Electric Hlt Set Up

[Joel]

It couldn't be any worse than the millions upon millions of plastic kettles out there. Sure, they don't boil for 90mins at a time, but over their life the time the plastic is exposed to boiling liquid is huge.

It's really the same argument as Aluminium v. Brass v. Stainless. Just add Plastic in there.

Horse for courses I guess.

 

[T.D.]

I may be wrong, but isn't there a difference between boil-proof plastic and regular plastic? Kettles are obviously made to contain boiling water. I'm not so sure carboys are made with the same thing in mind though. I have no real scientific knowledge of plastic so maybe somebody who does can give a definitive answer, but I think "plastics ain't plastics".

Having said that, I'm sure the carboys are fine - they are food grade afterall. They shouldn't excrete any dodgy harmful chemicals in theory. I think the call for caution comes from the fact that they are not designed to have boiling water or wort in them for 90mins. Whether that means they "can" or "cannot" ultimately cope with these conditions, in my opinion, is another entirely different story.

 

[Hawko777]

Hi Folks,

Just to add my 2 cents worth regarding the plastic HLT and Boilers. I too wanted to increase production quantities to 50L but couldn't find a plastic container suitable, for it has to be FOOD SAFE grade for starters. I contacted and subsequently visited a manufacturer of all types of plastic products and got the low down. He stated that plastic ( food safe ) had a max working temp of 72 Deg
before it starts to break down. Now most of these containers are blow moulded, hence, they have a seem running down the length of the container. That can split, which wouldn't be nice if you are anywhere near it at the time. The only plastic containers that are suitable for 72Deg C temps and above are PASTURIZED HDPE.
I myself am opting for a 18Gallon S/S keg from a steel salvage yard. Bore a hole in the side and insert a 5500watt element hooked up to a PLC with digital readout.
This is only for a HLT, my boiler is heated buy a big 3 ring gas burner.
Happy brewing guys :beerbang:

Hawko

 

[Andyd]

For those of us using jiffy boxes to shroud the externals of the heating element...

If you're worried about it being waterproof, grab yourself a tube of engineering silicone from Bunnings. It's rated to 220 degrees (and bursts of up to 265). It's even food grade for occasional contact.

I've used it to deal up the element gasket (on the external side :0 )... works a treat.

Andy

 

[Darren]

Joel,
Make sure you store that fermenter inside the house. I know someone who USED to store their fermenters outside. He lost a whole batch oneday because the sunlight had weakened the plastic. When he filled it and tried to move it the damn thing split.
Could be catastrophic with hot wort in it.
cheers
Darren

 

[Tony]

I have posted these before

3600W HWS element

Clipsal IP65 water tight box

all mounted in a 50 liter keg.

cheers

Will bring 50 liters to 80Deg in under an hour

 

[Charlie]

Well,

from what you guys have told me here, I think I will wait a little longer and save up to get the stock pot. With 2 small children, my brewing hours are few enough to watse on having to chase down new plastic containers to boil in.

Thanks for your help fellas and happy brewing

 

[ntboozer]

I'll have to pop into BigW to grab a couple ...

I'm also interested in the container they will be going into ... cheers

Charlie

[post="95031"][/post]​

Charlie,
Mine are being fitted into a 50lt SS vessel. I hope to get stuck into this project over the weekend so will post some pics if/when it is done.
Cheers
nt
:beer:

 

[sintax69]

2 things with the belle the part on the housing where the switch used to push on can be cut away, just leaving the round section makes for easier fitting there is also a small hole 1.5 mm on the bottom of the round that can be used for mounting

More important is if you use a keg earth it to ground as these elements where designed for double insulated equipment therefore the earth in the element housing goes nowhere .One easy way to earth it is just uses a 3pin plug with a earth wire connected in the plug and the wire connected to the keg and plug it into a GPO

 

[Wortgames]

This is a much easier way to convert a keg-like vessel:



It uses a 2400w spiral urn element (less than $30 from memory, from a grimey little back-street element shop. Try the yellow pages).

Just drill 2 holes, mount, solder some wires on and seal with heatshrink tubing. The terminals extend a bit lower than the bottom rim, so I've added rubber feet to increase the clearance.

