So I asked for a brew kettle from my fam this year and they over shot what I sent them for things to want. Not complaining about getting a better kettle (asked for an economy type) then what I asked for, but am nervous about the "weldless" parts of it. I notice it is just a o-ring for the thermometer and ball valve. I can adjust where it sits on my stove, but my outside burner I am worried about support. How far from the burner do these need to be? I honestly don't know what their heat rating is or how hot the bottom of the kettle could get so this is an area of concern. Also what are people thoughts the "dip tube" pull it out and don't use it? I just throw my hopes in and usually never filter after so am worried this will clog. And I am sure a simple search would tell me this but is there an adapter for the ball valve for easy transfer to my fermentation bucket? I figure I will still have to pour some, but am interested in starting all grain and full wort boils and am not sure I can pick up a 5+ gallon batch of very hot wort.
Those o-rings are silicone so well within temp ratings for boiling liquids. You can get a heat shield to protect if you're worried about it, but so long as there is liquid in there, you should be fine. They definitely shouldn't be directly over the flame, but it shouldn't be close to lining up that way anyway unless you have a huge burner. I definitely use my dip tube…I'm done picking up and pouring hot liquids. A simple lift of 5 gallons of hot liquids is one thing, but to pour that to another container is another thing which i definitely wouldn't advise. Some people will use stainless sponges to help filter the hops out…there are plenty of tricks and nicknacks out there to help filter out the trub. I've never used Anvil before, but guessing its similar to the blichmann line so there maybe accessories you can buy direct from them for the kettle too.
Thanks for that. Looking at the Anvil website, their burner is well shielded. My outdoor burner is no where as shield. Different kind of burner too, but I still am iffy on it. I think I have some plate steel laying around and can probably make something to shield it better. Is the dip tube easy to clean? I know it can come off easy but seems like it might be a pain. Also in the mind set that I will find an adapter, what is the best aeration method going if I am no longer getting it by dumping. I see a lot of things out there and heard people say a fish tank bubbler is good but wouldn't know what to look for. I also have a compressor but that seems iffy.
Remember that water boils at 212/100. The wort sucks up all the heat and as long as you don't have an open flame in contact with the o-ring it is very hard to exceed 212 with a burner. Silicon is rated for somewhere above 500 as well. So don't sweat it. For Oxygen injection by far and away the best method is to get a Burnz-O-Matic oxygen tank, an oxygen regulator and a 0.5 µ stone. Just be careful with oxygen and a flame... like keep the two separate. You'll want to inject cold wort anyway. Nothing compares to direct oxygen injection, it's not even close. This.
I don't run anvil. However, I do have a weldless design. Up until recently, where I've improved shielding with a heavy plate, I just used heavy duty Al foil folded over 3 or 4 times; laying it flat, not around the valve. It worked just fine. Down the road I will still either solder or weld.
Putting this and my wort chiller together after this post. Going to try my first all grain this weekend in it if my boil off test tomorrow turns ok OK (AKA I can boil the needed water on my stove top). Will have to look for my extra steel plating for my out door burner. Aeration looks easy with that O2 tank set up. Is there guild lines as to how much flow and how long it should be running in the wort?
I typically open the valve about 1/2 to 3/4 way and let her rip for about a minute for regular gravity brews (1.050>) or 1.5 Minutes for big beers (>1.050). Have a towel handy for frothy wort spillover. Or get one of these.... https://www.midwestsupplies.com/oxygenation-upgrade-kit Inline Oxygen flow meter. Out of Stock now but I want one!
Well I will be raiding my LHBS tomorrow after cleaning up the snow. Hopefully they have something like that, plus some of the other things mentioned here.
I have measured oxygen absorption with a fancy O2 meter. This thing is state of the art and 2 G's if I recall, but we have at my company for environmental and I was curios. Basically you achieve maximum oxygen after about 30 seconds. If one minute makes you feel better then ok but as soon as you remove the gas the DO falls quickly and sits there. Move the stone around in the wort and you only need to open the regulator less than half. Full blast just wastes expensive oxygen; most of it bubbles to the surface and into atmosphere. Low and steady allows the gas to get absorbed. Remember that the dissolved oxygen in the wort wants to equilibrate with atmosphere. O2 injection really does improve yeast performance for homebrewers. Some pro brewers are wary though and deliberately limit initial O2 for various reasons but I personally think you get best performance from the yeast with a army that is oxygen rich and ready to go anaerobic. Cheers.
So I managed to get it to boil on my stove top... Took a while to get to boil but made it. Only problem I saw was boil off rate was LOW, like half a gallon. Not sure if there is a standard acceptable rate or not. Figure I will wait for a warmer day and see what it is like outside. Unless I can come up with a way to brew with my big propane burner inside, it looks like the kettle will have to wait for warmer months... Got a some of the extra stuff I was looking for and was talked about here, plus got some extra pointers.
If you pull the dip tube you'll stop the transfer somewhere around the midpoint of your ball valve, that'll be a lot of wort left behind. Unfiltered it will likely clog (probably for ball valve only), some combination of hop spider, bazooka filter, whirlpooling solves this. You really don't want to be picking up 5 gals of liquid. I would never do that and would not be in the same room of someone picking up a kettle of hot wort. Here's an easy solution: Use cam lock quick disconnects. On the left of the photo below is a male QD with a 1/2" threaded outlet you attach to your existing ball valve (pretty sure it is 1/2" threaded on the inside for barb or QD), this attaches to a female QD (shown on the right) which has silicone tubing to drain into primary. These parts are from brewhardware (they also carry a dip tube the same diameter as ball valve). Also, you really want to chill the wort in the kettle, either an immersion chiller or plate chiller. If none of this appeals to you then use an auto siphon to transfer. I only pick up my kettle when it's empty. Regarding oxygen, the setup mentioned by billandsuz will certainly work. But a cheaper setup is to get a Type E medical oxygen tank. This is a tall skinny green cylinder you see on the back of wheelchairs whenever you visit a hospital. You can find them at flea markets or ebay for under 50 bucks (with reg, sometimes filled) or a touch more on Amazon. They hold 820 liters and typically you'll use 1L for starter and 1L for the wort . . . I'm on my third or fourth year and still have 700psi remaining. I boil on stove top and one easy workaround is to use the hot water outlet as your supply. This allows you to start your strike water at 120'ish.
