New mash kettle

[MrFancyPlants]

I just got a used 15G aluminum kettle with a thermometer, ball valve and false bottom and a sp10 bayou burner and am trying to go through in my head what my next brew session is going to look like. In the past I've been working with shotgun 5G brew in a bag kettles, so it will still be complicated, but hopefully less so.
I also have a 15.5 sankey that I used as a "cold liquor tank" for adding a campden tablet to the tap water, but I only have those 5G kettles and a large stainless basin of indeterminate volume.. Probably ~ 5 G also, but I should probably calibrate that with the water I boiled in the new kettle to season it.

My current plan is to heat the sparge water in the kettle because it has the built in thermometer, but maybe it makes more sense to heat it in the keg and then siphon over to the ball lock port in the kettle? That would mean figuring out the temp in a keg.. Maybe...

 

[twistr25]

Buy either a cheap meat themometer, or a regular stick thermometer. Gonna say probably good to have a back up in case the one on the kettle goes south.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I do have a stick thermometer, but I'd have to fill the keg up to the top in order to not lose it while taking a reading.. I do think heating the keg as a hot liquor tank would involve the least carrying of water.

1. heat keg on elevated surface to a little hotter than my strike temp to allow for cooling.

2. Siphon in ~12G to new mash tun through the ball port.

3.Adjust mash temp as needed. I can move the keg off of the burner since it only has a few gallons left in it. Boil up a couple gallons of the first runnings if temps are too low.

Can someone recommend a cheap silicon line for hot transfers?

-M.O. and (~5%)specialty malts shouldn't need much mash time, correct? I usually shoot for an hour, but maybe I should cut this time back.

3. I have 3x5G pots that I can keep the wart in while I clean out the tun for the boil. I can set one to boil in the meantime.

4. Pour wart back in new aluminum kettle for the boil. FWH 1 ounce Magnum.

Hopstand with a ton of glacier. Dry hop with glacier. This will be a good test to fill up the Sankey in one batch. However, I don't have a spare fermentor for my second runnings braggot. I am guessing I'll be leaving some sugar on the table (or compost bin) at the end of the day.