Building A Boiler From A Keg

Boiler, burner and boiler modification talk.

Building A Boiler From A Keg

Postby Dominator » Sun Jun 30, 2013 4:26 pm

So you want to get into distilling and are looking at what you need. Or maybe you want to upgrade from that 25L boiler. Well here are a few things to help you on your way. All of this info is on the forum and there are more details about each step scattered around the place. This is the basics to get you started. If you need more info, using the forum search function will very likely give you the answers.

SOURCING A KEG
Here at Aussie Distiller we do not condone theft or stealing kegs. There are plenty if ways to get legitimate, decommissioned kegs for $60-$70. You can start in the classifieds section of this forum and even chuck a wanted add up. Gumtree and eBay also have plenty of kegs that come up for sale. Failing that, kegking will usually have some.

REMOVING THE SPEAR
There is plenty of information on the Internet on how to remove a keg spear, including this very forum. You can start here: viewtopic.php?f=41&t=2083
Google and YouTube will also have heaps of info.
Two points to remember!
1. Remove the pressure from the keg BEFORE you attempt to remove the circlip/spear, drill or alter the keg in any way. The pressure in these make them very dangerous.
2. Keep you head out of the way when relieving the pressure and also when removing the spear. No one wants to cop warm beer or worse, a lump of steel to the face.

HEATING
The two most common ways of heating your boiler and the wash contained are gas and electric. The electric vs gas is a long debate so I won't go into it. There is heaps of info here: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=3562

Gas
A two ring burner will get the job done. These can be found at places like Bunnings and BCF, they will also pop up at garage sales and on eBay/gumtree if you want to chase a bargain.
A three ring burner will allow for shorter heat up times and faster stripping runs. For even more heat you can upgrade the standard gas bottle regulator to a medium pressure adjustable regulator.

Advantages: cheap and easy setup.
Disadvantages: open flame around flammable liquids and gases.

Electric
There are two types of elements commonly used.

Weldless, are exactly as the name states. You simply drill a 32mm hole in the side of your keg and fit the element. Then get a electrician to wire it up.

Or

Threaded elements, these require you to weld in a 1" bsp bung onto the keg, to screw the element into. The plus side of these is you have more choice of element size, they seal better and are easier to remove or replace if necessary. It will also require an electrician to wire it up.

Five Star Distilling in the commercial section of this forum sell both types of elements. They also have very stylish guards to protect the wiring.
There is another well known company that sell weldless elements, and there is well documented evidence of them failing. Personally I would prefer not to have an element melt while I am distilling. Don't let me stop you from going down that road if you want but, the poor man always pays twice and I would not recommend you asking for help here if things go bad.

A hole can easily be drilled in your keg using a bi-metal holesaw and a cordless or power drill. Take it nice and slow and use plenty of cutting lubricant, WD40 works well. I advise using a center punch for the pilot drill (the one in the middle of your holesaw) as it will want to slide around if you don't. Do not let the hole saw or the metal your cutting through get hot. If stainless gets hot, it work hardens and then your really going to have a hard time. The holes in my keg took about 30 seconds each. Once the hole is drilled, take the burrs off with a file so you don't cut yourself.

One 2400W element will be enough to sufficiently boil 40L of wash. A 2400W element can be plugged into a standard household power point. To reduce heat up times, you can fit two elements or higher power elements ie. 3600W. If you decide to go for two elements you will need to run them off separate power circuits. If you want to go to a 3600W element you will need a 15A power point installed by an electrician.

DO NOT try to do electrical work if your not qualified. Not only for the obvious fact that electricity can seriously hurt or kill you, but overloading a power circuit can melt cables and cause fire. Not what you want when you have flammable hooch around.

Advantages: No open flame, no need to fill gas bottles.
Disadvantages: Possible more costly setup, need an electrician to wire it up, may also need to get/build a voltage controller.

