HLT

Hot Liquor Tank

No liquor in here, just treated water. I never did figure out why they call it a "Hot Liquor Tank".

There is a 170,000 BTU propane burner located under this 15 gallon vessel made from a 15 gallon stainless steel keg. All fittings on the keg are 1/2" stainless steel fittings which I had welded in place by a professional welder who specializes in stainless welding.

The site glass is marked in half gallon increments so I can tell how much water I have left and, when drawing the strike water, I can tell precisely how much I am using.

I live in Wilsonville Oregon where our Mayor has forced us to have sewer water pumped from the Willamette river into our pipes so we don't use that stuff!!! I brew with Crystal Springs bottled water. At times I borrow well water from my parents and filter it. In either case the water gets treated to have the right amount of hardness and PH and then gets heated to the correct temperature here.

Here is the inside view. The keg has had the top cut out using a plasma cutter. The edge is so smooth that I couldn't cut myself on it if I wanted to.

You can see the temperature probe on the right and the copper plumbing which allows me to drain almost all of the water. Due to the round shape of the bottom of the keg, the fitting for the ball valve is to high to drain all the water out. The copper plumbing you see is threaded into the fitting and drains out all but about 1/2 cup of water.