Brew Kettle Upgrade

I have been using a 15 gal stainless steel pot as a brew kettle for my first batches of all grain beer.  I had considered purchasing a fancy brew kettle with ball valve and thermometer but the cost savings associated with buying a plain kettle and adding the bells and whistles myself seemed significant enough to make me pass on it - besides, I wasn't even sure I would enjoy home brewing so why spend an extra $150.

Now, after four batches, I know that I do enjoy home brewing and I have come to understand how much easier life would be with ball valve for draining the wort, a built in thermometer for checking progress of the wort chiller, and a sight glass to get accurate readings of pre and post wort volumes.  So, I decided to take the plunge and risk ruining my very nice stainless steel pot by drilling holes in it.

I was a bit nervous getting started but it really wasn't all that difficult to drill it out.  I was considering putting both the thermometer and ball valve in the front but my kettle is sufficiently wide and stout that the thermometer might not even be submerged in the wort for 5 gal batches.  Additionally my wort chiller is laid out in such a way that having the pickup valve in the front would have been a bit awkward.  I ended up putting the thermometer in front and the ball valve and sight glass on the sides.  I think this is going to work nicely for my current setup and also for when I get around to setting up a brew stand.

Can't wait to brew my next batch.

Parts List:

• Brew Pot - $152.95 - Amazon.com
• Weldless Bulkhead with 90 degree elbow- $11.00 - Bargain Fittings
• Ball Valve - $7.99
• 1/2 Hose Barb - $4.00
• Side Pickup - $19.99 - Bargain Fittings
• Thermometer with 6 in stem - $24.00 - Bargain Fittings
• Install kit - $5.75
• Site Glass - $19.99 - Bargain Fittings
• O-Rings (10 Pack) - $2.27 - Home Depot

• Total:  $247.94

Notes:

• First step was to decide how I wanted to lay things out and mark the locations.  Using the washers that came with the parts provided a good guide for marking the correct location

• Attempted to punch a dimple into the side of the kettle with a hammer and nail to ensure that the drill bit didn't slip when drilling the pilot hole - I was not able to make any sort of dimple unfortunately
• Drilled the pilot hole with a 1/8 in bit

• Applied mechanical oil to the hole and used a step bit to drill it out to 13/16 of an inch.  I stopped and applied oil frequently, and pushed the bit down into the kettle to try to avoid work hardening.  Once it got close to the final size I slowed down and checked the width frequently to avoid over drilling 

• Once the hole was the correct size I installed the thermometer - I used teflon tape to waterproof the threads
• Checked for leaks - no leaks on the first try
• Drilled the other two holes using the same method
• Installed the ball valve with side pickup

• Installed the sight glass

• Tested for leaks again - still no leaks
• Drained the kettle several times, once with oxiclean free, to get rid of the mechanical oil - not sure I got it all.  The pickup tube gets a pretty nice siphon going.  On it's own it will drain all but 0.5 gal out of the kettle.  With tilting it can get all but a cup or two.  It will be interesting to see how it performs with hops and cold break material gumming up the works
• Finally, I calibrated the sight glass.  Water didn't start showing up in the glass until there were 4 gal in the kettle which is okay since I don't plan on doing anything smaller than 5 gal batches.  I used o-rings to mark 4-13 gal.  This was a lot easier than using a pen but they could potentially slide around a bit.  We'll have to see if that's prone to happen by carrying the kettle around.

• Here it is with the wort chiller - fits very nicely