 

[redbeard]

wortgames, sorry, my brain at this point cant remember if u posted this before, how did u make your sight glass ?

cheers

 

[Wortgames]

I made it by getting Moving Brews (R.I.P.) to send it over with the pump a few years ago

Seriously, I reckon there is an easy way to make a sight glass that seems to have been overlooked - why not just use a length of silicone tubing? All you would need is a right angle of some sort of pipe at each end, either plumbing fittings or stainless pipe welded to the HLT. A couple of hose clamps to secure the silicone tubing in place and you're away.

 

[redbeard]

ok, another question

im trying to decide whether the pickup tube should go to the lowest part of the ss vessel, or be about the same height as the element. the former means you might be initially picking up slightly colder water due to stratification. the latter means the element is always covered, preventing it from burning out.

of course, i could just be over thinking this, but then i think im among friends

 

[warrenlw63]

I made it by getting Moving Brews (R.I.P.) to send it over with the pump a few years ago

Seriously, I reckon there is an easy way to make a sight glass that seems to have been overlooked - why not just use a length of silicone tubing? All you would need is a right angle of some sort of pipe at each end, either plumbing fittings or stainless pipe welded to the HLT. A couple of hose clamps to secure the silicone tubing in place and you're away.

[post="95312"][/post]​

Here's a tightarse (or as the Yanks call it ghetto) sight-tube.

Don't even need to weld. This one took me about 30 mins to put together from a few dollars of Bunnings bits. I just used some 9mm racking hose. Roughly about 80c per length and lasts for about a dozen brews. Just change the hose when it becomes cloudy. Takes 5 mins.

There are prettier installations but this is just as effective. :lol:

BTW Readbeard. If you run your pickup tube to the bottom of the HLT it's easier to completely drain rather than having to lift it off after your session. That said if you're only building a 1 or 2 tier stand this is not as important. Mine's 3-tier and lifting down a HLT with 5 or more litres of water in it is a pain. <_< So needless to say mine drains down to about the last 500ml.

Warren -

 

[warrenlw63]

Couple more pics.

 

[Wortgames]

From a purely theoretical point of view, I'd say put your pickup as high as you can while still still being able to get at the volume you need.

Water stratifies with temperature so if your element is mounted in the side of the pot, you will have a few litres of cooler water underneath it.

If your element is thermostatically controlled, it is easy to forget about turning it off so it is definitely worthwhile keeping it submerged.

Warren's point about draining is a good one though, the higher your pickup the more water gets left behind. You could go for a separate drain valve if you were really keen.

 

[warrenlw63]

The volume on my sight-guage stops at 15 litres. I always turn the element off regardless after this. Nearly did what WG said one day and left it running. Luckily I woke up to the fact before any damage was done. IIRC my element is at about the 10 litre mark.

One good feature with elements (though I removed mine) is a boil-dry cutout switch that knocks the elements out once they reach a certain temperature. It's just a thin strip of metal located in the element housing that turns on and off with tempature changes.

I removed mine a few years back when I was using them to boil wort. They'd cut out at regular intervals most likely due to wort density.

They may be worth leaving on as a safety feature if they're only for HLT duties. :beerbang:

Warren -

 

[Wortgames]

I use my HLT as the heat exchanger for my HERMS system, so I have a decent temperature controller for it (which can also control a fridge the rest of the time).

The beauty of this is that you can set a timer (or even turn it on before you go to bed) and you've got perfect strike temp water ready to go first thing in the morning. I usually get up early, dough in with bleary eyes, then refill the HLT and let it come up to sparge temp while the mash is doing it's thing and I'm having a shower and breakfast. Having an 'automatic' HLT saves a huge amount of time, I wouldn't be without it now.

I've also put a float valve in it, so it will fill itself too. The float valve has some tubing attached to it to direct the incoming water to the bottom of the HLT. This converts the HLT into a counterflow wort chiller after the boil.

:beer:

 

[Andyd]

I put together a sight guage with Polycarb tubing, which worked (mostly) fine.

In the electrically heated HLT, the temperature never gets hot enough to send the PCT into thermo-plastic mode (which would make it sag and bend).

In the boiler though, due to the additional heat of the burner, the tube sags significantly but never melts as such.

Solution: a length of 1/2" copper tube, slotted down the middle by an angle grinder. Slide the PCT up the middle and seal it into a flanged elbow fitting using Selleys 401 as a sealant.

So far it works a treat! (just doesn't look quite as spiffy as a commercially built one).

Andy