How long will a beer keg still boiler last?

Thomasedwin

I used a 15 gallon stockpot with a silicone gasket for a still boiler and after 20 months it warped cracked and started leaking, it was only 1 MM thickness. I now have a 15.5 gallon SS beer keg that's about 3 MM thick How long should I expect it to last heated with a open natural gas flame??? I have read some people saying they will last a life time but they were only using it to brew beer not as a still boiler.

vooharmy

Yeah a lifetime. No problems.

Kapea

Well, I can say for certain more than six years/100+ runs

Thomasedwin

That good to hear because so far I have about $240. into it and haven't even had it welded up yet.

punkin

Let alone how much the brewery that owns it has invested. :))

Kapea

I bought my keg used at the recycler for the by-the-pound price for stainless steel. I fire it with a Bayou Classic propane burner.

The only mod I made on my keg is to remove the spear. I attach all of my still heads to my keg boiler using 2" triclamp.

dad

Same as Kapea, but I drilled a 3/4" hole in the top half way between the . It is my fill and empty port. I seal it with a wine cork when running.

Anavrin

Can you run a 4" column without fitting a 4" ferrel on the keg? ie will you still get the same flow rate using a 2"-4" adaptor between the keg and the column?

I'm building a keg boiler, I have a 4" ferrel but can it be fitted at a later date to save on initial build cost?

punkin

yes

Kapea

I use a 2" x 4" concentric reducer to attach my 4" plated column to my keg boiler. I do not think the 2" connection affects the flow rate. It's the diameter of the plated section, and the reflux ratio that controls takeoff rate.

The 2" connection on the keg/boiler does not have a groove in it like triclamp bearing surfaces. This just means you have to remove the ridge on one side of the gasket used at that connection. Easy enough to do with a razor blade. Go slow and take your time. It will cut of easily. The trimmed gasket will last you for many runs if you treat it nicely.

punkin

We stock onesided gaskets.

Anavrin

Cheers guys, thanks for the info, I've aready modified a gasket to fit, just going to get a 2" ferrel on the side for my element, and fit a 1/2" boat deck style skin fitting in the bottom for a drain, looking forward to many years of service from it :-)

SDeurope

Yes, we also have those 2" one-sided silicone gaskets available from stock, but they are not listed yet. It's easy enough to modify a regular gasket, but to get a completely flat surface nothing beats the ready-made.

Kapea

I used to make rubber molds for centrifigal rubber mold cast jewlery, so I am pretty handy with a scalpel and Xacto knife, But if @Smaug gets some one-sided ones I'll gladly buy them pre made.

punkin

Bet he has them.

Smaug

Sorry I don't have any yet.

Actually I was considering using Kapea to make them for us. :))

Kapea

Trade ya for a baby CD... :D

Thomasedwin

@punkin said: Let alone how much the brewery that owns it has invested. :))

I purchased it on flebay for $90. with free shipping and I have the purchase order or bill of sale. If I wanted to get one the wrong way I could have just bought a full keg and kept it for the price of the deposit.

punkin

So if it was sold on ebay then it's not stolen? :))

I don't care either way, i've had plenty of repurposed kegs that i didn't buy new or with a decommission certificate (in fact i knew the bloke who pinched them), but a bill of sale from ebay is not the same as proof of ownership.

Thomasedwin

@dad said: Same as Kapea, but I drilled a 3/4" hole in the top half way between the . It is my fill and empty port. I seal it with a wine cork when running.

I got the 8 inch ferrule fitting because I wanted a nice big hole so I could clean it out easy plus I wanted to be able to fill it with a bucket, (no funnels) I'm going to weld a 3 inch ferrule to the center of the 8 inch cap and attach a 3 inch to 1.5 reducer to attach my column, My column is a copper 3" diameter x 30" long with 9 water cooled plates. The bottom connection is a 3" copper pipe cap fitted with a 1.5" ferrule. I have a loose perforated copper plate in the bottom that acts like a bubbler. The 9 plates condense and drip to the bottom bubbler and makes a little puddle and I can hear the plate flapping when the vapor pushes on it. It runs into a 7 tube counter flow shotgun condenser. I does a pretty god job for it's size.

Smaug

Say where did you get that flow indicator from?

Thomasedwin

@Smaug said: Say where did you get that flow indicator from?

I got the flow meter on flebay, I paid $12.99 with free shipping seller information is the-bestdealmarket (41073). It's acrylic plastic with brass fittings. Hope that helps.

EdInNH

I use flow spinners just like this one. I got them from an eBay seller the-bestdealmarket located in Houston TX.

A current listing is:

Water Cooling Flow Meter Acrylic 3 Ways G1/4 Threaded Without Barb USA Seller @ eBay

jacksonbrown

I wonder how hard it would be to add a hall effect sensor to one of those? New SD flow Transmitter for 10 bucks?

Thomasedwin

@punkin said: So if it was sold on ebay then it's not stolen? :))

I don't care either way, I've had plenty of re-purposed kegs that I didn't buy new or with a decommission certificate (in fact I knew the bloke who pinched them), but a bill of sale from eBay is not the same as proof of ownership. But it does prove I didn't get it in a dishonest way.

CothermanDistilling

^^^ yet another reason for the SD Unikeggle(tm) to be built...

punkin

@CothermanDistilling said: ^^^ yet another reason for the SD Unikeggle(tm) to be built...

50 Litre Keg Stage 2 @ StillDragon Australia & New Zealand

dad

and they are popular, as they are out of stock!

punkin

All my boilers are listed as out of stock or preorder. It's just so people don't order a still and a boiler on the same order.

Thomasedwin

I got the 8 inch ferrule fitting because I wanted a nice big hole so I could clean it out easy plus I wanted to be able to fill it with a bucket, (no funnels) I'm going to weld a 3 inch ferrule to the center of the 8 inch cap and attach a 3 inch to 1.5 reducer to attach my column, My column is a copper 3" diameter x 30" long with 9 water cooled plates. The bottom connection is a 3" copper pipe cap fitted with a 1.5" ferrule. I have a loose perforated copper plate in the bottom that acts like a bubbler. The 9 plates condense and drip to the bottom bubbler and makes a little puddle and I can hear the plate flapping when the vapor pushes on it. It runs into a 7 tube counter flow shotgun condenser. I does a pretty god job for it's size.

Thomasedwin

I finally got the fittings for my keg boiler, I have yet to find a place to get a good price to tig weld it together for me.