Brewer guy: Hey internet, I'm thinking of buying a $25 gadget.
Internet: If you're thinking of getting that, you might as well upgrade to an automated, 20G RIMS system. You'll save time/money/sweat/marriages in the long run.
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Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Brew Kettle upgrade
« Reply #23 on: January 15, 2014, 03:57:43 pm »
Remember, all we are doing is giving you something to think about before you upgrade.  you will make great beer in your current pot.  You dont even need to upgrade your current pot, just put a spigot on it since you where looking to upgrade to a pot of the same size with a spigot anyway.

That's true. Get a step drill bit and a weldless valve fitting and you'll have a valve for under $50.

Typical scenario we TRY not to fall into.
....................
Brewer guy: Hey internet, I'm thinking of buying a $25 gadget.
Internet: If you're thinking of getting that, you might as well upgrade to an automated, 20G RIMS system. You'll save time/money/sweat/marriages in the long run.

So true! But why stop there? 20bbl would be more efficient lol.