Electric keggle HLT build - Part 1

Thought I would post some details on my electric keggle HLT conversion. Not finished yet but close. I've found reading over peoples other blogs/threads really useful, particularly those from NZ, so hopefully this is useful to someone thinking of doing the same.

Fittings from left to right: Element, sightglass & thermowell for sensor, tap (to be swapped for a ball valve), and dial thermometer (not yet drilled in the pic). All of the plumbing fittings are from aliexpress. I haven't bothered to tidy up the outside of keg since it is going to be covered in insulation eventually, although I'm still hunting around for something that would do get reasonable result on my kettle.

Currently all weldless but I will probably get fittings welded on later. For the holes I started with a cheap step drill set from Topmaq, but it didn't go great - my $20 drill has no torque so it wasn't easy to keep the speed down so I blunted a couple of the steps, I ended up filing past one of them. It was also clear that each step was getting exponentially hotter and slower past ~16mm and 32mm was a long long long way to go, so I coughed up for a 20mm and 32mm chassis punch from SaecoWilson, $80 for both. Definitely the right tool for the job although you still need some sort of drill bit to do the 10mm & 20mm pilot holes and the 20mm hole really needed to be 21mm so it took a little filing.

A cheaper option another brewer down this way has had great results with is a cheap (Fuller) bi-metal hole saw for $7 + arbour, even if only lasted a single hole it would still be cheaper than the route I took. Probably just need to get one ~2mm smaller than you want and file out the difference since it isn't as tidy but the stainless is easier to file than I was expecting.

The pot lid is an aluminium stock pot lid from Southern Hospitality and really nice and solid, only $24. The one in the photo is from the 24l pot which is as big as you would want to go. I also have one from the 20l pot which fits a little easier inside the rim of the keg. Only grumble is the handle gets too hot to hold onto so I've engineered a plastic wrap for it.

Grinding the top off the keg was really easy and didn't come out too bad for a first attempt. I used a $24 grinder from Topmaq and two 100mmx1mm cutting discs were just enough to finish the cut. I just used a loop of string to draw a line at the right diameter and freehanded with the grinder. All it took to tidy the cut was a metal file and regular sand paper. Was surprised how well the sandpaper worked. Strange how stainless can be both tough and soft at the same time.

The element is a 2kw Camco and the install is the same as theelectricbrewery.com with everything ordered through Amazon, except I've used an aluminium box and grommet from Jay car instead of the outlet box they use. (See Reuben's brewtroller blog post). Glad I went this way since it is cheaper, less fiddling, and no waiting on Amazon (why so slow compared to Aliexpress?) only down side is the thicker wall of the box doesn't leave a heap of thread to attach the nut.

The cable is just an old IEC computer cable with 1.0mm2 cores which should be fine for a 2kw element, although it is a little stiff to move around so I will probably swap it for heavier duty and softer V90 appliance cable once I've gotten over how much I've spent already :-).