"There has been so much disscusion on the topic of water heater element installation and placement in a keg that I figgered it was time to give my opinion with some pics to back it up, now with that said, remember I said ---my opinion. The possibilities are as endless as the members of a stillin website.
I'm gonna point out the parts needed and where I placed mine so have a read and lets see if I can get the point across.

this thinking can be altered to install in any type boiler - copper - stainless keg - or whatever you can weld to.."

"This is how the coupling screws onto the element but its not tightened of course but you get the picture...and of course the coupling will be welded to the keg.

"

"And just a closeup of the weld....


So now you know what it looks like and the components you need, and the terminology to order what you need to make this work.
Its really that simple!"

"
And this has been talked about before too...if you look at the bottom of the keg you see results of fire or burning and thats because I use the turkey fryer to help get up to cooking temp and then turn the fire off and use just the element for cooking. One element will heatup but it takes longer so I push it up there with the fryer gas so it dosen't take as long to get there."

"I want to add a few more pics to help get the idea across just in case I babble too much....this is the RSC'er I use, you can see its a 15 amp model but I couldn't find an actual name on it. It has the full power setting and a variable setting. And in the variable mode you use the dial to adjust the power up or down for more or less applied heat. I had to make that little pigtail but no big deal it wires to the element and plugs iinto the controller and the controller plugs into the receptical
"

"From the pics in the previous post you can see that when I installed the wire to the element I just screwed it to the element. I just made this and it seems to be a little safer and easier to hook up and get ta cooking.
The appliance is just a female for making a extention cord and I used 12 gauge wire that I had laying around, it is wire that is in your house (Romex I think) It's solid not multi-strand which is what I had before and it just seemed to flex and wiggle a little too much. Now it really solid and I just plug it in and I'm off and runnin. Also I used Scotty's idea with the ground wire and a hose clamp right to the SS coulpling. Works like champ.
"

"And the results of a little test to show how safe this method is -- 7.18 amps / 95 volts on a 110v/30 amp circut, this is in the collection mode after heatup.

In this pic I'm putting the tester electrodes right to the element screws for the reading
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And in this pic I have the amp jaws around the black wire to get the amp reading
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Still pretty darn safe on any outlet you choose, in the garage or the barn or the back porch."

Nice thread heeler. I've got a 58 L keg pot that has 2 elements. The one at the 13 L level is a 2000 watt and the one at the 20 L level is a 1500 watt. Once I get my wash going what would you suggest for temp control. I've just been shutting the 2000 watt down but got to thinking I might be better off just reducing both and maybe keeping a a more dissipated heat. Any ideas?

heeler, I'm running a 4000 watt SCR controller (chinese) on each element. I'm running 220v into the controller box and then split it off to each of the controllers for the 110 elements. I can control each one from 20 volt to 120 volt independently. Sounds like you're doing well with just one element after you get up to temp so I'll continue doing the same. Which element do you have your controller on? The low or high position. I get better control with my 1500 watt element so I've been using it for the cook stage. I read an article that the chinese controllers are way over rated as far as wattage rating so I went to the higher rated units. I've done half a dozen runs with them and 2 full out stripping runs and they didn't heat up any more than the Canadian model I had on my 8 gallon rig. Thanks again for the post. Enjoyed it.

"I can't say I like it better than the others, one thing I don't like with that one is the sweat from the condenser runs down the copper and hits that connection (where it's soldered to the beak ) and lets water drip into my collection jug. It's not the end of the world but it's just something to think about.
I just use whichever one my hand lands on when I'm setting up to make a run. I like em all since I made em all......"