Heating Alternatives

[citizensnips]

Firstly its been a long time since i've been on here so howdy all. Secondly after previously being an extract brewer.....Im done with all that, my gear got dirty and old so Im ready to jump into all grain. I've brewed enough and always read up on All grain in the past so at the moment I'm really trying to nut it all out in my head before I go blowing coin. Firstly my idea is to do a gravity fed 3 tier system. For boiling water I'm thinking about purchasing one of these bad boys here. The main reason over a standard CUB Keg and gas burner is because for the effort of getting the keg up and running with all the fittings and so forth and spending the cash to do so, I like buying something I know is going to work properly and for the difference of $50, it definitely seems worth it to me. But more importantly I'll be able to heat this up on my electric stove (saving the use of gas). Fortunately for me I have some intense electric stove that is capable of boiling a hell of a lot of water really fast. So basically I could heat it up and carry it to the brew rig to sit in down and gravity feed the water into the MLT (eliminate buying a gas burner and the cost of gas) So basically what I'm thinking is how could I possibly create a system that doesn't use gas. My main question for you guys is firstly has any one used one of these for a boil kettle, not just boiling plain water (could be a stupid idea but hey I wanna know). I'm under the impression they boil the water and then switch off, but what's the deal with their thermostats? I figure if you can somehow get a constant boil, I don't see why it wouldn't work, I just don't know if you could control the boil though, and maybe draining the wort out could be a problem? Anyone know anything about them? And just curious, how long does a standard bottle of LPG (the average bbq one) last for your brews?? Keep in mind I'd be using just the one burner. I do like the idea of flames over electric elements, however if the cost of gas is too much, I'd rather go electric.
Thanks for your time.
Its good to be back
eddy

 

[pk.sax]

A) size of HLT. That might be a bit small. You need to account for dough in volume + infusion + sparge etc. there is a recent thread called HLT advice. Craftbrewer have a 70L pot for not a lot that seems to get good reviews.

B) lots of people use urns to do brew in a bag or as HLT. Have a snoop around.

PS: a bottle of gas lasts a while. I think I did 5 brews with mine + other use before my last one ran out.

 

[glenwal]

and carry it to the brew rig

This sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[squirt in the turns]

A) size of HLT. That might be a bit small. You need to account for dough in volume + infusion + sparge etc. there is a recent thread called HLT advice. Craftbrewer have a 70L pot for not a lot that seems to get good reviews.

B) lots of people use urns to do brew in a bag or as HLT. Have a snoop around.

PS: a bottle of gas lasts a while. I think I did 5 brews with mine + other use before my last one ran out.

The size of both the eBay kettle and the Birko urn you've linked will limit your batch sizes. An electric urn works fine as a kettle (I've used a 40L Crown myself), but to do a traditional-sized single batch (20+ L into the fermenter), you'll need a 40L or larger kettle. A 30qt (30L) HLT can work as you can heat your sparge water while mashing.

What are you using as a mash tun and how big is it?

How far are you going to be carrying your HLT? Remember, it's going to weigh 20 or more kg and be at 70 or 80 degrees :blink:

If your stove is up to it, you could try boiling on it. I just got one of the 70L CB pots and although I'm yet to use it in anger, it looks the goods. Footprint would be too large for my kitchen stove, though.

You will lose a fair bit of wort when draining an urn, unless you tilt it (inviting a lot of trub along for the ride). Best bet is to change the tap for a ball valve with a pickup tube.

 

[gap]

This sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

I completely agree, sounds absolutely scary.

Regards

Graeme

 

[citizensnips]

Cheers for all the replies.
ha yeah it definitely does have the potential to get a little buckwild carrying 20litres of steaming water......hey I like a challange. But really for the moment while my cash is limited, its an easy way to solve my problems and get me brewing quicker without having to drop an extra few hundred bucks for burners, pots and so on. When I have enough money I'll link up a proper HLT but until then ill be doing some dumbbell curls to yolk my arms into carrying condition.
5 brews with one gas bottle, if that's the case I'll use a CUB keg and burner for sure. I was assuming you wouldn't get any where near that.
I think I'm gonna have a good think and put a drawing together with some explanation, bring it back to you guys, get some advice (let you pick the holes in it) and then correct it from there to hopefully avoid me having to fix stuff further down the road.
Thanks for the replies.