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BIAB Kettle Build - Sight Glass and Spigot Combined?

Post #1 made 15 years ago
by sammy33
I am getting one of these Bayou Classic 44qt 11 gal steamer kettles with the basket and a spigot for a BIAB setup.
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I would like to add a sight glass and a better spigot to the existing weld like this:
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I don't foresee any problems with this but wanted to bounce the idea around here to see what you other BIAB brewers thought? My goal is to not drill any more holes since it already has a welded fitting.

Wayne at Bargain Fittings (USA) mentioned that with this configuration the wort in the sight glass would of course drain as soon as I open the valve. I also thought about aeration of the wort with a sort of a venturi effect? With BIAB style brewing I think this may be a benefit as long as the wort is cooled in the kettle before draining. :think:
Last edited by sammy33 on 27 Mar 2011, 04:16, edited 5 times in total.
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"Fermentation may have been a greater discovery than fire."
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Post #2 made 15 years ago
by hashie
I like the look of that pot, it will certainly make a great brew pot. The basket will make lifting the grain bag very easy.

I think you are best to keep things simple and I don't think you need a sight glass.
Firstly, having a sight glass is giving you more bits of kit to clean and sanitise. Does the wort in the sight glass get boiled? Probably not. When draining, the sight glass will add air to the flow of wort.

Secondly, you will have a straight sided pot, liquor volumes will be very easy to work out by height (3.14 x R2 x H = V all measurements in cm's). A dip stick will give you less trouble and equal accuracy to a sight glass.
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Post #3 made 15 years ago
by sammy33
hashie,
Thank you for the good advice. I noticed the volume calculations on "The Calculator" here on the site. I wonder if I can adapt my mash paddle to a dip stick of sorts?
Stumbling Parrot Brewery

"Fermentation may have been a greater discovery than fire."
-David Rains Wallace

Post #4 made 15 years ago
by Yeasty
sammy33 wrote:I wonder if I can adapt my mash paddle to a dip stick of sorts?
Just mark it off with a Pwerminent marker..
Last edited by Yeasty on 27 Mar 2011, 06:09, edited 5 times in total.
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Post #6 made 15 years ago
by sammy33
Beer O'Clock - The steel ruler idea is groovy! I have one in the tool shed. :thumbs:

Here is the mesh bag I am using. This is a paint strainer bag from my local hardware store. I got two of these in a pack for about $4.00 USD.
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The stitch on these bags looks quite sturdy with two rows and a zig-zag pattern on the outside edge. The size is about 16 in wide x 21 in tall.
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Last edited by sammy33 on 27 Mar 2011, 08:31, edited 5 times in total.
Stumbling Parrot Brewery

"Fermentation may have been a greater discovery than fire."
-David Rains Wallace

Post #7 made 15 years ago
by Ralph
Hmm, very interesting sammy and what grouse looking kettle! :thumbs: So, how much?

I myself am not a fan of the sight glass, unless you calibrate them they don't really tell you all that much*. There's no real harm in them per se, however you do mention chilling in- kettle and at that point the combination of a potential infection source and cooled wort becomes concerning to me. If your sanitation process is up to scratch then there should be no problems, however I would be very particular about it, I have heard of some brewers finding accumulations of muck upon completely tearing down their tap &/or pickup- outfitted kettle, and don't think a sight glass would be exempt. that's bearing in mind that that area may not be quite as hot as the rest of the kettle, then relying on heat reaching every nook and cranny to sanitise could be optimistic. If you're prepared to strip the tap and sight glass down every time, it should be fine though.

* That's coming from the Maxi-BIAB point of view where many of the measures are 'about 2/3', 'full to the brim' etc, but deliberately so.

WRT Venturi effect, I doubt it I'm afraid. There's a lot of physical head (the column of wort in the sight tube) and then a little bit of head loss to friction (from the narrower bore sight tube) to overcome before you get air being sucked down into the wort stream, at least initially, but perhaps at the end you may see some. I haven't worked any of it out, but at the velocities the wort drains out the tap by gravity, I would be surprised if it did introduce much, if any at all. Nice idea though, that's actually food for thought WRT wort aeration. :salute:
Last edited by Ralph on 27 Mar 2011, 09:40, edited 5 times in total.
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Post #8 made 15 years ago
by sammy33
Ralph,
Thank you for the detailed response. The Bayou Classic 11 gal steamer kettle was $127.50 USD. I thought it was a great deal considering the welded fitting with the spigot and the "BIAB basket". :smoke:

