I am an extract brewer and want to try BIAB.
I am also in the process of converting a keg to a brewing vessel. I've cut and cleaned it up and am ready to install whatever I should...
I have been brewing in a Polar Ware 10g kettle w/ a therm and ball valve installed.
My question is this- I know I can transfer the SS ball valve to the keg, but should I move the thermometer as well? It seems most folks here use floating or inserted thermometers.
Does the thermowell interfere with the bag? Not recommended?
Also, if doing BIAB, do I need to install a dip tube?

Thanks all, great forum.

Thanks for the quick reply.
I understand the reasoning behind your postion on both the therm and the tap, and I can see that I will probably not add the therm to the new keggle, but when I weigh the disadvantages of the tap install against the advantages...well, that ones not as clear to me.

If the plastic ones are inadequate and the SS one is only in the prototype stages, wouldn't a clean 1/2" SS ball valve to a plate chiller to your fermenter be a good option? Doesn't it take at least as much time to sanitize a plastic or SS siphon as it does to insure a ball valve is clean?
If the main problem is sanitation, I have no problem with that.
She'll be clean
Please know that I'm not trying to be argumentative and I do appreciate your response.

Australia's selection of siphons is rather poor currently. I have used most of them (as I did not want to cut or drill my stainless kettle) and have binned all of them.

All my current siphons are stainless steel, cost about $13 a piece, have no moving parts that break, and are activated by my blowing into a tube with a hepa filter disc on them (demi/carboy use), and come fully kitted out with included flexible tubing, hose clamp, tubing flow stop/clamp, hepa filter, etc, and they can also fit around demijohns and carboys air tight as well as they include all the rubber caps that fit. Full flexibility in use.

The only problem is you need a friend from the USA to bring you one or a suitcase full. My local club (Canberra Brewers) were not clued in to give a damn about a bulk buy at the time so I went on my own. I'm a happy little Vegemite now but I do feel for everyone else when reading about all the problems with the current Australian offerings for siphons.

I can go back through my old order links when I was originally trying to organise a bulk buy if anyone is interested, just be aware that you need to organise it in bulk as small item shipping costs are prohibitive with the new USPO international postage rates.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

Brewer Pete,

Order links would be great.

A blow started syphon sounds good, i'm thinking an O2/Air bottle start for hot wort and CO2 for a Carboy ( if this unit is any good I will buy Carboy as want to move away from plastic), I know the HEPA filter should do the job but opening a valve is easier than blowing.

Cheers Mick

Mick71 wrote:Brewer Pete,

Order links would be great.

A blow started syphon sounds good, i'm thinking an O2/Air bottle start for hot wort and CO2 for a Carboy ( if this unit is any good I will buy Carboy as want to move away from plastic), I know the HEPA filter should do the job but opening a valve is easier than blowing.

Cheers Mick

http://morewinemaking.com/search/103266 ... or_Carboys

We don't have all the parts in Oz to build it ourself at non-insane prices so I picked up 3 or 4 from the USA.

The whole kit only costs $14.95 now $18.95/$19.95 from falling US Dollar.

**EDIT: If you want good deal on shipping from the USA even if sites won't or charge too much then Price USA (google them) will let you ship to their Oregon USA location and then get 65% off the price of FedEx shipping to Australia and won't give you any run arounds.

Now depending on the bulk deal you have to factor in some international shipping cost component, then shipping locally postage + packaging. To save on local posting costs if every local brew club in Australia participates then its only a single mini-bulk mailing to the club officer who will then bring them to the next meeting for all club members.

The easiest way to start a siphon. In 2 seconds you have your siphon working with no effort and no contamination as the hepa filter is involved (we can get the hepa filter locally but the price in Oz is close to $9 and then add shipping on top of that. So almost the whole price of the whole kit from the USA!)

The movie is here to see no moving parts to break, and siphon in seconds: Link to Movie of Siphon in action.
http://morebeer.com/public/video/siphonstartweb.mov


What you get in the kit:

26 inch Stainless Racking Cane (66 cm long)
Red Sediment Reduction Tip (on the bottom of the cane)
Yellow Carboy Hood for 6.5 Gallon Carboy (fits demijohns, carboys, anything you slide the rubber hood down and make a seal for the 2 seconds for starting siphon)
5' 3/8" ID Vinyl Tubing
Stainless Hose Clamp
Sterile Air Filter (hepa filter)



Of course this is for full size fermenters and would be big for 5 litres but if you buy and ship over a 5 litre size siphon you are stuck in case you want to use it with big fermenters. With the large fermenter kit you can look silly but still get it in a 5 litre glass Growler is my thinking.

From the site:

Simply blow into the sterile filter, which slightly pressurizes the carboy, causing beer to flow out. This is hands down superior to the numerous other methods of starting a siphon (and we have tried them all!) No sucking the end of the tube, no plungers with faulty gaskets, no shaking, no filling up the tube with unsterilized water, nothing to break, no contamination, no disturbing the sediment, and no fuss. Can you tell we really like it!

How to Use Attach the Sterile Siphon starter assembly by firmly pushing the orange or yellow carboy hood over the mouth of the carboy. Slide the stainless racking cane to the desired depth, just about the sediment level and blow into the white, sanitary air filter for 2-3 seconds. Blowing through the filter forces beer out through the racking cane, starting the siphon. There is no need to worry about contamination from your mouth, as the sanitary filter removes 99.98% of airborne bacteria. For a video demonstration, check out the video below.

Tip to Remove Oxygen in Line We suggest that as your starting the siphon you pinch the clear, flexible tubing near the racking cane. Release the pinch on the tubing after 1-2 seconds, while continuing to blow through for an additional second. This will cause the clear vinyl tubing to fill completely with beer, eliminating oxidation that can occur in siphoning when your line is not completely full and beer is mixing with oxygen.

Special Tip for Additional Use of Sterile Siphon Starter on Brew Day
During the brew day fill your carboy with sanitizer as normal. Take the red tip off the end of the stainless racking cane and insert Siphon Starter assembly into carboy filled with sanitizer. Blow on filter to begin siphoning sanitizer out of carboy. As the sanitizer empties the carboy fills with filtered air, leaving a sanitized, bacteria free environment to fill your beer into.

About the White Sterile Filter: There are two sides to the filter - an "in" and an "out". The direction you use doesn't matter, however, you want to take note of which way you first push air through it and always keep it that way. There is an arrow on the edge of the filter housing that we use to keep the air flow going one direction when using it. The filter should never get wet, so don't try and sanitize it by dunking it in sanitizer. If you want to clean the outside of it, use Alpet D2. To store the filter, use a little tinfoil on the "In" of the filter and store in a zip-lock bag.