I'm about to undertake my first kettle conversion. Wanting to pimp out a 10 litre kettle for 5 litre batches. Looking to make small batches faster and also as a quick-heating HLT for big batches.
I'm building a kettle with an electric element, built-in immersion chiller, ball valve, thermometer. Will look into DIY etched markings as well.
I have the following parts:
10 litre cheap kettle, fairly thin SS so hopefully ok to drill.
2000W 240v element (we have 240v / 10a mains)
1/2" Ball valve
5 metres of 3/8" copper tube for inbuilt I/C
2x weldless bulkheads for I/C
6" Thermometer probe with weldless bulkhead
Step bit for drilling holes
Later on maybe a bazooka screen for filtering hops
25a SSR + heatsink + Arduino - calling this a separate project.
Main question is about placement of stuff - that's a lot of hardware to fit into a small space. I'm figuring...
- The ball valve needs to be as low as possible
- The I/C needs to be under the 5 litre / halfway mark to cool finished wort
- The thermometer needs to not touch the I/C so readings aren't skewed while cooling in progress
- Thermometer needs to be away from element so readings aren't skewed while element is on
- The electric plug needs to be on the other side of the kettle from the I/C
Does anyone have any tips on modding a small kettle? Any issues that I need to be mindful of?
Second question is on the weldless bulkheads. Some have 1 rubber o-ring, some have 2. Does the o-ring go on the outside or inside of the kettle?
I'm building a kettle with an electric element, built-in immersion chiller, ball valve, thermometer. Will look into DIY etched markings as well.
I have the following parts:
10 litre cheap kettle, fairly thin SS so hopefully ok to drill.
2000W 240v element (we have 240v / 10a mains)
1/2" Ball valve
5 metres of 3/8" copper tube for inbuilt I/C
2x weldless bulkheads for I/C
6" Thermometer probe with weldless bulkhead
Step bit for drilling holes
Later on maybe a bazooka screen for filtering hops
25a SSR + heatsink + Arduino - calling this a separate project.
Main question is about placement of stuff - that's a lot of hardware to fit into a small space. I'm figuring...
- The ball valve needs to be as low as possible
- The I/C needs to be under the 5 litre / halfway mark to cool finished wort
- The thermometer needs to not touch the I/C so readings aren't skewed while cooling in progress
- Thermometer needs to be away from element so readings aren't skewed while element is on
- The electric plug needs to be on the other side of the kettle from the I/C
Does anyone have any tips on modding a small kettle? Any issues that I need to be mindful of?
Second question is on the weldless bulkheads. Some have 1 rubber o-ring, some have 2. Does the o-ring go on the outside or inside of the kettle?
