anybody fitted a kettle element to an old beer keg?

[robbarwell]

Hi all,

I wondered if i could fit a couple of kettle elements to an old beer keg. I have watched You tube clips that seem to butcher Asda or Tesco kettles.

My question is that the keg is metal and the elements seem to be mainly metal. I just dont fancy blowing myself to bits with it.

[jack-lufc]

i've fitted 2 Tesco kettle elements to a plastic bin, works very well - done about 30 brews with it now. it does help to know a little about electronics

[Blackjack]

Find a trade supplier with a counter that does industrial boiler/steam etc stainless pipework fittings, ( J L Leech in Shrewsbury) get a 2 1/4 in. bsp socket ( a piece of SS pipe about 2 ins long threaded up the inside.) Slice the socket into two short pieces and get someone, who knows how to weld properly to cut into the vessel and stainless weld the pieces in on opposite sides. Then buy two 11in. immersion heaters with 80C thermostats ( they will be set at 60C when you buy them) from an electrical trade counter. Total cost about 40 squid. But a hell of a lot safer and longer lasting than a very dodgy kettle dissection.

For an HLT just set the thermostats, for the boiler/copper you need to competently bypass the thermostats.

[Kev888]

Personally I actually prefer metal for heating in - plastic may be an electrical insulator but if the water were to become live then things wouldn't be great anyway, but you can earth a metal tank and (particularly when used with an RCD) this gives me great confidence.

Of course if you're unhappy about doing the electrics in the first place then perhaps think twice about doing it yourself and all that. Whilst many people (including myself) have used jug kettle elements it must be conceded that they are not designed for this type of fitting and are a bit of a hack, really. I'm far happier with immersion heaters myself, but wouldn't want to fit them to a small radius tank like a beer keg - I'd need help with that as Blackjack suggested.

Or perhaps you could look at elements that have a more robust threaded metal chassis and shroud already in the design like this - designed to fit into a correctly sized hole with their washer, nut/shroud and you then just plug in a lead. Not as cheap as the jug kettle hack but more directly suitable (without any electrical alterations etc), which is presumably why Bruheat use them. Be aware though - most take the old round plugs, and the leads for these can be difficult to find and more costly than the element. But I have seen equivalents that take the newer/current and far cheaper square-pin kettle leads.

Cheers
kev