Once you have this sorted your boiler is ready to go. You can load your wash in, attach your still and start collecting. However there are some extras you can add to make your distilling a bit easier.
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Re: Building A Boiler From A Keg

Postby Dominator » Sun Jun 30, 2013 4:26 pm

DRAIN
Fitting a drain can make it a whole lot easier to empty your keg. You can fit the drain to the side or the bottom of your keg. It is best to use stainless for your drain. It is debatable if brass is ok, some people say yes some people say no, it is up to you. I would not go smaller than 3/4" as it will real slow to drain.
A drain on the side of your boiler can be made using some stainless threaded pipe, nuts, teflon or silicone seals and a ball valve. The problem with a drain on the side is you have to tip the boiler on its side to get all the liquid out.

The second option is to fit a drain to the bottom. Kegs have a flat spot on the bottom of them perfect for fitting a drain. The easiest way is to fit a skin fitting, these can be found online and at boating shops. Then you just need a teflon/silicone seal, a threaded elbow, some pipe and a ball valve. The down side of a drain on the bottom is you will possibly need legs on the boiler and the drain will get in the way of a gas burner, there are ways around these issues, I won't go into them here but you can have a look through the boiler section of the forum. If you are planing on fitting a larger ferrule to attach your still, you could cut your hole and attach the larger ferrule to the bottom of the keg and use the 2" ferrule on top for your drain, ie. turn the keg upside down.

FILL/CLEANING PORT
Fitting a fill or cleaning port to the top of your keg will make things easier again. You will not need to remove your still to load your wash and you will be able to scrub the inside of your keg when cleaning it. A 3" is good for filling but you will not be able to get your elbow through to clean inside. A 4" port will make cleaning easy but will take some planning if you want to also fit a 4" ferrule to attach your still. All you need is a ferrule, tri clamp, seal and a piece of stainless steel to cover the hole. Or you can use a piece of pyrex glass and you can look into your boiler while it is running. All the bits can be purchased from Five Star Distilling.

INSULATION
Wrapping your boiler in insulation will reduce heat up times and will also require less power to keep the required boil rate. Just make sure the insulation you use is sufficiently heat and fire rated.

VOLTAGE CONTROLLER
A voltage controller is used for the electric elements in your boiler. This will allow you to adjust how much power and thus how much heat you put into your wash. Just like adjusting the flame on a gas burner. For plans, start here: viewtopic.php?f=60&t=933&hilit=voltage+controller.
There are more plans and info if you do a search. Needless you will require an electrician to build and test this for you.
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Re: Building A Boiler From A Keg

Postby jasonc2861 » Mon Jul 01, 2013 2:58 am

Good read mate.cheers! :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Building A Boiler From A Keg

Postby baldoss » Mon Jul 01, 2013 2:00 pm

Good write up mate, thanks for sharing :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Building A Boiler From A Keg

Postby Dominator » Mon Jul 01, 2013 2:13 pm

No worries. Hopefully it helps a few people.
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Re: Building A Boiler From A Keg

Postby Canadoz » Mon Jul 01, 2013 2:30 pm

Nice one Dom, you might also mention in the pro's/cons of gas vs electric that electric can scorch some types of wash which gas won't necessarily do.
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Re: Building A Boiler From A Keg

Postby Aussiedownunder01 » Mon Jul 01, 2013 3:06 pm

Canadoz wrote:Nice one Dom, you might also mention in the pro's/cons of gas vs electric that electric can scorch some types of wash which gas won't necessarily do.

That's a new one on me why would electric scorch and gas wont !!
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Re: Building A Boiler From A Keg

Postby Canadoz » Mon Jul 01, 2013 3:39 pm

I've read that since electric elements are in direct contact with the wash that sugars etc. can scorch. I certainly found that making ouzo in my electric boiler is a touchy process, I have to heat it pretty gently or the aniseed burns.

Gas heating manages to avoid this problem since it's indirect heating, evenly adding heat across the whole bottom of the boiler as opposed to concentrated in small metal rods.

Or so I've read.

