Keg Boiler with Cabinet Build Story

Post by **Badmotivator** » Wed Jun 24, 2015 4:59 pm

Cool. That's the one I got and the place I got it. Got a method in mind for cutting the 8" hole and then another hole in the cap?

Hound Dog · Post by **Hound Dog** » Wed Jun 24, 2015 8:43 pm

I did a similar top for my copper boiler that had a 6 inch opening. But instead of sruggling to cut through that heavy stainless cap, I soldered anot her 6 inch ferrule to a copper plate then a 3 inch to the center of the other side. Cut the center out and trimmed the edges to the 6 inch. Works great. I was surprised how strong it is to just solder the ferrule on a flat sheet.

Post by **Rastus** » Thu Jun 25, 2015 1:06 pm

Great idea, some heavy copper should work fine... i will ponder that as i go along, thinking about it, its makes things interesting with two tone.... i saw a mash/lauter tun a guy made and he covered the mid section of the keg with copper, that this was puuuuuurrrrdy and like a fool i never bookmarked it.... and never found it again. twas inspiring indeed.

as for cutting the keg i have some cut off disks that will go in my my 4.5 inch angle grinder.

Post by **Badmotivator** » Thu Jun 25, 2015 3:48 pm

Rastus wrote:Great idea, some heavy copper should work fine... i will ponder that as i go along, thinking about it, its makes things interesting with two tone.... i saw a mash/lauter tun a guy made and he covered the mid section of the keg with copper, that this was puuuuuurrrrdy and like a fool i never bookmarked it.... and never found it again. twas inspiring indeed.

as for cutting the keg i have some cut off disks that will go in my my 4.5 inch angle grinder.

Nice. I wasn't brave enough to try cutting my 8" hole with wheels. I was afraid of losing control, skidding all over the place. I can recommend digging a starter hole with a step bit and then using a bimetal jigsaw blade. A grinder coming in edge-on the cut will get you within 1/8" of the ferrule's eventual position. That's close enough. Solder, and then after soldering get in there with a good file and then a sandpaper wheel to make the inside butter smooth.

But I'm sure there are a lot of right answers here.

Hound Dog · Post by **Hound Dog** » Thu Jun 25, 2015 5:09 pm

BadMotivator is right about there being a lot of answers. I think he is onto something though. Instead of trying to cut the perfect hole first, I would cut it a bit small, solder the ferrule down on the surface then grind out the rest to the inside of the hole to the ferrule. Otherwise if you get a little wonky and cut outside the line too big, you won't fill the gap with solder. Same as doing a sight glass on a column, solder your piece on the drill out the column.

Post by **Badmotivator** » Thu Jun 25, 2015 10:36 pm

Hound Dog wrote:BadMotivator is right about there being a lot of answers. I think he is onto something though. Instead of trying to cut the perfect hole first, I would cut it a bit small, solder the ferrule down on the surface then grind out the rest to the inside of the hole to the ferrule.

Yup. The first picture in post 10 of this thread shows a ferrule before cleanup (left) and a ferrule after cleanup (right). I used a file until the ferrule wall and the hole were flush, and then sandpaper to make it all feel smooth and shiny. There is some danger in using power tools like grinders at this stage. You could inadvertently get the part so hot that it re melts the solder. Take it easy and it'll be okay.

Post by **Danespirit** » Fri Jun 26, 2015 3:56 am

+1 Hound Dog.

With large holes one should always cut it out roughly.
It doesn't matter if it looks like something you hacked out with a axe, the finish will be done after soldering.
A little nice sideeffect: There is not much crap from the solderjob to clean, when you done trimming your hole to size.
When i weld or solder ferrules to a boiler i use same procedure. Cut the hole finish the weld/solder and trim the result to a smooth surface.
Obvious this doesn't work for a female threaded fitting...you risk ruining the threads.

A Dremel and/or a sandpaperdrum on a drillmachine, will be your best choice for the job.
In a perfect world, you have a electric die grinder and one of those to do the dirty job first:

: Tungsten carbide milling heads.gif (7.21 KiB) Viewed 6567 times

Post by **Badmotivator** » Sat Jun 27, 2015 8:32 pm

Cancel that shotgun build, folks. Can't get the damned solder to stick, leaks all over the damn place. After fighting with it for a day, I gave up and ordered one. It was either that or learn how to weld. Ah, well. At least I can be sure that I can run this boiler within the week instead of some ever-slipping completion date.

