Boiling in a plastic bin

[RegBadgery]

If you're doing a full boil there are a number of options for heating the wort, such as stove, outdoor gas cooker or immersion heater.

If your stove can't provide sufficient energy, or you don't have a portable gas cooker, or lack a large enough pot/boiler, you may wish to investigate boiling in plastic using an immersion element.

Food grade HDPE plastic buckets are designed to be able to handle temperatures up to and even above boiling point - (120 Deg. C for short periods, 110 Deg. C continuously) - see http://www.bibby-sterilin.com/cat/azlon/hdpe.htm

Birko 2300 watt immersion elements provide an excellent heat source and are available for around $55 from the Sydney distributor (Goldcrest International Agencies Ph (02) 9642 8288) - contact details for other states at

http://www.birko.com.au/form.html

An image of an immersion element/bucket combination can be viewed at the ESB equipment page

http://www.esbeer.com.au/category24_1.htm

Note the length of wood supporting the element - this prevents it from touching the base of the bucket..

I use an ordinary hdpe bucket without a spigot. Once the wort is cooled, I rack using a syphon device.

Apart from hbs stores, hdpe buckets are available from other outlets such as beekeeping supply stores.

Victoria
http://www.contact.com.au/beehive/

ACT
http://www.bindaree.com.au/index.htm

Queensland
http://www.superiorbee.com.au/default.htm

I also recently spotted this site - a range of food grade bins - some 60-80 litres in capacity. (click on food grade bins, under the food grade plastics section)

http://www.aaclaim.com.au/products.html

cheers
reg