Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:02 am
It depends.
Typically the valve is mounted above the false bottom, with a piece of tubing from the valve through the FB to the bottom of the pot. This is done to reduce the deadspace below the FB and increase your mash capacity. If you don't care about that, then I'd guess you could mount the coupler as low as possible on the kettle with the FB above it as you say. If you are attaching anything on the inside of the valve coupler, you probably want to leave at least a quarter of an inch clear from the inside bottom of the pot to the coupler.
The distance from the valve coupler to the thermo coupler will depend on the thermo and valve that you are using. Blichmann's standard dial thermo has a 3" dia face, so you may need 3" between the centers of the coupler holes. The blichmann thermos with an adjustable viewing angle could be rotated to require less clear space.
I'd recommend you have all the pieces in hand before you start drilling holes and mounting the couplers. That way you know exactly how much space you need for the specific components you are using.
Chris Graham wrote: "What do I do with this?"
Justin wrote: "Just blow."