Post by **Snackson** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 8:15 pm

Note to self, ensure drill bit is securely installed in hole saw or else you will get way too much travel. Had to turn one of my 2" into a 3" for the top sight glass.

Post by **Badmotivator** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 10:47 pm

Snackson wrote:Note to self, ensure drill bit is securely installed in hole saw or else you will get way too much travel. Had to turn one of my 2" into a 3" for the top sight glass.

Nice.

I can see how that might be a bit embarrassing and an unexpected expense, but you probably won't regret having a bigger sight glass.

Post by **Oldvine Zin** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 8:26 pm

Nice build Badmotivator! I've been reading and planning my build for about a month and just found your post. Funny that I had already decided to use and purchased an 8" tri clamp setup same as yours. All of the parts from Brewers arrived today and the new keg should arrive tomorrow, looking forward to the weekend build. I like your idea of turning the keg upside down, and oh that 8" stainless cap is a lot thicker than I thought it would be -

Post by **Badmotivator** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 12:40 am

Thanks!

Polishing advice: start with the finest grit you can to get rid of the dull layer your keg comes with, even if it means it goes slowly at first. I started with an aggressive grit and then had to chase down all kinds of deep scratches which ended up adding a lot of work. Also, do the polishing last, basically. I did it early and then had to do it over, several times. I should have just waited until the end.

In retrospect the orientation of the keg didn't matter, except that I was able to hide some stamped or embossed writing (manufacturer's name, warnings (ha ha), etc.) by flipping it. Originally I was going to use the existing Sanke ferrule for the drain but I didn't like the Sanke-tri-clamp connection. Replacing the Sanke ferrule cost me like $5.

I guess those fat-ass 8" caps are designed to hole in some crazy pressure, huh? That's going to cost you some time, friend.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

Post by **Snackson** » Sun Jul 05, 2015 7:45 pm

Made some progress today after my supplies came in. I was able to solder my 4" ferrule to the top and took a tungsten carbide bit on my dremel to touch up the effed up 2" hole and turned it into a 3" hole. I'll get at it more this week. As for now, I have to use my now 5 gallon electric boiler until I get this going. I have some UJSSM and Birdwatchers ready to rip!

Post by **Oldvine Zin** » Sun Jul 05, 2015 8:28 pm

Went after that 8" cap with a new 3" bi metal hole saw - low speed, lots of oil and pressure, and about 20 minutes :

Post by **Oldvine Zin** » Sun Jul 05, 2015 8:30 pm

The end result :

Post by **Oldvine Zin** » Sun Jul 05, 2015 8:36 pm

8" x 3" tri clover adapter

Post by **moosemilk** » Sun Jul 05, 2015 9:06 pm

I don't know how I missed this thread from the start, but that is one hell of a nice build, Badmotivator! Maybe change your name to "Badinfluence" because it has me wanting to spend more and the SOH would freak if I spent more at the current time. I have been told "no more copper".....so I started looking at stainless and barely glanced when I got "that goes for stainless as well, or anything else shiny".

Post by **Badmotivator** » Sun Jul 05, 2015 9:59 pm

Oldvine Zin wrote:8" x 3" tri clover adapter

It looks beautiful. Nice work!

Post by **Badmotivator** » Sun Jul 05, 2015 10:12 pm

moosemilk wrote:... it has me wanting to spend more and the SOH would freak...

Thanks, and sorry for motivating you to do something bad.

My wife and I developed a system for our finances which automatically allocates funds for all of the big bills (mortgage, taxes, insurance, retirement, home improvement, college savings, health, etc) and any excess spills over into our individual accounts. This is to a) avoid worrying about whether the bills can be paid, b) avoid worrying that spouse is overspending, c) avoid guilt about our own frivolous spending, d) ensure fair distribution. This regime has worked beautifully, and I highly recommend setting up something like it.

I hope that makes up for some of the damage I've done to your relationship.

Post by **moosemilk** » Sun Jul 05, 2015 10:23 pm

Lol no damage done. I'm taking a year off work to head back to school come fall, so we have started to prepare our budget now. We run similar, get bills paid first, spoil kids second (not really spoil, they have to work for everything) and left over is fun money. But I had a time limit before our new budget, so now I just have to wait because new budget is in place until school done...then I get an even bigger budget lol.

