Advise on a keggle build.

[Leann ull]

didn't know that, this one yeah https://hola.org/ ? I use it for BBC iplayer etc
Are there any others you recommend.

[Shanna]

I use hola and order directly from the backer site

Beginning to feel like I am missing something here. You mentioned that you used hola to do a direct order but I don't see any links on the site that allows you order direct from backerelectric (unless the hola plugin on my firefox browser is not working). Any light you can shine on this would be appreciated.

Shanna

[Leann ull]

Netflix are biased but nevertheless I uninstalled thanks for the heads up 

[Shanna]

Cab anybody on this thread who has ordered from backer electric comment on how quick they arrived? I ordered a set of elements from them on Paddy's day & still no sign. The website is shite as it gives a 500 (server error) when you use their web based contact form. I tried using a direct email address custservice@heatingelementcompany.co.uk & got an unknown recipient rejection from a nail server. It's almost like they don't want to deal with queries.

Going to call them soon if I don't get them soon, they have already taken my money

Shanna

[Motorbikeman]

Hi Shanna.  I'm sorry to hear your having trouble.   Mine arrived in around 4 days with parcel motel.   Maybe the hols are delaying your stuff.. 


Today was my 3rd brew in my kegs.    Now i'm beginning to get down to rough tuning my beersmith a bit better with experience.  I am getting 3.5l to 4l per hour boil off which seems quite excessive.  Is it? 

I hit my OG perfect after spending hours on youtube watching batch sparging vids.   I think I have that bit nailed now. 

  But im still  short on my final  fermenter volume  . 

Another aspect of being 3 L  short of my fermenter volume is my lack of knowledge on whirlpooling  .  Im having no luck with the technique at all.    I have tried a wooded spoon on a cordless drill which only seemed to produce foam.  I tried stirring with the same spoon  for a few mins but this is the result.     Im I missing something?     Im losing about 4 L on the bottom of the keg..   Here is what it looks like after all my efforts. 
 

[Shanna]

Hi Shanna.  I'm sorry to hear your having trouble.   Mine arrived in around 4 days with parcel motel.   Maybe the hols are delaying your stuff.. 


Today was my 3rd brew in my kegs.    Now i'm beginning to get down to rough tuning my beersmith a bit better with experience.  I am getting 3.5l to 4l per hour boil off which seems quite excessive.  Is it? 

I hit my OG perfect after spending hours on youtube watching batch sparging vids.   I think I have that bit nailed now. 

  But im still  short on my final  fermenter volume  . 

Another aspect of being 3 L  short of my fermenter volume is my lack of knowledge on whirlpooling  .  Im having no luck with the technique at all.    I have tried a wooded spoon on a cordless drill which only seemed to produce foam.  I tried stirring with the same spoon  for a few mins but this is the result.     Im I missing something?     Im losing about 4 L on the bottom of the keg..   Here is what it looks like after all my efforts. 

Unfortunately I can't comment on how to do whirlpooling as I don't do it myself. I do however have a pair of those 2.75kw elements in my own boil kettle and I reckon you have two much power going on in your boil kettle. I have a pair of power regulator like these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Adjustable-3800W-AC-0-220V-Voltage-Regulator-Dimming-Light-Lamps-Speed-Control-/331012329594?. They basically allow me to dial the power to the heating elements back like you would with an electrical ring on a cooker. When I get a good rolling boil going then I slowly reduce the power on both the elements to about 60%. This allows me to retain a good rolling boil and also means I don't loose a lot of my volume to evaporation. If you don't have one of these try to use a single element. You might want to add more insulation to your kettle to make sure that you get as much out of your single element as possible. You don't mention whether you have a fan going that might be causing you to loose more to evaporation but if you do you could try reduce the speed of the fan.

With respect to Backer I finally blinked and rang them yesterday. They said that the order was not released as they had not done a production run. I got the impression that either they forgot about the order or else were waiting until they got more orders and they ran a batch. They rang me back later in the day and confirmed that they had actually dispatched the order. They also sent me on a copy of the invoice via email so I don't stung for a 2nd parcel motel visit (thanks for that tip ). Hope to get it over the next day or two.

If you do get those voltage regulator I would advise you get them put in a reasonably sized junction box with some kind of ventilation holes as they generate a fair amount of heat. Also might not be a bad idea to get a sparks to wire them up.

Shanna

[molc]

6L is my usual boil off for what I consider a proper rolling boil. Also a kegglehas about 5L kg dead space in the bottom where the hops will gather, so your losses sound about right to me.

[Shanna]

6L is my usual boil off for what I consider a proper rolling boil. Also a kegglehas about 5L kg dead space in the bottom where the hops will gather, so your losses sound about right to me.

But you have that jet engine fan that I would imagine is heavily contributing to your loss through the sheer amount of vapour its drawing off

Shanna

[molc]

Quite true, though it was always over 5L even before the beast was installed

I only run it on 50% usually. There was an incident of it on full blast and a hop addition being sprayed over the garden...

[PCBrewer]

I have just started a Keggle build myself.
I have almost completed the amsh tun , with a bottom drain and false bottom.
I am about to start the boil kettle it self and I am wondering about the merits of a bottom drain v side drain before i drill any holes.
I dont have a false bottom or anything for it, but i have a length of SS braid which i am thinking of using.
What are the pros and cons of teh different methods?

[Motorbikeman]

I bottom drain my HLT keggle. As you might have seen on this thread.

What I like about it is if I tip 2 L of water into it, I get 2 L out of it, without trying to work out what might dribble out from a dead space.

I cant see it work well in a boil kettle because of the trub issue.          Although i'm leaving a load of beer behind, I also leave the crap behind also..   Im guessing it will result in clear(er) beer. 

I would not bother with that dip pipe from flexi stainless from woodies either.  The ribs in the inside tend to catch hop leaves and block up a full load of chilled wort. 

a proper short stainless dip tube  is next on the purchase list for me.


Buy the way.  For bottom draining.. 
I found that  a normal stick welder (from ALdi) with steel rods welds framework onto the bottom of your keg just fine.  No need to pay out for a tig welder and a SS guy.   

You do need to dab a bit of paint onto the weld though as they will rust.


   

[Motorbikeman]

An ongoing problem I was having was pouring out the junk after a brew day, and after that cleaning.   

It was messy and the insulation was trapping sticky sweet wort and dampness.   Hardly sanitary. 

So insulation is gone.  Don't need it with two 2750w elements anyway.  Those things can cook... 

Pouring cut outs work well.  Without cutting the whole rim off

[Leann ull]

That could be fun on a boilover through if you were doing a big quantity as that lip naturally throws foam back into the vessel on a boil?
I know what you mean though they can be unwieldy feckers.
I used to just tip out the worst and then invert and blast with a hose to get rid of the rest

[molc]

I clean mine in place. When chilling, I collect the warmed water in the MT, then pump it into the BK for cleaning in about 3 lots. Throw in some W5 and a scrubbie and clean, then pump everything out to the sink. No lifting and no mess

[DEMPSEY]

Clean in place is the best for this type of setup.