Hot Liquor Tank

The Hot Liquor Tank (HLT) holds the water used for initial striking in the mash and for sparging. The design of my HLT is very simple since it was not necessary to automatically control the temperature of this water.

The tank itself is made from a 50 liter (13.3 gal) keg sold as a turkey fryer from Sabco. At the time, the keg was very cheap which is why I chose it over a standard 15.5 gal converted keg. For purposes of the HLT, this keg holds plenty of water for mash strike and sparging.

The HLT sits on a self supported 135,000 BTU high pressure propane cooker. This cooker used to be a 35,000 BTU cooker but I replaced the burner element with a high pressure element to save time. It makes a HUGE difference when heating water. If time is important, I would stay completely away from the low pressure burners. Personally, I found them woefully inadequate.

Since I pump water from the HLT, the vertical position of the HLT is not all that critical so long as the outlet is above in the inlet to the pump.

There is a built-in bimetal dial thermometer for reading the temperature of the water. This is a very handy feature since the HLT is not automatically temperature controlled. There is a tee fitting screwed into the drain port with one leg sticking straight out, the other pointing to the right. The thermometer has pipe threads on the back that screw into the tee. This puts the temperature probe a few inches into the interior of the HLT to read the temperature.

The other side of the tee that the thermometer was screwed into gets another tee fitting. This tee has one leg pointing straight out with the other pointing up. The port pointing up is for a sight tube to determine the actual amount of water in the HLT. This is especially useful for measuring strike water. The sight tube is made from PEX tubing which is designed for hot water lines on mobile homes and RV's. I used 1/2" PEX tube and screwed it directly into a 3/8" NPT female fitting with a couple of wraps of Teflon tape to get it to seal. Next, I filled my HLT in 1/2 gallon increments and marked the graduations on the sight tube with some clear stick on labels. At the top of the sight tube I installed a small shut off valve. The valve is necessary because when water is pumped out of the HLT, the level in the sight tube draws down and can actually be completely evacuated causing air to be drawn into the line. When the valve is closed, the draw down is prevented. When a reading needs to be taken, the flow needs to be stopped, then the sight tube valve opened, the reading is taken, the sight tube valve is closed, then the flow is started up again. It's sounds like a pain, but now that I'm used to it, it's not a big deal. The advantage of this design is that you can put all of the plumbing into one port and avoid putting an extra hole in your keg.

There is a ball valve on the other leg of the sight tube tee fitting. This is the valve for the inlet to the pump and turns the flow off and on out of the HLT. The valve is 3/8" NPT. There is a quick disconnect on the valve outlet for hose connections. For more information on the quick disconnect fittings, see the section on Plumbing.

Pending Changes

As of Fall, 2005, I have purchased a full 15.5 gallon keg for use as my HLT. I haven't taken photos yet but I will very soon. It has two couplings welded in. The first one has a siphon tube on the inside to drain almost all the water so I can make use of the full volume of the keg. It also allows faster heating of water because I don't have to fill it with 2 extra gallons to make up for the dead space. The outside of this coupling gets the drain valve. On the other coupling has a Site Tube Kit from Innovative Homebrew Solutions.