Heating Element In Mash Tun

[fergi]

in my new setup i am using a 53 liter igloo esky on wheels as my mash tun.

i have already used it once and found it lost 1 deg over the hour, this was after covering it with a blanket.

i have a spare electric kettle element which is brand new.2.4 kw.

does anyone use an element in their esky, i am thinking it could be turned on when you get the cold windy days that tend to cool the mash tun a bit quick.

maybe it only needs to be on for 5 mins to keep the mash temp stable, anyone have a thought on this,
i have HLT FOR HEATING MY STRIKE WATER SO I DONT WANT IT for heating mash tun from scratch.
any problems with burning mash.

fergi

 

[pk.sax]

My 'this one was dumb' housemate once poured his milk into the kettle to heat it up, one of those cheapo $10 jobs. No matter how hard we tried, could not get that **** off that element.
I'm guessing putting an element meant to quickly heat water in a thick mash might have some consequences?!

 

[Crusty]

in my new setup i am using a 53 liter igloo esky on wheels as my mash tun.

i have already used it once and found it lost 1 deg over the hour, this was after covering it with a blanket.

i have a spare electric kettle element which is brand new.2.4 kw.

does anyone use an element in their esky, i am thinking it could be turned on when you get the cold windy days that tend to cool the mash tun a bit quick.

maybe it only needs to be on for 5 mins to keep the mash temp stable, anyone have a thought on this,
i have HLT FOR HEATING MY STRIKE WATER SO I DONT WANT IT for heating mash tun from scratch.
any problems with burning mash.

fergi

If you only lost 1deg over the hour I wouldn't be too worried about trying to improve on that fergi.
External heating would be the way to go, herms, rims etc. Unfortunately adding any of those will require a pump, PID or similar.
I have done the exact same thing trying to control 1deg loss & have spent over $1,000.00 for that degree control. Unless you are hell bent on step mashes etc, I wouldn't bother.

 

[Cocko]

An element in you tun is great for heating strike water directly in the tun, also gets the tun itself up to temp, so giving a more stable temp during mash.. I do exactly that but with an over the side element, obviously hanging from a cross bar so not to touch the sides of the plastic. I don't think I have ever seen an element with a thread long enough to mount in an eski without have to do a lot of farking around with fittings and adapters etc.... but if you mean actual 'fitting' it as a permanent thing, I would say, bad call and could/would most possibly scorch your grain too...

2c.

 

[manticle]

I use an immersion element in an esky to step mash. I keep it constantly moving - any more than about 20 seconds stationary will see grain scorch and stick to the element. Works fine but I can imagine 5+minutes at one end of your esky will give you burned breaky.

Also consider the weight of the wet grain.

 

[fergi]

ok thanks guys, i will shelf that idea.
fergi

 

[alford_j]

I would guess a 2400W element installed in a tun would scorch pretty bad due to high power density (watts/area). I thought about this heated MT idea for a fair while and built the best idea I came up with:

I wrapped my metal tun in 1200W of heating cable, embedded temp sensors in the jacket then insulated the lot. It is controlled with an arduino board. This gives me a very stable mash temp but still having trouble getting step mashing to work without a pump. No scorching due to large surface area and exact control of element temperature but will have to keep it circulating to ramp properly.

 

[Muscovy_333]

in my new setup i am using a 53 liter igloo esky on wheels as my mash tun.

i have already used it once and found it lost 1 deg over the hour, this was after covering it with a blanket.

i have a spare electric kettle element which is brand new.2.4 kw.

does anyone use an element in their esky, i am thinking it could be turned on when you get the cold windy days that tend to cool the mash tun a bit quick.

maybe it only needs to be on for 5 mins to keep the mash temp stable, anyone have a thought on this,
i have HLT FOR HEATING MY STRIKE WATER SO I DONT WANT IT for heating mash tun from scratch.
any problems with burning mash.






Just because it has not been done does not mean it can't be done.

When it comes to electric elements and wort it is ideal to use an extra low density element to reduce risk of scorching