Urn As Boil Kettle

[Mayo]

What do you guys think about using electric Urn's as kettles? Too slow, not enough of a vigorous boil?

Im thinking of picking one up and if it doesnt work out as a boil kettle, using it as a HLT when i get a pot and burner.

Its specs are:
30L
SS

element:
240 volts
2.4 Kw
10amps

Powerful enough?



Cheers

 

[white.grant]

Maybe a bit too small for kettle, make a good HLT though.

cheers

grant

 

[Mayo]

Even for a 20Lish batch?

 

[pbrosnan]

What do you guys think about using electric Urn's as kettles? Too slow, not enough of a vigorous boil?

Im thinking of picking one up and if it doesnt work out as a boil kettle, using it as a HLT when i get a pot and burner.

Its specs are:
30L
SS

element:
240 volts
2.4 Kw
10amps

Powerful enough?



Cheers

I have 30L 2.4Kw it it has served well for about 50 brews. I can generally end up with between 25-28 L in the fermenter. IMHO electric has significant advantages over gas, for example you don't run out of electricity and there's not exhaust fumes to worry about. In fact my next project will be a 50L custom made urn with a 3.6Kw element and a 2.4Kw to give a bit of a boost. I must get started on that ...

 

[haysie]

Even for a 20Lish batch?

Mayo, You can always add at the end, i dont think you will get 20 ltrs after boil and loss, you may but I wouldnt like boiling wort splashing around too near the brim.
The 2.4 will produce an even boil, it does for me. Try a 25 ltr preboil see what you get , top up. Worse comes too worse ditto Grant


or as brosnan might be doing, top up as you go

 

[white.grant]

Depends on your system and how much you lose to evaporation and trub etc...

I aim for 21 liters into the fermenter and need about 28 liters into the kettle pre boil to hit that. A two litre gap is pretty tight (at least for me).

cheers

grant

 

[Mayo]

Thanks for the advice fellas,
i love this forum, such fast responses.

Cheers, Mayo.

 

[hoppinmad]

Thanks for the advice fellas,
i love this forum, such fast responses.

Cheers, Mayo.

Just to add my bit. I am using an "urn" virtually the same as yours (same element anyway). I bought it with my reflux still and it can hold 30litres to the brim, but really i consider it a 25 litre. I find it is a little small and in planning my first AG have really had to modify recipes a lot to ensure I don't get too much wort which will bubble over during boil. It is fine for extracts with plenty of power, but from all my reading it is hard to reduce mash volumes to fit the size of your boiler. An extra 10 litres would be great!

 

[brotom7]

I got the 40l Crown with a 2.4kw element and it works a treat, I turned it on as soon as I got the first runnings of wort drained into it and had a rolling boil just 15 minutes after the last drop was in it.
As someone mentioned you don't risk to run out of gas half way through, but we actually ran out of electricity 10 minutes after the boil was done, all of north qld did I think.

I would recommend the 40l over the 30l, it gave a nice amount of margin when boiling for a 25l batch, think it was just about 30l at beginning of boil.

 

[Millet Man]

Even for a 20Lish batch?

30 lt urn (2400W) is fine for 20 lt batches. In my setup I only lose about 0.5 lt to trub and evaporate 4.5 lt over 90 minutes so only need to collect 25 lt of wort, plenty of room and can push it to about 28 lt pre-boil if needed. Its not like using gas where you could boil off 10 lt or so in 90 minutes so need a bigger kettle.

Cheers, Andrew.

 

[Yorg]

So are you guys using the urn to boil wort getting any scorching?
Any evidence of coating on the element?
Are you using pellet hops?
Are you saying that the 2400W element is enough to get your wort to the boil in a reasonable time?

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I reckon if you are making a choice between a 30L and a bigger Urn... then bigger will be easier, more flexible etc etc and you wont even have to think about it - But 30L is going to be "enough" with a little care.

A few drops of foam control will make life really simple even if you are pretty close to the brim.

So the 30L is a goer if it so happens that you have one lined up for a bargain price - if you are just generally shopping about the place though, I would lean towards a 40L jobbie

 

[brotom7]

So are you guys using the urn to boil wort getting any scorching?
Any evidence of coating on the element?
Are you using pellet hops?
Are you saying that the 2400W element is enough to get your wort to the boil in a reasonable time?

No, no, yes and yes.