I am liking the idea of a steel ruler or a dip stick more and more to measure my initial volumes and to get a post boil measure. This seems to go quite nicely with the "keep it simple" philosophy of the BIAB method. Having to take apart and clean the sight glass after every brew or two may not be ideal in terms of saving time when I can simply wipe down a dip stick.
Stumbling Parrot Brewery

"Fermentation may have been a greater discovery than fire."
-David Rains Wallace

Post #9 made 15 years ago
by Ralph
sammy33 wrote:The Bayou Classic 11 gal steamer kettle was $127.50 USD.
US$127.50??! :o Reckon even I would pay that!! :champ:
Last edited by Ralph on 27 Mar 2011, 13:05, edited 5 times in total.
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Post #11 made 15 years ago
by sammy33
Finally got my Bayou Classic 44qt 11 gal kettle in today with the steamer basket. Here are some pics. :D

This should work well for most all the brews I want to do up to 5 gal batches.
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The steamer basket gives me about a 3 inch gap above the bottom of the kettle to protect the bag from burning.
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The welded port seems to be a 1 inch FPT. The spigot is easy to remove btw.
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Last edited by sammy33 on 30 Mar 2011, 11:30, edited 5 times in total.
Stumbling Parrot Brewery

"Fermentation may have been a greater discovery than fire."
-David Rains Wallace

Post #12 made 15 years ago
by PistolPatch
Sounds as though your plan is coming together nicely Sammy. Go the steel ruler!!!

The only thing I am worried about is your grain bag. I think it looks too coarse. It won't be a major drama using it, your beer will still be great, but I think you might have to look at a finer bag after a few brews depending on how it goes.

Nice rig mate :peace:
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Post #13 made 15 years ago
by stux
Also, you don't actually have to stick the ruler into your wort... you could instead measure from the top down to the wort surface..., if you know how deep your pot is...

not ideal... but it prevents you having to keep a sticky ruler about, and you also don't need a massively long steel ruler that way!
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Post #14 made 15 years ago
by BrickBrewHaus
stux wrote:Also, you don't actually have to stick the ruler into your wort... you could instead measure from the top down to the wort surface..., if you know how deep your pot is...

not ideal... but it prevents you having to keep a sticky ruler about, and you also don't need a massively long steel ruler that way!
+1

Also this way you can get eye-level with the point which you are measuring, rather than looking at an angle with your face hanging over the kettle if you measure from the bottom.
Last edited by BrickBrewHaus on 31 Mar 2011, 21:25, edited 5 times in total.

Post #15 made 15 years ago
by sammy33
PistolPatch, stux and BrickBrewHaus all great ideas! :thumbs:

I tried my paint strainer bags and they are simply too small to fit the basket that came with my kettle. I can stretch them over but they leave a lot of blank space where it looks like the grain will not contact the water. Wifey is going to break out the sewing machine and stitch me a couple of big swiss voile bags this weekend.

I am going to take the ruler idea and run with it. The Calculator seems to work nicely for the water volume/measures. I converted it to imperial units and will calibrate it against my kettle soon to make sure all the numbers work. Very nice spreadsheet. Many thanks for offering it here! :)
Last edited by sammy33 on 01 Apr 2011, 12:19, edited 5 times in total.
Stumbling Parrot Brewery

"Fermentation may have been a greater discovery than fire."
-David Rains Wallace

Post #16 made 15 years ago
by sammy33
Here is the stainless valve and accessories I ended up ordering from bargainfittings.com. Thanks to all for your input on this.

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I decided to not worry about the sight glass for now and am simply going to use a dip stick/steel ruler (and the awesome calculator here on biabrewer.info) instead to save money for other things like a Blichmann Burner. :smoke:
Last edited by sammy33 on 06 Apr 2011, 10:04, edited 5 times in total.
Stumbling Parrot Brewery

"Fermentation may have been a greater discovery than fire."
-David Rains Wallace

Post #18 made 15 years ago
by PistolPatch
Short on time Sammy but just wanted to say your posts are great! Lots of detail and pics!!!

I also just wanted to make sure you are aware of the potential problems that any join or ball-valve in a brewery can create. If you do an advanced search here and use the keyword, 'nostril' and then my name as the author, you should get a few longer posts on how to avoid any infection problems that can pop up with ball-valves.

Thanks for the great read Sammy :salute:
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