Need to upgrade to a larger brewing vessel. Considering a Keggle over a pot. Is there a difinitive way to tell a stainless steel keg from an aluminum one? Keggle sellers that I've questioned, don't seem to know one way or the other. I have not physically handled any yet. Are they marked anywhere?
Any particular reason you are wanting to do a keggle instead of a pot? I have a keggle, I want a pot. You lose quite a bit of your heat to the big rim around the bottom instead of the domed bottom itself. Pot is a better use of the energy for your flame. They are also easier to use with a pick up tube, just put one along the edge to stay out of the way of your chiller, a keggle you have to put a pick up tube to the middle bottom to get the most wort out and then it is in the way of your chiller. And you won't have to worry about buying a stolen keg.
Initially, volume was my main concern. I was looking at a 10 gal pot to do 5 gal extract batches. The 15.5 gal would allow possible all grain somewhere down the road. You've posed some considerations I had no idea of. Thank you! That solves the material question. Thanks!
I'm not advocating one or the other, but I'm curious about this statement. Why would you "lose quite a bit of your heat to the big rim around the bottom"? Intuitively, it seems that heat would tend to collect inside the rim, making more of it available for the intended purpose.
I think it's more of a function of your burner, but stainless keggles do seem to deflect/waste as much heat as they absorb. (slight exaggeration)
I am with OP. I am considering going the keggle way. The only thing stopping me is the money to buy the equipment. Right now I am using a 10gal kettle and it's ok, but it would be fun to do some bigger batches.
I don't have any scientific evidence to support this, only my experience. My standard turkey fryer burner went out and I got a bigger and more powerful one. My boils still took just as long to get rocking. After chilling the wort down to pitching temps the rim that's not in contact with the wort is still much hotter than the rest of the keggle (would lead me to believe that it is holding the energy instead of dispersing it evenly). The burn I got on my leg when the bottom of the keggle hit it while carrying it after my lambic boil also leads me to believe that it is retaining quite a bit of the energy it absorbs (hotter than the rest of the keggle). There is quite a bit of metal there (a good 3" worth) plus the rolled section. And if my understanding is correct, SS is not as great a conductor of heat as aluminum or copper, that would lead me to believe that the large section of metal getting heated around the rim is not conducting it efficiently to the rest of the kettle to aid in boiling. Again anecdotal, but it has been my experience. OP: another consideration, your fryer type may have an impact on keggle vs pot as well. When I got my keggle, my round turkey fryer burner stand was just shy of large enough to hold the keggle; it didn't fit inside the rim, and the rim didn't fit inside it, so it was a matter of the slightest shift in weight and the whole thing was going horizontal. I had to have a buddy weld extension on the stand to support the keggle.
I ran across a paper some time ago about the benefit of having chines on heating vessel. The lip holds the hot gas in for a while, giving more heat transfer to the liquid. Surprised that the bottom lip is hot enough to burn after chilling, do you stir or whirlpool? There is also a lot of heat that goes into the stands.
Guess I should have clarified the burn. The kettle sat for about an hour, no chilling, did an open over night cool in the garage for the Lambic, but the ring was much hotter than the rest of the keggle. After a normal brew and chill (IC w/ whirlpool) the bottom ring is still hotter than the rest of the keggle, but not enough to cause pain or burns. And yeah, my stand has to sit for at least an hour after chilling and racking before I even attempt to put it away.
not entirely. not all. most are now s/s but there was a time when kegs were aluminum. if it is new or newish it is s/s. but if it is from someone's old stock could be aluminum. just be sure you are buying this keg from someone with a reputation. as others have stated kegs get stolen frequently. Cheers.
Check this thread out. Happened at a LHBS near me. Could have been worse. http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?t=44238&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
Man, that's scary. I actually have a few of those holes drilled in the rim of mine. I thought yall were talking about drilling them in the wall between the rim and the kettle bottom. I bought the keggle already cut and tapped with ball valve, I remember seeing the holes drilled in the bottom of the rim, but will check again to make sure. Thanks.
Most kegs (mine) are stainless and have 4 holes in both rims...if not...good luck I have German, French, and domestic made kegs. Burner output/regulation can be just as important sometimes.
Sorry to be late, hopfenunmaltz replied already. Something similar happened to a friend, so just wanted to make sure yours was drilled as well.
No problem, better safe than sorry. I will double check to make sure but I believe that I have holes in the tom and bottom rings.
