Horizontal steam pipe.

[NormandieStill]

I have finally managed to acquire another keg and the two projects that I would like to achieve with it are preheater and steam stripper. Currently my new keg is an unmodified 30L one. My existing keg boiler is a 30L with a 4" fill port on top, the original 2" spear port where the riser / column goes, a 2" drain at the bottom and 2 2" ports on the side near the bottom (one receives the heating element, and the other was my old drain port until I got sick of not being able to drain the last 4.5L without tipping the keg!).

So here's my idea. To run as a steam stripper, I would use the current boiler for putting in the solids, and the new keg as the boiler. I can make a steam wand from a piece of 38mm copper pipe, soldered to a tri-clamp end cap (passing through the end-cap). The part of the pipe inside the keg will be sealed at the end and have a series of small holes drilled in the bottom and sides. The part outside the keg will be fitted with a 2" ferrule to allow it to be attached to the boiler.

The boiler will need a release valve to prevent post-run implosions and an overpressure device of some variety. While the release valve could simply be undoing a tri-clamp, I'd rather have a manual valve which would also provide an emergency stop solution in case of something going wrong.

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I need to research overpressure release solutions and this is not going to be a fast-moving project before september / october. The goal if it's feasible would be to have it ready for stripping on-fruit ferments like plums or sloes with the aim of extracting the maximum flavour in the strip.

So is this a dumb idea? Should I just look at making the "standard" in-line thumper attachment for the top? I figure that the tri-clamp ports are already there so I might as well use them.

Edited by nice Mods