Is It Worth Making An Electric Urn?

[squirt in the turns]

What about these? If they're up to the job, there aren't many cheaper and easier ways to make holes for standard elements. I might grab one this weekend and see how it handles an SS pot from CB.

Although no one expressed any interest in this, I'll post my results using the el-cheapo ($10) Ikea 35mm hole punch with free pipe cutter:


As you can see, it's made a very neat hole in the wall of my kettle-to-be (a 70L stainless pot from Craftbrewer). I tested it first on the flimsy 7L Kmart pot that will be my heat exchanger, to see if the hole would be a good fit for my 2400W elements (the copper ones from Craftbrewer), also reasoning that if I ruined the pot, it's a lot cheaper to replace than the kettle. A 32mm hole would probably have been better, but the elements have a large flange that should still ensure a good seal. Preliminary leak testing indicates that this will be fine.

It quit (the bolt thread sheared) just as the last kettle hole was nearly done, leaving the punched-out disc still attached to the pot by a tiny bit, which broke off leaving a tiny bit of the kettle wall slightly bent at the edge, so I'll probably have to panel-beat it a bit to get it flat again.

But for $10, I'm pretty happy. I'm sure using a hole saw would have been a hell of a lot harder and more expensive.

 

[seemax]

I've got a nice alu 40L pot sitting in my brew shed... with a tap installed (brass but does the job). Even got a sheet of voile which is good for 5-6kg of grain.

PM if interested... could then install a keg king element or get an over the side cheapo from eBay...

 

[zarniwoop]

Hi All,

Sorry I'm resurecting this old thread that I started but firstly I just wanted to say thanks to all the the very useful replies, especially Seemax with the 40L pot, sorry I missed it . My apologies I went offline for so long and didn't reply, we just moved house and it turned into a mammoth epic that took months (moved from the Peninsula to the hills - 1.5 hour drive to an old house with a previous owner that should have his hands cut off if he ever attempts DIY again, a 1 year old, a pregnant wife, a rental house to clean up, too much furniture from relatives to get rid of and it p*ssed it down for the 3 weeks we were moving - still living out of boxes with waaaay too much to do on the house. But hey it's quiet and the view's nice )

I'm back to setting up for BIAB and will probably go with the keg/pot option, the only thing I'm unsure of is how do you use an over the side element? I.e. how do you stop it touching the bag and burning it? Any help much appreciated.


Cheers

Zarniwoop

 

[MastersBrewery]

Hi All,

Sorry I'm resurecting this old thread that I started but firstly I just wanted to say thanks to all the the very useful replies, especially Seemax with the 40L pot, sorry I missed it . My apologies I went offline for so long and didn't reply, we just moved house and it turned into a mammoth epic that took months (moved from the Peninsula to the hills - 1.5 hour drive to an old house with a previous owner that should have his hands cut off if he ever attempts DIY again, a 1 year old, a pregnant wife, a rental house to clean up, too much furniture from relatives to get rid of and it p*ssed it down for the 3 weeks we were moving - still living out of boxes with waaaay too much to do on the house. But hey it's quiet and the view's nice )

I'm back to setting up for BIAB and will probably go with the keg/pot option, the only thing I'm unsure of is how do you use an over the side element? I.e. how do you stop it touching the bag and burning it? Any help much appreciated.


Cheers

Zarniwoop

I use an OTS at the moment so goes some thing like this

Raise water to strike temp remove element then put bag in place and add grain mash in leave for 60 min


To raise to mash out (I usually do a rest at 72 for 10 as well) I put the element into the mash and continually agitate with the element, so no chance of scorching either the bag or mash


Remove bag and drain with OTS starting the boil

so in all the element is never in constant contact with the bag no dramas

 

[Bribie G]

I use an OTS element to boost my urn but sometimes if the urn element cuts out (due to gunge baking onto the element and tripping the safety "detector" ) I use the OTS for the rest of the brew, and it works fine. It has happened two or three times with some adjunct brews and also when I miss a fold in the voile sheet and grain spills out into the wort and sinks to the bottom to cover the element.

On achieving strike temperature, dough in and lag the pot with sleeping bag / doonah / metallised foam sheet from Clark Rubber whatever. You should only lose about one and a half degrees for the hour.

Then if you want to do a mashout, position the OTS into the lower middle part of the mash and work around with a spoon. When it's nearly there, you can free the OTS and use it as a stirrer. Then hoist the bag.

So you don't need to let it touch the bag. In any case a short contact shouldn't hurt, I once accidentally did a brew where I forgot to put the cake rack in the urn and the bag was in contact with the element, didn't melt it.



edit; get an OTS with a "hook" attachment that goes over the lip of the kettle. They are usually on a slider so you can adjust where the hook sits.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

as per masters brewery

In any brewing system, BIAB, gas, electric - whatever - if you are adding heat to a mash, you NEED to stir CONSTANTLY while ever you have the heat turned on.

Otherwise the mash will heat unevenly and you will have no idea how hot it is, either on average or in the hotest and coldest parts. You simply cannot properly tell how hot a mash is, or is about to become, if you are adding heat in any way, but you are not also stirring.

BIAB with an over the side element is no different. You want to add heat to the mash for a step, to warm it up because its cooled down a little or to take it up to final mash temp/mashout. Then you must stir it the whole time, and the nice thing about the OTS elements, is that they are perfectly good mash stirrers as welll as heat sources.

Element on, stir stir stir with element in one hand and thermometer in the other, hit temp, element off.

It can touch the bag no problems as long as it keeps moving - and because you are holding onto it, you'll be able to tell that nothing silly like folds of material wrapping around the element or anything like that is happening.

Cheers - TB

 

[zarniwoop]

Sorry another question, if using a converted keg what do people use for the lid?

 

[bignath]

Sorry another question, if using a converted keg what do people use for the lid?

If the person with the lid did the conversion originally, most of us use either the portion that we cut out as the lid with some tabs welded so it can be placed back as a lid without falling in, or when we convert the keg originally we cut it to fit an existing saucepan lid.

KMart and similar places sell replacement lids for their range of pots and pans, so if you have (or can get) an un-converted keg, then i'd grab a lid, mark the hole with a texta, and cut it to fit.