Bottom drain kettle ? auto sanitising

[BenB]

I've decided I don't like my side drain boiler. It works by syphoning so I have a fair dead space and once the level goes below the side drain hole it's impossible to get it going again. It's also a pain because I have to take apart the Bazooka screen / crank / 4 piece tap each time to individually sterilise it (the boiling wort doesn't to anything above the bazooka screen).

Am I right in thinking that with a bottom drain type set-up it is not necessary to sanitise the deck drain etc because the hot wort does this?

currently decided on whether to get someone to roll and weld a stainless stand-off onto my existing one or to get all fancy and go with an insulated boiler. I suspect it might be cheaper to go the later route! Then again, if I can find a large circular cake tin of the right size might just weld it on myself. Then again MIG stainless......

[Fastline]

I'm going bottom drain, I was thinking of 4 round tube legs. Think will look neat and most definitely cheaper than the rolled skirt

However may just build stand that allows for the bottom drains

Main reason I want bottom drains is I'm thinking it will make cleaning up much easier, much like emptying a bath or sink.

[Jocky]

Any thing that has hot wort sitting in it will get sanitised, but you may still need to unscrew the valve before boiling to ensure that its clean and sanitary if not enough heat gets to it.

Gas burners will quite often provide enough heat up around the side of the kettle to get the valve hot (but not always), electric systems usually don't.

[Kev888]

IMO its a good idea to make sure the outlet and tap is clean and disinfected before brew day. However, there can still be un-boiled wort sitting in the outlet piping if its long enough, the heat is probably sufficient to at least pasteurise it in many cases but it may help to (carefully!) run that out and run boiling wort through the piping and tap during the boil, recirculating it back into the boiler with a jug.

If you use a pump to empty the boiler its convenient to recirculate boiling wort for some time using that; it also helps disinfect the pump and hose - but relies on the pump being rated for the temperature and on your hop/break filter being able to cope. My old braid filter would block with fine break if I recirculated before letting the hops settle over it.post-boil.

WRT welding, if its a thin stock pot then very challenging unless you're an expert; I tried as an amateur tig welder and got lots of warpage and blown holes very easily on the thin stuff. FWIW, A simple stand, perhaps glued on if you feel the need, would be my preference.

Cheers
Kev

[BenB]

Yes, I think I'm heading towards a stand! Or just going for a thermopot... I guess the reason I didn't fancy a separate stand is I have to take my boiler etc into the house to clean it and if it's in one piece it's better. I guess some JB weld could cure gravity...

In the interim I think I'll use a pump I've got to recirculate a load of starsan the wrong way through the 4 piece valve (open) into the boiler. Especially with starsan's famous foaming action it should suffice. Save me having to take the entire thing apart each time.

I'm toying with keeping the side-take off but minimising the dead-space so anything left is almost entirely trub and hop matter so adding liqour to the FV won't make a difference. I've currently got a bazooka screen that sits on the boiler bottom- as soon as the water hits the top if the I/D of the connector it breaks the syphon. I'm thinking about blocking off the top half of the internal diameter of the connector piece so it has to drop half way before breaking the syphon. Should still flow okay....