I have moved to larger batches and have upgraded a couple of kettles with valves and pickup tubes. However my larger one doesn’t seem to allow me to drain below the level of the valve itself even when the tub is pointed down and submerged with liquid. What am I doing wrong and how can I correct this?
You have a hose attached to your valve that sits lower than the kettle right?
We had this problem right away when converting some kegs without knowing this. Just tried to test drain off three gallons of water without a tube. You need the hose below the bottom of the kettle to maintain suction. Is everything sealed up perfectly nice and tight? No leaks?
Actually I sometimes drain right from the valve opening so I suppose you’re telling me I can’t do this. Check. I have camlock fittings on the valve and I have a high temp hose I can put on it.
Also I think there might be a very slight leak at the brass compression fitting part of the elbow. I’ll tighten that.
The other aspect of this, it the pickup tube itself is kind of large diameter. I think its 3/8" or 1/2" tubing. My camlock QDs and drain tubing are slightly smaller diameter. Is that going to screw things up too?
Appreciate the help.
Check to make sure that you don’t have a leak, but I bet the high temp tubing will work for you.
I just wanted to be sure that the internal diameter of the pickup tube didn’t have to be as small or smaller than the outlet side of the drain. I’ll see about elevating the kettle enough so I can have a few feet of drop on the outlet hose.
Thanks people!
FWIW the my puck up tube is 1/2" ID and the barb on the QC for my valve is 3/8"ID.
