Keggle drain in side or bottom?

[Luckyr]

I already had a HLT sitting around so thats DONE. But I still need to fab up a Mash tun and Boil kettle. Ive heard of people putting the drain holes in the side and in the bottom, but I'm wondering which is best.

I will be heating from the bottom with propane burners so that concerns me a bit, but I know draining from the bottom will result in more liquid transferred.
Either way I'll go with a false bottom unless someone here has a better suggestions.:fro:

Please help a brother out!

 

[tracyk]

I would think that you would run into less trouble with a side drain being that you are using propane. Now if it were electric I would tell you bottom drain.

I usually end up with just over a pint at the bottom of my kettle when all is said and done.

 

[dmcman73]

If you're building a MashTun from an old sanke keg and will be using a HERMS/RIMS setup to maintain temps, make it a bottom drain. With a bottom drain Mashtun, there will be no dead space which means no loss of wort.

Norcal sells a false bottom for bottom draining kegs, it's hinged as well for easy installation and removal. This is the model I bought: http://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.c...alse_Bottom_Bottom_Draining_Level_3_Stand.php

He also has the bottom drain conversion: http://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/Tri-Clover-Sanke-Keg-Bottom-Drain-Kit.html

I made a bottom drain mash tun and it works great. To cut the bottom of the sanke keg (the side without the neck) I drilled a hole right in the center of the bottom and used that to make a jig to mount my angle grinder to it to guide it while I cut the circle. You can see my build thread here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=528153

If you are planning to direct fire it with gas to keep temps, then you won't be able to go the bottom drain route.