Essex Fittings Advice for a Kegle

[Petrolhead]

I am just putting together all the parts I need to start AGB including building a kegle.

I have bought an immersion heater and intend fitting it to my (legal) keg with what I have discovered is a 2 1/4” Essex fitting.

They seem bloody expensive so does anyone know a cheap supplier or know a better way of fitting the heater.

Many thanks.

 

[chewie]

Essex flanges where always expensive, you can get basic solder in brass type which are fine if it's copper that you want to use it on, with a steel or aluminium keg you would need to use some other means to attach other than solder and would need someone with welding gear and the know-how to do it.

Is a gas burner not an option IRC the most I've seen have been gas rather than electric, it's just the radius on a keg would be smaller than it would on a domestic hot water tank which is what those flange type fittings are designed for, this would make for a harder to seal joint.

 

[Jakeyboi]

Are you trying are you trying to fit an immersion heater that would normally go in a copper cylinder? I thought most people fit kettle elements as I think you only need a 40mm hole. I would seriously reconsider cutting a 2 1/4" hole in any equipment. I'm super interested in see how this turns out as I've been thinking about buying a couple of keggles from MAlt miller and building a custom recirculating system. What puts me off is drilling SS as I know how tough it is. Where did u buy your keggle from and how much? Post some pics if u can

 

[Petrolhead]

I’ll try to work out how to post pickies.

I have been doing a bit of reading and YouTubing and there are several examples of people doing similar. I wanted an electric boiler as I am going to be brewing in a timber shed and don’t like the idea of a gas burner.

I bought the 4500W element on eBay for £15, nearly as cheap as a kettle, and have now discovered the flange at Toolstation for £10. The similar flange for the outlet is £3. Off tomorrow in my lunch hour to collect.

Barrel was easy, I had called in a few times on a local microbrewery and he let me have a very battered example for a contribution to charity. Don’t like to ask again so would love to find an online seller. I bought a stepper drill which should do the hole fairly easily. It’s an Amazon cheapo but I only need to use it once.

Haven’t found a reasonably priced icebox to make a lautner from but still searching.

 

[chewie]

You will need to make sure your connections and wiring is suitable for a 4.5kw heater, an element of that rating will draw upwards of 20amps, a 13 amp plug and socket will not cut it.

 

[Bigcol49]

You will need to make sure your connections and wiring is suitable for a 4.5kw heater

Hi!
Immersion heaters are permanently connected to the mains via a fused switched connection, not much good for portability.

 

[Petrolhead]

Thanks Chewy. I have a separate consumer unit in my shed fed by a decent sized armoured cable so I intend putting it on a separate suitable fused spur.