Brewing Kettles Done

Things have been slow lately but I have had some time to finish the kettles.  There are three kettles in this setup, a boil kettle (BK), a mash kettle (mash), and a hot liquor tank (HLT).  They are all 20 gallon Blichmann Boilermaker kettles.

Boil Kettle

The boil kettle has a 2" Tri-clamp ferrule welded on the right side about 2" from the bottom.  A 5500w Camco water heater element is mounted to it through the side using Still Dragon element guard kits. There is a 1/2" half coupler welded near the bottom about 135 degrees around the right side that has a temperature probe in it.  It also has a quick hose disconnect mounted in the front ball valve.

Boil Kettle

Element inside kettle

Element housing and temp probe

 MASH Tun

The Mash tun has a Blichmann False bottom in it.  This lets the grain bed rest above the dip tube so you can drain and recirculate the wort during the mash.  There is also a ball valve and a hose connected to it near the top on the right hand side of the handle to return the wort to the mash during recirculation.  The drain ball valve has a stainless tee connected with a temperature probe in it to measure the temp of outgoing wort during recirculation and a quick hose disconnect.

MASH Tun

False Bottom and wort return hose

Closeup of connection and hose

 Hot Liquor Tank

The HLT is used to heat strike and sparge water and regulate the temperature of the MASH using a HEX (heat exchanging) coil inside it. It has a 2" tri-clamp ferrule welded on the left hand side about 2" from the bottom.  Another camco element is mounted in it using another Still dragon element kit.  There is a coil made out of 50' of stainless 1/2" tubing mounted about an inch above the element.  The coil has 2 ball valves connected to the ends mounted through the side of the kettle about 45 degrees around the left side.  There is another ball valve mounted near the top to the right of the handle to return water to the HLT during recirculation of the water.  This maintains the temperature through the entire volume of water.  Another stainless tee with a temperature probe and quick disconnect are mounted to the drain ball valve.

Hot Liquor Tank

Inside HLT (HEX coil, water return, and Element)

Tee with probe and quick disconnect

Element guard and Hex coil ball valves