Plans - Kettle

[Chris]

Here is a rough idea of the first stage of my brewery - the kettle. Apologies, my drawing skills didn't develop much after the age of five.

There is a copper immersion chiller up top (bought 12m of copper tube for this for $69 from Trade Me) which goes into a 60L stainless cook pot I bought from Trade Me for $111. 

 

Next is a weldless bi-metal thermometer to go in the kettle, from Mashmaster (Australia) for about $65 inc. p&p.

 

At the bottom of the kettle will be a ball valve, which I haven't priced yet because for now I will just use an auto-siphon for racking into the primary fermenter.

 

I have 3 fermenters (plastic) in total, meaning I can have two brews fermenting at once. I doubt I will expand any further than this as I don't have time to make any more and probably don't need to be drinking that much either.

 

The burner is a 3-ring unit from Kiwi Camping for $60.

 

I am planning on building a stand for the kettle from 25x25x1.6mm box section steel mig welded together, with some way of adjusting the burner height. Easysteel gave me a quote of $60 for this. Will probably spray it up with some BBQ paint to make it look nice.

 

Will post some photos as my gear arrives!

[martin w]

think about if you really want a thermometer in there, after all,when its boiling its boiling, i know it helps with cooling but you can use a handheld, my reasoning is anything in the kettle that disrupts the flow when whirlpooling spoils the crap cone you get in the middle of the kettle

[Chris]

Hi Martin. A very good question. I have seen many rigs with a thermometer installed and didn't question it (other than for hygeine reasons, but I'm satisfied the hour-long boil will handle that, along with using weldless for easier thorough cleaning). Do you know how much of an effect the thermowell will have on whirlpooling? And also is it possible to filter the sediment out whilst racking into the fermenter instead of whirlpooling? I'm thinking a sieve or similar to catch all the hop crap etc. Would also aerate the wort no? Is the really fine stuff worth worrying about too much as it would settle out in the fermenter?

Picked up the kettle yesterday by the way, it's awesome, bombproof steel base must be half an inch thick. Pictures to follow 

[Tim Stewart]

Yeah I think martin is right ,Im not putting the thermometer in my kettle im using them in the mash pot ,Hot water pot for sparging and fermenter .

The kettle is going to be a rolling boil so knowing the temp isnot so important just as tho you have a good steady roll but I wouldnt think it would have much effect on the whirlpool

If you are going to do BIAB you will need a thermometer in the kettle

[Chris]

Hmmm, that's got me in a dilemma. I would like a thermometer in my boil kettle so I can monitor how quickly it's heating up and cooling down, and keeping the burner going efficently. And yes Tim my next step will be BIAB.

 

Have either of you seen how much of a  difference a thermometer makes to whirlpooling in your own kettles? Wonder if anyone has done any experiments. Might be worth me starting a forum discussion about it.

 

Main thing that would bother me is smacking the thermowell with the stirring spoon, although putting the thermowell down fairly low would minimise that problem.

 

By the way do you guys do your whirlpooling on hot or cold wort? I would think cold would be better to prevent oxygenation?

[Tim Stewart]

well you could put a welding nipple on the pot then a socket on that and thread the thermometer into that ,that would proberly only expose the very end of the thermometer and also it should stop the BIAB getting stuck on the probe .

I whirlpool hot and leave the wort for 15-20min before I transfer to the fermenter

[Chris]

Sorry for my ignorance, but would a welding nipple need welding on or can you get threaded ones that can be screwed on? I'm trying to avoid welding if possible, want to do everything myself and without shelling out on gas for s/s welding i would have to take it to an engineer.

[James P]

Chris, get a threaded nipple instead, or what I think they call a barrel nipple (thread on both ends, and a blank in the middle). Add a nut, washer and silicon washer and you have a weldless nipple.

[Tim Stewart]

A BSP hex nipple and a backnut with some washers and seals will do the same job no welding needed

[Chris]

Thanks Tim & James P, will go down that route.

 

Was lying in bed this morning and the thought suddenly occured to me that the wort chiller's not going to fit with the thermometer stem in there. Thanks for bringing this up before I went and made holes in my new pot!!

[Chris]

This is what you mean I think?

 

Only problem is my Thermometer and the barrel nipple have male threads, so will also need something like this. That's assuming you can't get a male-female barrel nipple, I haven't been able to find any on Google.