120l Kettle - It Just Wont Boil

[gruntus]

I just scored a second hand 120L stainless steel pot for $50 buck off ebay...

The plan is to replace my keggle so I can do full size double batches. I gave it a test run...60Litres of water...2 x 2400W immersion heaters (over the side pail type)...and after 1.5 hours it could only get to 99 degrees...no boil...

I have not key tried to insulate it...I used a $5 camping mat on the keggle...is this best type of insulating material?

I want to stick with electric and was hoping that anyone with a similar sized kettle might have some suggestions/tips on the best elements to get it to a good rolling boil.

Gruntus

 

[~MikE]

I just scored a second hand 120L stainless steel pot for $50 buck off ebay...

The plan is to replace my keggle so I can do full size double batches. I gave it a test run...60Litres of water...2 x 2400W immersion heaters (over the side pail type)...and after 1.5 hours it could only get to 99 degrees...no boil...

I have not key tried to insulate it...I used a $5 camping mat on the keggle...is this best type of insulating material?

I want to stick with electric and was hoping that anyone with a similar sized kettle might have some suggestions/tips on the best elements to get it to a good rolling boil.

Gruntus

I imagine if you'd ever tried say a nasa burner, you'd be less inclined to stick with electric... 2X2400W is A LOT of power, you might be bottlenecked at your power source maybe (i'm not a sparky so not sure how these things work)

 

[razz]

I would have thought that at 99 degrees it would look like it was starting to boil, is your thermo accurate? I guess that's besides the point, if you get hold of a calculation for energy required to boil that much water you should know your heating element requirments.

 

[Adamt]

I guess that's besides the point, if you get hold of a calculation for energy required to boil that much water you should know your heating element requirments.

Not really, you need to be able to quantify heat loss and factor that in.

 

[enoch]

I used to get 60litres to boil no prob with two 2400W jug elements so it is entirely doable.
Are both of your immersion units working? Has one died or the circuit its one tripped?

 

[Adamt]

in a 120L vessel there would be greater surface area contact for heat loss through the vessel, as well as a larger liquid surface for heat loss.

Insulation will help, I'm guessing you can't lid it due to the elements?

 

[Tony]

I think the higher the temp gets, the less efficient your electric elements will get. It will get to a point where you need to pile loads of power in to make up for losses.

I tried to boil 45 liters in my 50 liter HLT once. It had a 3600W element in it. It heats up to 75 fast but then struggled to raise temp with speed over about 90 deg.

Go gas! A Nasa or a big Mongolian will eat it up!

I use a small 10 jet MOngolian under 40 liters and it does it no problems. My 23 jet one is too big for a 65 to 70 liter boil. I have to turn it down to an orange flame to stop it boiling over. One of these would shit it in under 100 liters id say.

http://www.auscrown.com/commjetbrn.php

But direct and save! Same power as a Nasa but run on low pressure reg and not as loud.

cheers

 

[gruntus]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Enoch, the 2 elements are still OK...Just did a 45L batch in the keggle yesterday. I'm hoping the no boil issue will be solved when i put some insulation around the pot. Are you using any insulation?

 

[enoch]

I use gas under a 100 litre pot now but the two jug elements were in a plastic BOD with no lid.
Surface area and mass would have been lower. Insulation and a butchered lid to allow for the elements should be the go.

 

[gruntus]

Thanks Enoch...I'll see what difference the camping mat will make.

Thanks for the link Tony...Those jet burners look pretty impressive...what sort of regulator do you need to power those?

 

[Tony]

same as on the BBQ mate......... they are a low pressure burner.

cheers

 

[raven19]

Our 100L kettle had 70 odd litres preboil and 2 x 2400 W ceramic elements, and got a boil no problems.

No insultation either just a lid until the boil was reached.

More info/pics here...
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...mp;#entry405869

 

[Guest Lurker]

The lid is the likely issue. The closer you get to the boil, the more water molecules are escaping from the top and taking energy with them. The more you persuade them to pop back in and give you that energy back, the better chance of a boil, instead of that slowing and slowing and more slowing of the temp ramp rate as you approach boil.

So I suspect a lid would get you to the boil, but I also suspect that when you take that lid half off during the boil to let volatiles like DMS escape, you will struggle to get the vigour of boil you need.

 

[Yorg]

How certain are you that they are in fact 2400W?

 

[gruntus]

How certain are you that they are in fact 2400W?

The elements are Grimwood 4108B....they both work as well as when 1st used.

 

[Tony]

Oh....... love your name Gruntus :super:

 

[gruntus]

Oh....... love your name Gruntus :super:

:icon_cheers: ....one of those nick names that just stuck

 

[gruntus]

Added insulation to sides of kettle and a lid (kitchen bench offcut) and now get from 20 degrees to boil in 75 minutes.

With the lid off it only just manages to keep a slow boil....with the lid covering 3/4 of the kettle I get a vigourous boil.

Is it OK to keep the lid covering 3/4 of the kettle for the entire boil....The DMS(or other nasties) should be able to escape.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[///]

Despite all the observations of the temp probe, what did the actual wort in kettle look like??? Did we see a rolling boil??? Did we see the boil foam and rise as the protein danced till about 15 minutes in???

The bigger the boil the better the beer. Period. The harsh action helps as we know better isomerise the hops, bash the proteins and aid in the required evaporation.

My 1200l kettle has a man way to vent approx 50cm across a near 1.5m wide tank. No need to worry about the size of the lid, just apply the necessary heat! DMS = BAHHHHHH!

Scotty

 

[Guest Lurker]

The bigger the boil the better the beer. Period. Scotty

Indeedly