hot liqour tank

[gunner]

Hi Everyone,
up until now i've been heating up liquor on the gas cooker in the kitchen, but I think its time to set up a proper HLT. I'm thinking about going electric and using a 3KW immersion element. I've found a couple of websites where I can get a threaded backnut to fit the element, and I have a beer keg to use for the tank. The only thing thats crossed my mind is that although making the hole is no problem, due to the curve of the keg, will the element seal properly?. Ive seen some 55 litre blue plastic containers on e-bay which have fairly flat sides, would these perhaps be more suitable?
Any thoughts would be much apprciated

 

[Kev888]

Hi,

You may have a point; I used a mechanical flange on my stainless tank, which is perhaps just a bit thicker than a keg, and it didn't seal initially. But by tediously bashing and prising around the hole I flattened it enough to seal. The mechanical flange had a sturdy hex nut though, not sure if I'd have managed it with those round solder-flanges as back nuts.
Heres the mechanical flange:

And here it is fitted - it needed some very large grips to seal properly and in fact I split a fiber washer by overdoing it to start with:

cheers
kev

 

[Runwell-Steve]

You can fit an Immersion element to a metal keg, but you will need a mechanical flange, lots of elbow grease and some LS-X to seal the gaps.

A plastic bin would work fine as long as it is potable, and is happy with the temperatures.

Mango Chutney bins do seem quite popular as HLT's.

If you have a combi boiler you can always take hot water straight from your tap to save on water heating time.

EDIT, beaten to it by Kev and his excellent pics, According to my local plumber merchant that fibre washer should be inside the tank, thats why you split it.

 

[unclepumble]

You could also use a homemade washer made out of a silicon baking sheet, that will help make a good seal & is foodsafe.

UP

 

[Kev888]

Haha, sorry Steve - normally its me thats just too late :-)

To be honest I'm no expert with the flange so i could well be wrong, but I suspect the plumbing merchant may have misunderstood. If the washer was inside i'd have to seal the threads - and it would also defeat the little pips on the internal part that bite and hold it whilst you tighten the outside nut:

But yes, I agree that UP has another solution if it doesn't quite seal, a more flexible washer may be easier, or else a silicone leak sealer like the LS-X Steve mentioned.

Cheers
kev