G'day guys.
I purchased one of those 2200W elements from Craftbrewer this week, and will add it to a 30 ltr urn. The urn is great, was cheap, just takes too long to heat strike water, sparge water, boil etc.
How high above the current element would you put it. Current element is concealed, this one will be exposed and run horizontally.
Can't tell you current element Watt I'm afraid.
Edit: current element 1800W
Any help appreciated
Cheers
Hi,
There's a couple of problems to be aware of if you haven't worked with these things before.
Firstly most urns have very thin walls & while its easy to drill smaller holes in them a 32mm one is another matter. If you haven't done it before I'd find someone who has, or you might tear & bend the hole beyond repair. Secondly the hole you need is "approximately" 32mm & when I fitted my element into my pot, I had to enlarge the hole with a file to make it fit. Again if you've got a vessel with a substantial wall thickness this isn't a problem but if it doesn't you should probably beg, borrow, or buy a Dremel to do it if you don't own one already.
If you do decide to drill the hole yourself make sure you have a piece of timber shaped to the inside curve of the urn as a backing to drill into.
Put the element as low as you can, the 32mm hole & the urn's element cover will be your best guide. Do you want to take the urn's element cover off for cleaning after each brew? It will be a real pita if you have to keep removing the CB element to get it off each time because its to close, & might give you problems with the seal starting to leak.
One option you might consider as an alternative if your going to do BIAB is make a heat-stick with the element, you can then initially use it to heat the strike-water up quickly & then again later for the boil-off. This will give your bag & mash more depth to float around in and not get snagged on. Try to make a clip or restraint to hold the heat-stick in place in the pot so you just can't pull it out without thinking about what your doing, meaning: switching it off first
.
Thirdly, if you do fit the element into the urn try to tie the urn & element power plugs together if possible, with a warning label that reminds you which is which, & to check water is in the urn before you turn them on. Two leads supplying power to one vessel has Murphy ready to strike every hour of your brew day.
It all reads a bit negative but my main point is not to rush into cutting the hole & maybe stuffing up the urn
.
