Crown urn wont heat over 49 deg.

[Black Devil Dog]

Tonight my brew night turned to shit.

I was going to try a stepped mash tonight for a Pilsner I've wanted to have a crack at since I started BIAB.

Below is the mash schedule copied from Beersmith.

Acid Rest: 35.0c 5min
Protein Rest: 52.0 C 15 min
Saccharification 1: 63.0 C 45 min
Saccharification 2: 72.0 C 30 min
Mash Out: 78.0 C 10 min

Well, my piece of shit Crown urn couldn't even get the temp above 49 degrees. I even had the temp control cranked to 110 deg, but the thermostat just kept cutting in and out at 49 deg.

I persevered for about an hour, but decided to give up and watched the footy and cricket instead.

Warranty claim coming up after 8 batches. :angry2:

 

[Ross]

Sounds like your urn may need a clean...
Try cleaning the raised centre at the bottom of the urn (assuming it's a concealed element version).

 

[Black Devil Dog]

Thanks for your reply Ross. It is a concealed element.

I thoroughly clean the urn after every batch, even got Gumption on to it to get rid of some difficult to remove residue after my last brew day.

 

[seamad]

The only time mine cutout like that was with similar mash schedules and with wheat/rye in the mix. Easy fix is to make yourself a very long handled scrubber to give the element a clean if required. The furry stuff from the proteins will insulate the element and cause the cutout to kick in. I bypassed the cutout on mine and promptly burnt out the element, although others have had success with doing this.

edit
The easiest way to clean the element is put some cleaning soda ( cheap from woolies) or PBW with some water and boil hard, most of the hard crud comes off without any hard work.

 

[lukiferj]

Pretty sure I have read a few times that it's always going to be tough to mash that low in an urn. Too much gunk sticks to the element so it just cuts out. I have a crown urn exposed element and have never tried mashing in this low for that reason.

 

[QldKev]

As you probably found out by now, you cannot do an acid rest with the concealed element in contact with the wort otherwise this happens; shit gets burnt onto the element and acts as an insulator. Even at a protein rest temperature it can still be an issue. I know a couple of people have a long handled brush that scrubs the element after each of the lower temperature rests.

 

[Black Devil Dog]

Easy fix is to make yourself a very long handled scrubber to give the element a clean if required. The furry stuff from the proteins will insulate the element and cause the cutout to kick in.

I have had to do this before, I tied a scourer to my mash paddle and gave the element cover a clean during the boil because the thermostat kept cutting out.

 

[Black Devil Dog]

Pretty sure I have read a few times that it's always going to be tough to mash that low in an urn. Too much gunk sticks to the element so it just cuts out. I have a crown urn exposed element and have never tried mashing in this low for that reason.

As you probably found out by now, you cannot do an acid rest with the concealed element in contact with the wort otherwise this happens; shit gets burnt onto the element and acts as an insulator. Even at a protein rest temperature it can still be an issue. I know a couple of people have a long handled brush that scrubs the element after each of the lower temperature rests.

Thanks for that, I wasn't aware that it would be a problem. I have had issues getting a rolling boil in the past and overcome it as posted above. Might scrap the stepped mash and try again today.

Live and learn.

 

[tonyt]

I had same problem, then i began this process. After each batch I clean most of the shit off with scratch less scourer, then use a little car polish on it and make sure no residue is left behind. On brew day, I spray a smudge of food grade silicon on my finger and "very lightly" coat the element cover with it.
Have done about 6 brews this way and have not had problem again. No ill effects to taste.......that I can notice anyway. After use the element cover has a very light thin grey coating on it as opposed to the dark brown burnt type colour it had previously.

 

[Black Devil Dog]

Retraction time.

I've cleaned up after last night and put about 15 litres of water into the urn. I'm getting a good boil, so it's not a fault with the Crown urn as I wrote previously. (A limitation, yes).

 

[Truman42]

Not really a limitation but a safety factor. Remember they weren't designed for boiling anything else other than water.

I always do a step mash with a protein rest but use my mash paddle to scrape the element cover if I hear the urn cutting in and out. I generally only have problems whilst raising to the boil although once or twice its cut out half way through the boil.

Considered removing the cut out but have heard too many story's of burnt out elements to bother risking it.

Tonyt's idea of using food grade silicone on the cover sounds like a good idea.