Going Electric. Any Advice?

[egolds77]

Those that are using electric elements that are fitted into their kettle, what model are they?

I read that the power density, area/watts, of the heating coil is an important factor so as to not sorch the wort. What are peoples thoughts on this that have gone electric.

What type of control are you using on the elements?

 

[Zizzle]

If you keep you elements clean you don't have to worry too much about scorching, even with $10 kettle elements.

With the brewbot I deliberately used 15amp cabling to reduce voltage drop. A few metres of 10amp extension lead can rob you of precious watts. Just feel it get warm.

 

[pb unleaded]

I installed a cheap kettle element in my HLT. It brings 40+ liters of cold water to boil in about an hour. I want to make another one for my kettle, (using gas atm.) The hardest part was drilling a hole.
I might use this one to boil wort in and compare it to gas.

arthur

Here's some pics:

 

[sqyre]

I agree with the some of the previous posts about your gas usage... It seems a bit steep.
I get at least 5 brews from my 3 ring burner with a 9kg swap and go. (+bbq's)

I also agree you might need to look at a wind shield or posssibly you might be choking your burn with too much sheilding...
If you are using a Keg for a kettle you need to drill a few holes around the ring at the bottom. About 6 at 20+mm works for me..
Without the holes the gas will choke due to the inability to vent the burnt gas and pull fresh O2 into the mix...

Heres a pic of mine with unrestricted burn..


Sqyre...

 

[jonw]

I agree with the some of the previous posts about your gas usage... It seems a bit steep.
I get at least 5 brews from my 3 ring burner with a 9kg swap and go. (+bbq's)

I also agree you might need to look at a wind shield or posssibly you might be choking your burn with too much sheilding...
If you are using a Keg for a kettle you need to drill a few holes around the ring at the bottom. About 6 at 20+mm works for me..
Without the holes the gas will choke due to the inability to vent the burnt gas and pull fresh O2 into the mix...

Yeah, I'm going to put some more effort into making my gas setup more efficient before I splash out for an element.

I have a beerbelly Italian spiral burner - it comes with a stand that (I would have thought) should provide plenty of airflow to allow O2 in. However, maybe the concave base of the keg prevents adequate circulation. In the first place, I'm going to get some aluminium sheet (1.2mm should do the job), make a decent wind break, and see how that improves things.

I'd imagine that if the gas is choking, I'll be able to tell because I won't be able to get a decent blue flame. At the moment I find that, with the burner turned up sometimes the flames don't burn all the way down to the nozzle i.e. there's a gap between nozzle and flame. Is that also a lack of Oxygen?

Cheers,

Jon

 

[jonw]

I have a beerbelly Italian spiral burner - it comes with a stand that (I would have thought) should provide plenty of airflow to allow O2 in. However, maybe the concave base of the keg prevents adequate circulation. In the first place, I'm going to get some aluminium sheet (1.2mm should do the job), make a decent wind break, and see how that improves things.

Well, I picked up an offcut of aluminium sheet yesterday and made a windbreak. Much more efficient, in that a could maintain a rolling boil with a much lower flame. I think I'll stick with this for the time being and see how much gas I'm using.

 

[sqyre]

When i first got my 3 ring and used it on a keg it didn't exactly "choke" but it was restricted in some way as the flames would like "pool" under the base.
A bit like rolling around underneath and then big wafts of orange flame would randomly overflow up the sides of the keg.

After i drilled a few holes in the bottom ring i got nothing but lovely strong blue flame...

i know a few holes doesn't seem like much but it made a massive difference for me...

Anyhoo, good luck with it.. :icon_cheers:

Sqyre...