Electric Power For Boiler

[Gout]

i'm the same as you justin, electric HTL (kettle element) and gas wort, as of yet i hadn't found a electric element that wont burt the wort (ie kettle element will)

Once i find a big element with low watt/area i will switch over to electric there also

 

[user 384]

Ben

I use a 2400 immersion element, and there is definitely no "burning" of the wort. There will be some coloring of the wort, but this will happen no matter if you use gas or electricity because you're heating the sugars to 100C. But I would challenge anyone to be able to pick the difference between a wort boiled in my electric kettle as opposed to a gas kettle.

Cheers
MAH

 

[roach]

Ben,
I also use the immersion element and concur with MAH that there is no wort burning.

Using it to directly heat up the mash is another story altogether - its possible to do it without scorching but you have to be careful.

Roach

 

[Darren]

Ben

I use a 2400 immersion element, and there is definitely no "burning" of the wort.

Hey MAH,
Do you get a good rolling boil with the immersion element?
Darren

 

[Gout]

when i was saying kettle element i mean the water jug style, eg from a $10 kettle, you rip the element out.... i tried one of these and after one use is was caked with crap burnt to it, hence why i only use it in my HLT, looking for a large surface area electric element like Batz above

 

[bonk]

dumb question for people, how do you control the boil, i've got a wand of power and am thinking of using a fixed element. is it easy to wire up or get a friendly sparky to help out?

and once its at full boil can i turn it down or does it not matter and just let it go its hardest?

 

[Wax]

Looks like electric the definate winner.

Where do you get those "wand of power" thingamigigs?

 

[user 384]

Darren - For the batch size I'm doing I get a good rolling boil, ie starting off at just over 28ltrs and over 90mins boiling down to 22ltrs. The 2400w elemet is perfect for this.

Bonk - As above if your planning on doing similar size batches and using a 2400w element you will not need a power controller.

Cheers
MAH

 

[JasonY]

Batz do you think you could mount that same element without welding the threaded fitting to the keg? Don't have access to a welder so I would need to bolt it on somehow?

And as Ben asked how much was the sucker? Do they also sell simple controllers for them?

Thanks

 

[Batz]

Ben,
I remember it was $75.00 or so , thermostat was another $35.00 , delivered

I use it only on the HLT , I gas fire my kettle

Batz

 

[MCWB]

Hmm, at that price I wonder if it's not better to just murder a $15 cheapo kettle or two for their elements... Alternatively, Tobins have 2400W immersion heaters for $70.10, so you could use the one for both your HLT and kettle.

 

[Snow]

MAH,

how long does it take you to get the wort up to boiling using the immersion heater?

Cheers - Snow.

 

[roach]

Snow,
I use the same heater as MAH and it takes 30 minutes to get 28 litres up to a rolling boil

Roach

 

[Gout]

sounds cheap batz, dont know the size or mdl you bought? i will e-mail them

1.25inch bsp - water screw in immersion heater element ???? sound about right

 

[Justin]

Try talking to Stokes (www.stokes.com.au I think), I priced elements with them and remember a price of around $40-$50 I think. Just another option anyway.

Cheers. JD

 

[Tony M]

Some quick "round figure" sums here---I use around 1.5 kg. gas per brew and a 9kg bottle costs $3.00/kg to fill so thats $4.50 per brew.
A2400W element cost around $0.35/hr. to run and if it is going flat out for 2 1/2 hrs, thats less than $0.90 for a brew or a saving of $3.50 per cook.
If you do 25 brews per year, thats 88 bucks you save. Thats the element paid for in 10 months and the next year, you can buy some decent piss!

 

[nonicman]

around 30 minutes to boil with my immersion heater. The boil really is rolling so the wort is not in contact with the heater long enough to burn. Picked mine up at ESB Peakhurst around $99 (from memory).

I really like the look of Batz's setup.

 

[chiller]

i have kids - so i use electric as i dont want NASA flames and fumes around with the kids.

It makes you smile .... which is safest with kids...


A rotty or a Dobbermann.


A snake or a lizard.


a pigeon or a parrot.


heck I don't know.

However I would say the boiling wort is probably more concern than how you get it to boiling as far as safety is concerned.

Try a chain and an ankle strap .... that should keep them away from the brew area.


Gas any day ..... except if it runs out.


Steve.

 

[Batz]

Ben,
Model I can't remember , they had a few different threads , cheaper is a hot water service element.
I did not go that way but thinking back could be ok , it has a square flange and would only require a gasket to seal it , they must sell them too

 

[ausdb]

And as Ben asked how much was the sucker? Do they also sell simple controllers for them?

JasonY

In Perth give JG Thomas in Bayswater a try http://www.jgthomas.com.au/
When I worked for an electrcian we always used to buy replacement elements for hot water systems and ovens from them all the time. They should also be able to sort out thermostat/controls etc and maybe even some sort of bulkhead compression type mounting system.

HTH