- No scorching as far as I can tell, the urn I have has a concealed element that might help not scorching it, perhaps there is some but not noticable to me.
- As above, the element is concealed but no coating so far on the metal just above it.
- Yes, using pellets.
- Once I have a couple liters of wort from the MT I turn the urn on full to get it started, once the MT is sparged and drained it only takes about 15-20 minutes before I have a rolling boil, I even have to turn the urn down a bit as it boils a bit too heavy otherwise. I'm quite impressed with it actually since it's just a 2.4kw. Winter and a breeze might make it go slower though, time will tell.

My urn also doubles as a HLT and so far I don't really see a need to get a dedicated HLT.

 

[Goofinder]

I use a 30L 2.4kW Roband urn as my kettle.

31L pre-boil is the most I can get into there without spilling out of the sight glass. I end up with 26L post boil which ends up being 22L into the fermenter which is the size I was doing with kits/extract so it's perfect for me.

I have a beerbelly hopscreen fitted to mine and use pellets, flowers, or both with no troubles. The element is exposed and some crap generally gets stuck on it but comes off easily with a wipe after use. I don't think there is any scorching... but I'm not really sure what I'd be looking for to be honest. The boil is a good rolling boil and I haven't had any troubles with boilovers yet (and it never looks like coming close).

I also use mine as an HLT as well and reckon it works great!

 

[Bribie G]

40L definitely. My 40L Birko 2400w gets to a rolling boil in about 20 mins with the mash 'runnings' (BIAB). The temp dial goes to 110, which gives a fierce boil, and I set it to about 97 that gives a rolling boil. For a 23 L brew I boil down from about 29 which actually allows a litre of waste in the bottom after the boil. Because I am BIABbing the original strike water is about 34L, and for a typical 5.5kg of grain, after hoisting the bag I end up with around that 29 no probs.
For boiling definitely suspend a hopsock. Tap comes apart for cleaning after the boil.

1-vessel brewing. Love my urn.

 

[pbrosnan]

So are you guys using the urn to boil wort getting any scorching?
Any evidence of coating on the element?
Are you using pellet hops?
Are you saying that the 2400W element is enough to get your wort to the boil in a reasonable time?

In order of appearance:
No and it's a myth anyway unless you reduce you wort to syrup.
Yes but it's not a problem. Use some citric acid to remove it. A build up can cause overheating and shut the urn down if you haven't bypassed this switch.
Yes.
Yes.

In addition, I fill the urn to about an inch below the brim with first runnings. Over a 90 minute boil I top up to the same level a couple of times. I allow a bit of extra grist to make up for the dilution and I keep the HTL going so the top up water is already boiling.

 

[Mayo]

Thanks for all your help

The reason i asked was because i was just bidding for one on ebay and scored it for only $67. I am only going to be doing occasional batches, and i figured 30lt would suffice. Beats spending $150+ to get the burner, big pot, regulator, gas, etc.

This is an all in one unit!

btw, looking on ebay now, theres a 40lt one going now for about 100, 0 bids though.

Thanks fellas

 

[pbrosnan]

Thanks for all your help

The reason i asked was because i was just bidding for one on ebay and scored it for only $67. I am only going to be doing occasional batches, and i figured 30lt would suffice. Beats spending $150+ to get the burner, big pot, regulator, gas, etc.

This is an all in one unit!

btw, looking on ebay now, theres a 40lt one going now for about 100, 0 bids though.

Thanks fellas

Good buy, the one I use as kettle cost 90 and the HLT cost 60 but I had to have my brother fit a tap. I think it was some kind of sterilization device.

 

[Mayo]

Yea, mine doesnt have a tap, so i hope its thick enough to drill a hole through, add a tap, shouldnt be too big an operation.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

This is an all in one unit!

oooh... by that do you mean BIAB?? or something similar?? 'cause if you do, then 30L isn't actually big enough. You will struggle pretty badly trying to do a full batch of even medium strength beers in 30L pot using BIAB.

You could just about do a normal (say 1.048) batch with a post boil volume of 20L in the 30L pot... with 1L to trub thats 19 into the fermentor and maybe 18L packaged... Trying to do a concentrated boil and watering back as you go, doesn't work as simply with BIAB as it does with other methods. It works to an extent, but gets complicated and eventually lack of efficiency bites you in the arse.

If you bought this urn as the HLT or Kettle part of a multi vessel system - good buy, it'll do the job nicely. If you bought it as the one vessel of an All in One brewery, you probably made a mistake.

On the bright side - you are only a cheapish eski and bit of hose braid away from a nice two vessel batch sparge system. Less than another $100 will see you in AG wonderland

TB