Question on chillers and kettles

How would a ball valve affect your recipes?

 

Kettle deadspace.

 

Not if your pickup tube is built correctly.

 

One other consideration concerning pot size. I treat all my water for chlorine and chloramine at once, so that includes my mash and sparge. Generally this figure is around 9-10 gallons...I think you might see the issue with using a pot smaller than 10 gallons here. I also have a 6 gallon pot that I use to heat my sparge water...having two pots really helps if you plan to do all-grain.

 

Aluminum kettle is fine. You don't need bigger than 8 gallons, but you'll soon wish you had one. Likewise, you don't need a valve, but you'll soon wish you had one. You'll also wish you had a bigger chiller. You can get a converted keg with a valve for around $150-ish. A freaking awesome burner for another $25 (you'll need to build a stand for that one). Another $75-ish for a beefy (1/2"x50') DIY chiller, and you're well under budget. Since you're definitely going to do these things down the road, and likely not that far down the road, do it now while you still have the budget for it.

IMO

 

Search Amazon for "Winware Stainless Pot". These guys are built like a brick outhouse . . . also, many sizes to pick from. My Winware has seen heavy duty, step-bits, a dent or two, and it just "farts in my general direction" . . . it is seriously tough.

JohnSnow has some good ideas. Are you starting as extract brewing? If you're really only boiling 5 gallons then the eleven gallon kettle will be not be half full (estimation, feel free to critique my math). Consider getting something closer to your actual brew size. Then, when/if you step up to all grain, your old kettle become the hot liquor tun and you get the bigger brew kettle. Many homebrewers have made this transition. No waste, no fuss, and the addiction claims another victim hobbyist.

Between Amazon, eBay, and Google you can find some 1/2" copper.

Nothing posted here would educate you as much as spending a brewday with an established homebrewer.

 

I have 20' of 1/2 inch and it works fine, cools from boiling to 80 in about 20-25 minutes, wasn't very hard to form either. Kettle, if you only want to do 5 gallon batches I would go with a 10 gallon pot, ball valve isn't necessary but definitely helps. If you plan on ever doing bigger batches, I would recommend a Keggle. Found a 15 gallon on craigslist for $70.

 

Making the stack is the easy part since it comes in a coil. Straightening the two pieces that come out of the kettle are the harder parts. With a pipe bender it can be done with a little muscle. Mine does not look the best but works well. I helped a friend build theirs a week after and it looks professionally done.

But if you are unsure buy one. There is only so much room for error when bending copper.

 

How do you get no loss? Or are you saying it's minor?

 

I get close to a couple table spoons of loss using my keggle (ball valve goes to L-type fitting underneath false bottom). My 26 gallon kettles are another story though, about 1.5 gallons dead space. Just built my pick up tubes this morning, so we'll see how my next brew goes with the new pickup tubes. If my grammar is shit, I apologize, lack of sleep from a 20 hr lab session.

 

Not zero loss but negligible. Only thick protein & hops left behind. I use a copper elbow that sits just above the bottom of the kettle.

 

How do you get no loss? Or are you saying it's minor?

My ball valves have this elbow, serving as both locking nut and dip tube on the inside of HLT and BK:

In the HLT the pick-up end is only 1/8" above bottom. Because of the "slurp effect", less than 1/16" of water is left after the suction is broken (1-2 ounces). In BK the bottom is about 1/4" above bottom to allow a bazooka filter. This leaves about 8-10 ounces, much of which is trub. The correct positioning of the pick-up of the dip tube is what makes it efficient . . . Gravity can be your friend.

For the OP: If you plan on all-grain, I don't see how you will not need a hot liquor tun in addition to brew kettle (anyone brewing all-grain without one?). It works out that an extract-sized BK usually is a good size for a HLT when you step up to all-grain. My old (6 gallon) kettle serves as a HLT for my all-grain (8 gallon) brew kettle. Not trying to confuse things and make you over think the equipment. Sometimes it may be best to just solve problems as they come along

 

If single infusion mashing with batch sparging (or mash-out no sparging), you can use a single kettle for both the mash liquor and the sparge/mashout liquor, and just heat them sequentially. (This assumes your brew kettle is not also your mash tun.) I don't normally do it this way, because it's more convenient to use two, but there's no reason it can't be done. I guess I should mention that this single kettle method also assumes you know what your strike and mashout liquor temps need to be to bring your grains to the target temps. On my system, I have this dialed in, so I don't need to do extra little water additions to tweak a missed target.

And not to confuse the OP further, but I think you meant to say Hot Liquor Tank, not tun.

 

Thanks to you and leedorham for the descriptions. It's good to know how small the kettle/valve losses can be if I ever decide to go that route.

 

Just curious, why were you so set on stainless?

 

That's a great answer.