Bottom Drain Pots and hard plumbing

I am planning on bottom draining my next brew pot and hard plumbing.
The plan is clean in place.

18gal pot
2" tri-clover fitting on the bottom.
2" Tr-clover valve
Have a screen over the fitting to keep the whole leaf hops out during the boil.

I have an adapter from the 2"tri-clover to 1/2" ball valve - this would drain the wort to the pump/chiller.

After the boil and I want to "wash" the hops out. I remove the 1/2" ball valve and I have a bent tube/gutter under the 2" tri-clamp. I just wash the hops out and down the tube.

My problem is the 1/2" ball valve during the brewing, I have to reach down and under whenever I open/close it. I can move the valve close to the edge of the stand, but then I would have a run of pipe that sat with wort in it while the rest is boiling. Not sure I like that idea.

How are people putting valves on their bottom dump kettles???
Maybe I need to put my 2" tri-clover closer to the front edge of the kettle?

Ok i am doing the exact same thing. except I am using actuated valves and doing this to the frame. It should keep most of the heat away;

I'd make a run of tubing to extend the position of the valve away from the pot/burner. I'm sure the wort right behind the valve will be plenty hot to keep it sanitary.

Mine is going to be electric, but I still want easy access.

Now I am trying to think of a way to have the quick disconnects and valve not protrude to far past the panel.

homebrewdude76 said:

My problem is the 1/2" ball valve during the brewing, I have to reach down and under whenever I open/close it. I can move the valve close to the edge of the stand, but then I would have a run of pipe that sat with wort in it while the rest is boiling. Not sure I like that idea.

Click to expand...

As you can see in the pics, the ball valves are at the end of the nipple. I recirculate the wort (turn on pump) every five or ten minutes for 10 seconds during the boil to get the wort/hops out of the pipe and back in the BK. No problem.

Shouldn't be much different than using a site glass. You can see the particles circulating in the glass back to the BK. Couple of years ago someone was worried if the wort was being heated enough in their site glass during the boil. In the thread, he did a test boil with dye added into the site glass. He was amazed to see how much the water in the site glass is recirculated by the heat/cooling process back to the BK. I think you should be fine as long as your not talking feet, but inches.

On the bottom drain kits I sell (currently out of stock until early April), I include a 8" nipple to put the ball valve out in front of the keg.


I think if I were going to put in a coarse filter for whole hops, I'd use a 12" or maybe 10" false bottom. If you weld or solder a 1/4-20 nut to the flat area of the 2" tc adapter, you can run a piece of 1/4-20 threaded rod down through a hole in the FB and into the nut to secure the smaller false bottom in place.

Those look purdy Bobby...

Bobby_M said:

If you weld or solder a 1/4-20 nut to the flat area of the 2" tc adapter, you can run a piece of 1/4-20 threaded rod down through a hole in the FB and into the nut to secure the smaller false bottom in place.

Click to expand...

I secure my false bottom with a carriage bolt attached to a S/S spring from a sanke dip tube assembly. There is a lip that keeps the spring in place. The spring does not interfere with the triclover.

That's pretty slick.

Hey TheZer, I agree that's a pretty cool way to keep the FB in place. It looks like it is flexible also. Is there any secret on the best way to remove the spring from the sankey dip tube? Also how do you keep your kegs attached on your stand? They appear to just be sitting on that small ledge.

Hold upside down in a vice, then push down and turn with a wrench.

rodduley said:

Hey TheZer, I agree that's a pretty cool way to keep the FB in place. It looks like it is flexible also. Is there any secret on the best way to remove the spring from the sankey dip tube? Also how do you keep your kegs attached on your stand? They appear to just be sitting on that small ledge.

Click to expand...

It has been so long since I removed the spring, I dont recall how I did it. I'm sure StMarcos has it right. Once it is tightened down, the false bottom doesnt move. However, if I overtighten, the spring will pop out from the lip. That false bottom was made from the cut out/bottom of the sanke.

My 'floating keg' design. Kegs are attached with just one bolt through the upper (actually lower rim since keg is inverted) rim of each keg, per picture. I was lucky and didnt have to drill, the original drain holes around the rim were just big enough for the bolt. The small ledge allows easy access to the triclover assembly.



View attachment BeerStand2R1.bmp

How hard is to to silver sold fittings on pipe?

The 2" fitting is a tight slip fit with this pipe. Think I would have a hard time with silver solder?

Definitely you could solder that. Looks like a good fit up.

Or just weld it? Who did those welds in the first place? they are beautiful

I can't weld stainless. I am sure a machine welded the tank originally...

Homebrewdude,

You say you can't weld stainless...but do you have access to an arc welder?

Before building my HERMS system, I read several of the soldering threads posted on here. I bought around $100 worth solder and flux. I made a tool and flared some holes in my kegs so I could weld in some 1/2" stainless couplers. Even after cleaning and retrying MULTIPLE times, I couldn't get them to stick at all!

Luckily I had several beers throughout this process, and got really ticked off at the whole ordeal. I had some stainless steel rods for my arc welder. I figured I would totally destroy the kegs, but fired it up anyway. I think I ended up welding in 10 fittings that way. The welds aren't as pretty as you could do with a TIG, but I've made some pretty darn tasty beer on my system!

I have a MIG welder.
I could get SS wire and proper gas and try.
I am going to try to solder first.
I bought the good solder, now I need the flux.

@AB You stick welded your keg fittings? What did the welds look like on the back?

I tried to silver solder the fitting on the tube.
No go, the solder just ran off like oil and water.
I might have the wrong flux.... The welding supply told me it was used to braise SS pipes...

Looks like I am good on the flux, same stuff everyone else is using.

Maybe too much heat from the MAPP gas.
The solder was bubbled and gone and the solder quickly melted when I touched it.

alien said:

@AB You stick welded your keg fittings? What did the welds look like on the back?

Click to expand...

I just realized that you had asked me a question. Please excuse the tardiness of my reply and the fact that my brew kettle is still dirty from brewing last night.

I did all the welding on the outside of the kegs. As you can see from the picture, I am not a professional welder, and there is a place on the side of the bottom fitting where I got it a little hot and it looks kinda 'burned.' I ground down the weld, made another pass, and it does not leak. Still, I was worried about getting some sort of nasty flavor from the welds, so I scrubbed them with a wire brush and Bar Keeper's Friend.

I did several taste tests with water, and fully expected to taste some sort of rusty/nasty/burnt/metal flavor, but there was none. I went ahead and started brewing with the system, and nobody has ever commented about any off flavors in my beers.

Homebrewdude, I'm also wondering if I used too much heat when I tried soldering. I haven't done much plumbing work, so I don't have a MAPP gas torch. I used a small (I think it was a # 1) welding tip on my oxy-acetylene torch. I have successfully soldered and brazed other metals, but didn't have any luck with the stainless. How much would it cost to get a roll of stainless wire and gas for you MIG?

Does anyone know if he can do a good job here with his MIG, or should he make friends with someone who owns a TIG? Or, does he need to try less heat with the MAPP gas? (I also wish I knew where I went wrong when trying to use solder.)

I am going to buy the stuff to attempt to weld.

Looks like I need the following:
308L wire
Tri-Mix Gas

Also read something about solar flux for the back side of the weld for an oxygen barrier.

homebrewdude76 said:

I tried to silver solder the fitting on the tube.
No go, the solder just ran off like oil and water.
I might have the wrong flux.... The welding supply told me it was used to braise SS pipes...

Click to expand...

It's obvious you had the wrong flux based on the solder beading off. Stay Clean Liquid is what you want.