Similar comparison between using aquarium heaters or heating mats for your Fermenters. Some swear by aquarium heaters, some wouldn't put them near their wash.

There's always the chance it's just a myth, like plenty one reads online but my ouzo experience supports it from the electric side at least, I don't have a gas setup to personally test on to see if there's any difference.
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Building A Boiler From A Keg

Postby Dominator » Mon Jul 01, 2013 4:01 pm

Aussiedownunder01 wrote:
Canadoz wrote:Nice one Dom, you might also mention in the pro's/cons of gas vs electric that electric can scorch some types of wash which gas won't necessarily do.

That's a new one on me why would electric scorch and gas wont !!


I agree Aussie, If you run either too hard they will scorch.

While I agree gas is indirectly heating your wash, you can still get the bottom you the keg hot enough to burn the wash. No different to getting a frying pan too hot and burning what your cooking.
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Re: Building A Boiler From A Keg

Postby MacStill » Mon Jul 01, 2013 6:45 pm

Ever seen how much a wash moves when it has an element in it ?

I would not use an electric element if I was trying to distill an all grain mash "on the grain" without a stir plate, but then I would probably want one if I was on gas too.

If your wash is "watery" you wont have too many problems with either gas or electric I dont think.

Personally after using gas for a couple of years & switching to electric I'll never be going back, electric all the way for this black duck :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Building A Boiler From A Keg

Postby Aussiedownunder01 » Mon Jul 01, 2013 6:48 pm

He has seen the light ;-) :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Building A Boiler From A Keg

Postby EziTasting » Sat Oct 24, 2015 2:56 pm

Very interesting read!
I was gifted a couple of 50L kegs and am planning to use them as discussed above...

One question that has been burning in my mind is, Why not have one element half way up he boiler to spread the initial heat over the whole volume getting it up to boiling heat quicker?

(?my thoughts?) - as I've read, you then turn of he second element anyway... It has been mentioned that both elements need to be covered so as not to burn them out... Is that the only reason?
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Re: Building A Boiler From A Keg

Postby WTDist » Sat Oct 24, 2015 3:00 pm

You may need more than the bottom element can handle one day and having the other one higher can become a serious backfire if you need to run both. the wash will surely go below the top one in the middle eventually.

Water has a high coefficient for conducting heat (heat transfer rate is really fast 8-} )so it wont be a problem having them down the bottom together. Imagine getting something out of the oven with a wet tea towel. gets hot real quick doesnt it ;-)
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Re: Building A Boiler From A Keg

Postby EziTasting » Sat Oct 24, 2015 3:28 pm

Thanx WTD,

So then how low would you have them in the keg? Is there an optimum? Are they better side-by-side or crossed over like an 'X'?
Does it really matter??? :wtf:

Don't want to be too ... anal here! ... but the keg being round it'll be tricky to get them side-by-side...
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Re: Building A Boiler From A Keg

Postby WTDist » Sat Oct 24, 2015 3:31 pm

I think ive read most people have them (may be wrong) crossed over slightly but one an inch or so higher, so they cross over but one is slightly higher than the other so they dont hit
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Re: Building A Boiler From A Keg

Postby rumdidlydum » Sat Oct 24, 2015 4:00 pm

WTDist wrote:I think ive read most people have them (may be wrong) crossed over slightly but one an inch or so higher, so they cross over but one is slightly higher than the other so they dont hit

:handgestures-thumbupleft:
Have them as low as you can :D
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Re: Building A Boiler From A Keg

Postby woodduck » Sat Oct 24, 2015 4:12 pm

Yer put them as low as you can. I turn my second one on again at the end of a run to strip tails quicker so you don't want them to run dry.

Mine are crossed over but I've seen blokes have then straight but that involves a bit more fabrication. There are a few around like it in the boiler section.
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Re: Building A Boiler From A Keg

Postby rumdidlydum » Sat Oct 24, 2015 6:35 pm

Also i found if you put a fitting on the side youcan easily plug the hose on for cleaning :D
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