KISS boil kettle lid

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Sbond10

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Had a few people ask about my boil kettle lid inside my shed. Well to put it simply its a sheet of marine grade plywood and a bunch of pvc tubes. The main points are its cheap to make and doesnt need any special cutting tools.

What you need

A sheet of marine grade ply at least 12mm thick and 3-5cm bigger than your kettle opening. Ask on freeagle you may strike lucky.

3 x 90 degree 32mm pvc elbow s

3 metres 32mm pvc pipe

32mm wood spade bit

Yacht varnish - im currently using screwfix no nonesense yacht varnish gloss it seems to be working. Ive used ronseal that was ok. You will need to recoat once every 12-18months or i did after using the ronseal, the screw fix stuff seems stronger. Sidenote dont use wilkos its ****

Drill bits, sand paper, a scrap of wood, your choosen cutting tool, drill, paint brush

Finally

Karate kid the movie

The build

So to start look at your wood nicest side upwards, rougher side downwards. Place your wood on the ground, lay your kettle on top trace around the rim, remove kettle now you should have a perfect circle.

Next you want to find the centre do this by finding the midway point of each side then join up till they meet in middle this is your centre of the circle. Next get your scrap of wood cut it so its the maximum width of your desired lid, then drill a hole in one end so you can just squeeze a pencil in and the other end put a screw in, screw this into your centre point gently (i should point out you want to do this to the side that) isnt going to face boiling liquid. Now trace your circle. You should now have two circles.

Now lift your wood onto your cutting bench. Remember rough side down nice side up- this should have your circles on any way. I used a jigsaw with a fine blade set to the slowest speed. Go slowly it will stop the wood splitting. I also straight cuts in at 12, 3.6,9 oclock so i didnt have as much wood hanging gave me a rest too.

Once you cut your circle you can rub out your smaller one. And sand down your edges. Next locate your 12 o clock point measure about ten cm inwards mark here (this is all dependant on your lid size mines 50cm lid) now draw a line across (so tbis would be the 11 o clock and one.o clock positions) now cut this across so you should have a big D and little D. Once again sand your new edges.

Now get your big D mark about 10cm inwards from the round edge mark this this will be your first hole from this i marked about 10cm each way. This will be were your second and third holes will be. Now get your spade bit and drill 3 x 32mm holes.

Next get your pvc straight pipe you want 3 x 3 inch tails cutting off and then 3 x what ever the distance to the shed is plus about 15cm. Now put your tail into the elbow and the other length in the other side. Do this with the other pipes. And now test fit it should be nice n snug. Remove this pipes.

Now go get karate kid the movie

I anit gonna teach you how to varnish wood but its boring and takes about 6-8 coats then about a week to properly cure

You should now have a complete kiss lid

Any questions fire away

Cheers sean
 

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Looks a nice job. Learner question...why have a lid? I think I read somewhere to leave it off for the boil to let something "undesirable" escape... can't remember what...
 
If i dont have a lid my shed turns to a sauna also reduces gas usage

Yes the old theory was dms could build up but ive used this lid for ten brews without an issue

I should point out when you drill your holes in shed wall you want them on a slight angle so condenstation and rubbish can dribble out side not back in. Only a slight slope
 
Looks a nice job. Learner question...why have a lid? I think I read somewhere to leave it off for the boil to let something "undesirable" escape... can't remember what...

DMS and you're dead right. Lid most definitely off during the boil.
 
As said ive done ten brew with this lid.
All you have to do is look at pro brewerys alot have lids on with a slight slope to a drainage hatch and then straight up or straight down with a water jet to condenstate and contain smells.

Its your own choice but i wanted a simple approach something that stopped my shed turning into a sauna.
I stole and adapted the concept mainly from a local micro. Now as i said more are doing because of the small foot print of these brewerys and last thing you want is a sauna when you have a pallet of malt in the same room.
Plus i now on average use 4 litres less water and only require the boiler to be on half throttle rather than full bore
 
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