Boiler Dead Space

[tigertim]

Hi all,

I've come by a 36 litre S/S stockpot which I think will make a lovely boiler, but for one slight drawback - the radius where the wall joins the base is quite large meaning the tap needs to be located slightly higher up. All in all, I suspect I'll lose between 2.5 and 3 litres.

Is it acceptable to tip the pot whilst draining into the fermenter to minimuse wort losses, or would it stir up too much trub?

Thanks,
T :)

 

[ano]

To minimise deadspace you can make some sort of scavenging system by use of an elbow, either out of the back the tap or at the centre of the hop stopper to generate a syphon effect and draw the liquid from lower down, like in the plastic plate FB mash tun design, or this hop stopper. Make sure your tap exits as low as you can though, perhaps by adding tube to it when draining, otherwise the syphon will fail.

Not sure if tipping it is so good an idea, you've just boiled for 90 minutes to get the stuff to sediment out and leave it in the boiler, seems a shame to transfer it to the FV. A well settled bed will probably withstand it I guess but it can't be ideal.

 

[jamesb]

You can take advantage of the syphon effect to minimise the losses, I'm assuming that your hop filter will be on the base of the boiler connected to the inside of the tap - if you hang a bit of tube off the tap outlet and ensure that it is lower than the base of the pot you should be able to get most of it out.

OTOH, I have been known to tip my boiler before now with no ill results.

 

[tigertim]

Excellent, thanks for the advice guys!

I punched the hole in the side of the pan last night and fitted the pipework and ball valve, and I'm pleased to say that the syphon effect works perfectly with just a downturned elbow on the inside of the tank connector!

I'd used 22mm pipe components simply because I had a stash of them floating around and was subsequently worried that the size of the pipe would have an adverse effect on its ability to syphon, but with a 22-15mm reducer and a few inches of 15mm pipe pointing downwards on the outlet of the ball valve, it works like a charm :thumb:

 

[jamesb]

Good stuff TT :thumb:

 

[Vossy1]

Glad you got it sorted tt :clap:

 

[tigertim]

Here are the pics. I did my first brew in it yesterday and it syphoned perfectly!
The only real problem I had was my 2.5Kw burner really struggling to keep the pot at boil, especially when the wind was gusting. Think I need one of those 8Kw jobbies from Hamilton Gas Products :thumb:

Oh, and please forgive my crappy soldering

 

[Muddydisco]

Nice one Tim :thumb: Possibly not a bigger burner but an adjustable regulator 0.5 - 2 bar should be able to up your gas flow and be able fine tune your boil then, I see you only got a fixed pressure type one which will be 37mbar.

Try this clicky

 

[tigertim]

Hi MD,

It is indeed a 37mbar regulator. I have actually got a 1bar regulator which I use with my space heater, but when I tried it (yep, I had to ) the flame just seems to move further and further from the burner until it just blows itself out. Nothing like trying to overclock a gas burner :lol:

 

[Muddydisco]

Ah I see I think your stuck between the two, I bet you could get an adjustable one to burn a little less fierce than the 1 bar fixed but then it still might not get the boil going fast enough. Solution get both an adjustable reg and an 8Kw burner just don't melt the pot!!! :grin:

 

[tubby_shaw]

Just a humble metallurgists input, but shielding the burner from the wind will up your burner efficiency and stop a lot of that lovely heat energy escaping to the atmosphere :thumb:

 

[Aleman]

And to add what TS said, If You shield the entire kettle with a cylinder of sheet steel about 1" larger in diameter than your kettle, with the top edge rolled to rest on the edge of the kettle . . . and a few holes drilled at the top, you will save about 75-80% gas usage.

What happens is that the hot gasses form an insulating layer around the pot so there is no heat loss from the kettle to the atmosphere . .. Ok there is some from the heat shroud to the atmosphere but the air gap inside the heat shroud is way over 100C, and heat moves from hotter to warmer . . .