Best element for electric brewing setup

[GuingesRock]

Would this be of any use? http://www.homebrewsupplies.ca/product/ ... heater-15/

Cheap, no installation, easy to clean, 2200W, 110 V (needs 20A outlet), can be moved from one pot to another, has a thermostat so doesn't need a controller, has ground fault interrupter in plug.

Looks pretty neat. I'm thinking all of these options are great if you are impatient or unwilling/unable to DIY, but the fact of the matter is I put my controller and kettle element with a thermo kit together for ~$100 (not including the pot, obviously), so I'd be inclined to go that route again as opposed to paying more for the same idea.

Trevor. What's the heat output of the element you installed please? is it for a 5 gal or 10 gal batches? I'm just wondering how that heat stick would measure up.

Thanks

[jtmwhyte]

Would this be of any use? http://www.homebrewsupplies.ca/product/ ... heater-15/

Cheap, no installation, easy to clean, 2200W, 110 V (needs 20A outlet), can be moved from one pot to another, has a thermostat so doesn't need a controller, has ground fault interrupter in plug.

Looks pretty neat. I'm thinking all of these options are great if you are impatient or unwilling/unable to DIY, but the fact of the matter is I put my controller and kettle element with a thermo kit together for ~$100 (not including the pot, obviously), so I'd be inclined to go that route again as opposed to paying more for the same idea.

Trevor. What's the heat output of the element you installed please? is it for a 5 gal or 10 gal batches? I'm just wondering how that heat stick would measure up.

Thanks

Mark,

I have a 5500W Camco element installed in my kettle. It could and has done 5 and 10 Gallon batches (and could likely handle more than that). The heat stick at 2200W would be fine IMHO for 5 Gallon batches, but maybe not 10. My setup is on 220V 30A service so it will predictably outperform 110V 20A quite considerably.

[mr x]

2200W on a 115vac is a bad mix for residential wiring. You are looking at around 19amps.

[GuingesRock]

Thanks Trevor, I ordered one of the heat sticks yesterday. If I use it in conjunction with the 2800W ceramic cooktop, I might be approaching what you have. Might cut the time in half ...maybe.

2200W on a 115vac is a bad mix for residential wiring. You are looking at around 19amps.

X, I also wired in a dedicated socket for this yesterday afternoon. I used a 20A socket, 12/2 wire and a Siemans 20A breaker in the panel. Will I have problems? Do I need to modify? Thanks

[mr x]

No, not if you do that. lol. Breaker should be OK.

[GuingesRock]

Thanks X!

We're in an old house, but some of the newer places have 20A sockets already in the kitchen. They look like the ones below (one of the holes is T shaped).

[GuingesRock]

I think this might be the best idea if it would work. Did you ever find out any more about it Leslie?

My original plan for an all electric home brewery was this. http://www.amazon.com/6530-ProChef-3000 ... uction+hob" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But it was a little more than I could justify spending right now and it's really hard to find brew pots that a magnet will stick to in order for the induction to really be effective.

Requires no installation.

Avoids the difficulty of cleaning a heating element. If you don’t clean elements well each time apparently you can get scorching of the wort. The Blichmann boil coils are low density with large surface area, and are supposed not to scorch but they look like they would be a bugger to clean.

You can set those induction heaters to hold the pot at a certain temperature also, so wouldn’t need a controller.

[AllanMar]

I'd say your safe from scorching with anything other then the HWD elements. I don't think you need to go beyond the LWD ones (I got ULWD none the less as there was little difference), seems like if you look around there's even people who use the HWD ones without issue.

Costco has an induction plate like that one I believe (but lower wattage). That one requires 220V 20A (hence 3000W) though, so its going to be a bit of work on that end.

The Ripple elements (ULWD) are also pain to clean, if I did it again I'd get the straight one instead. Mostly a hot PBW soak takes care of them, every few brews I may take a scrubby pad to them.

[gm-]

Costco has an induction plate like that one I believe (but lower wattage). That one requires 220V 20A (hence 3000W) though, so its going to be a bit of work on that end.

.

I tried that one for my brewkettle, didn't work unfortunately on my kettle from OBK. But I can't really complain, it takes around 20 min for me to get my strike water up to 75°C on my stove.

[AllanMar]

Yea, should have mentioned it's not going to work on most of the all stainless pots homebrewers use.

[GuingesRock]

I have Bayou Classic pots and a magnet sticks to the bottom so they should work (that's apparently the test). Northern brewer has a range of inexpensive pots that are "induction ready."

[jtmwhyte]

I'd say your safe from scorching with anything other then the HWD elements. I don't think you need to go beyond the LWD ones (I got ULWD none the less as there was little difference), seems like if you look around there's even people who use the HWD ones without issue.

Costco has an induction plate like that one I believe (but lower wattage). That one requires 220V 20A (hence 3000W) though, so its going to be a bit of work on that end.

The Ripple elements (ULWD) are also pain to clean, if I did it again I'd get the straight one instead. Mostly a hot PBW soak takes care of them, every few brews I may take a scrubby pad to them.

I've done 7 batches with my uhwd setup and have experienced zero scorching and have brewed light, delicate cream Ale to robust porter without issue.

[AllanMar]

I've done 7 batches with my uhwd setup and have experienced zero scorching and have brewed light, delicate cream Ale to robust porter without issue.

Yea, I think its one of those technically possible but unlikely brewing scenarios. I've never heard of a UHWD one though, have a link?

[GuingesRock]

Brewing with induction heat videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... _3c3an8ytM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPHJdilB ... detailpage" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Another account of using 1800W induction:

http://northernbrewer.blogspot.ca/2011/ ... ewing.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This looks like just the thing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... RRpJqK8u5Y" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Controls on a Cooktek:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... qMTVh6U5-o" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[GuingesRock]

Mark,
Thank you for the email. Our kettles are not induction capable. If you have further questions please feel free to contact me. Have a great day.

Cheers,


Nick

Blichmann Engineering, LLC