Post by **Oldvine Zin** » Sun Jul 05, 2015 10:30 pm

yes and when your spouse appreciates and and enjoys your hobby it makes it easier

Hound Dog · Post by **Hound Dog** » Mon Jul 06, 2015 1:18 am

Oldvine Zin wrote:yes and when your spouse appreciates and and enjoys your hobby it makes it easier

+1 on that! Mine likes vodka so I knew when I started that I needed to make a clean smooth drink to start with then I would have the liberty to play around. It worked.

jaksjerky · Post by **jaksjerky** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 6:44 pm

That is really nice work!

Post by **Cashjon** » Wed Mar 02, 2016 5:59 am

I don't mean to be the only naysayer of the bunch but being a welder (weld pipe all day) I have one major concern, that is with not having a full penitration welds on the ferrule or soldering inside and out of the ferrule,? I have not got my new keg yet but the way I'm going to do it is to have the whole the same size as ferrule this way I can have a small gap and tig the ferrule in so as to have a full penetration root. (No exposed shell on keg and no exposed pipe or neck of ferrule inside) The reason I'm addressing this is because of bacteria, by not having a smooth transition inside then it leaves a place for liquids to sit and bacteria to grow. That is my only concern. You obviously have a great work ethic and are meticulous. The job is beautiful as many have said. Maybe I'm wrong and you do have no cracks and crevasses for bacteria to flourish. But if you just set the ferrules on the shell and soldered them then there is definitely a concern. sorry for being the only one to see a potential problem but bacteria is a major concern.

Post by **pfshine** » Wed Mar 02, 2016 6:26 am

Cashjon wrote:I don't mean to be the only naysayer of the bunch but being a welder (weld pipe all day) I have one major concern, that is with not having a full penitration welds on the ferrule or soldering inside and out of the ferrule,? I have not got my new keg yet but the way I'm going to do it is to have the whole the same size as ferrule this way I can have a small gap and tig the ferrule in so as to have a full penetration root. (No exposed shell on keg and no exposed pipe or neck of ferrule inside) The reason I'm addressing this is because of bacteria, by not having a smooth transition inside then it leaves a place for liquids to sit and bacteria to grow. That is my only concern. You obviously have a great work ethic and are meticulous. The job is beautiful as many have said. Maybe I'm wrong and you do have no cracks and crevasses for bacteria to flourish. But if you just set the ferrules on the shell and soldered them then there is definitely a concern. sorry for being the only one to see a potential problem but bacteria is a major concern.

Let's see... What is he doing with it and what does bacteria hate. We are putting a solvent in the keg and boiling the piss out of it. In my experience most of the bacterium we usually encounter cannot survive being pounded with solvent steam.

gflower1 · Post by **gflower1** » Wed Mar 02, 2016 6:54 am

That leads my question. I'm planning on doing this soon with a 4" ferrule. I was planning on cutting to the OD of the ferrule and having it welded in place. I might still go with the welded option but size the hole to the ID, weld, grind, and maybe fill in the seam with solder?

Post by **Badmotivator** » Wed Mar 02, 2016 11:32 pm

Cashjon wrote: ...bacteria is a major concern.

I guess I forgot to worry about bacteria.

I'm not concerned about bacteria at all for my current purposes (distilling only right now), but it's not a bad point. I may be tempted later to use my boiler to preheat water for a mash or a sparge or something. We should probably keep in mind that these boilers may not be real sanitary between boils, regardless of construction method.

CopperClayton · Post by **CopperClayton** » Tue Mar 22, 2016 10:53 pm

Sorry to but in here guys. I just wanted to say,,,, this is the COOLEST keg build I've ever seen. Thank for sharing it. I am truly inspired.

Post by **Badmotivator** » Tue Mar 22, 2016 11:17 pm

Thanks! I'm sure proud of it. I think it'll be in use for some good years.

rumBum2 · Post by **rumBum2** » Wed Mar 23, 2016 10:10 am

CopperClayton wrote:Sorry to but in here guys. I just wanted to say,,,, this is the COOLEST keg build I've ever seen. Thank for sharing it. I am truly inspired.

When you posted your copper,brass and stainless thread i thought of Badmotivator's beautiful build(boiler). It has to be the nicest build on this forum, with all the details and professional look. He's the main reason i decide to solder my keg... and i was successful!
thanksforthebadmotivation

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