Kettles

[jt]

Ok, may have some extra cash shortly, maybe time to look at mash tun or kettle.

probably kettle first, current one struggles to hold 23 litres at a good boil but the insulated pail tun will cope with 5kg plus a bit

What's the opinion on what's out there ?

The 40 litre urns from trademe - Dan, don't you have one of those - what's the deadspace, how's the 2000w element manage to get a boil going ?

Mr Houghs 55 litre polarware - would you dare drill a hole to fit an element in that ?

Converted keg ?

I'm staying electric, I know we've had a great summer, but I'm going to stay inside the garage where it's gunna be warm in winter

any good tips, tricks, hints or good buys out there ?

cheers, jt

[Sparky]

Just chipping in here guys.

I'm using a 50 litre boiler with a low density 3kW element fitted. Low density means it is thicker than standard and doesn't glow red when on and is designed to run in areas with a lot of lime in the water. It is made up of two 1500 elements and I've run a separate 3 pin plug to each. Reason being, 1 element is on while the other is pulsed off and on to control the boil.

As long as I watch the break and play with power to the elements, I don't run into trouble and once settled I can walk away and leave the boil.

I target approx 38-40 litres into the fermenters after the boil and often try 2 different yeasts on the same batch.

My cooler is made up using approx 10m of copper tubing that I got from a friendly refrigeration company. The coil cost just under $100. It's amazing what you can come up with using Supercheap benders and a cornie keg to form the copper. The friendly fridgie lent me his bender set and I've since bought my own.

The Mashtun here is a 54 litre chillybin that I picked up at Briscoes during one of their sales. it has a copper manifold and normally I get reasonable results.

As for Jerry Cans, I have got a few blue ones from Supercheap. Each can was filled with sanitiser etc and left for a few weeks until the plastic smell and taste left. They can be placed in the kegerator and burped from time to time. Good results when I was doing kit & kilo lagering.

Have got similar ideas to jt regarding outside lagering in winter, however still pondering how I will do it.

Cheers

WayneO

[jt]

What volume do you boil Mr S ?
Was working on additional 20% volume required for headspace - so 40 litre boil required 50 litre kettle. Seems true enough with my 23 litre boil in 28 litre kettle

I'm guessing that you'd need to keep any sunlight off the lagering vessel, hence my thought of a black plastic bag round it. South side of the house would also help.

[Dan]

Ive thought about outdoor lagering last year and this year im gonna do it,
Dig a big hole in the yard, sized for at least 4 fermentors, line it with timber and make a top, should keep the temps down, will throw some snow in the hole as an extra cooler when assessable.

Or I could buy a fridge! but i,d need a few fridges and well that would take up too much room in my brew rooms.

Outdoor lagering it is!

[Sparky]

A big deep hole in the yard would mean separation for sure, although the hole as far as I can see it's a corker of an idea. I may have to settle for moving the concrete mixer from the corner and a few other goodies and wondering 'bout the joys of snow in the back yard. ; )

[Sparky]

Generally jt I start off at about 48 litres. I tease the hot break by manually controlling the elements for 5 or so minutes. I can get the foam to rise about 50mm out of the kettle and not spill down the sides, by switching and watching. Eventually the break tires and gives up as long as I'm watching. Look away or get distracted and the break gets the better of you!
With the boil and kettle losses & shrinkage, I end up with about 19 litres in each fermenter. By the time i get the beer into the keg I have around 18 litres in each.

The southwest corner I'm thinking will be best for the lagering and I'm thinking a plywood enclosure with a few ventilation holes will be worth a go.

I wonder if a black plastic bag would be too efficient at drawing heat?

[jt]

Plywood enclosure ? I'm under enough pressure to build a rabbit hutch, I wouldn't want to see it hijacked for furry critters !

[Brendon]

Another cheap option for consideration:
1. Buy 40 L aluminium pot from Moore Wilsons for $134.75 (includes lid)
2. Drill hole for tap - because aluminium I'm guessing you can get away with a Wood drill bit for the hole you need.
3. Use compression fitting with tap.
4. Heating you have a couple of options - use gas (which you don't want to do), drill holes and fit the low density elements as a permanent fixture or make some heat sticks so you don't end up making swiss cheese out of your pot.
B

[MrC]

Bump!

 

So, I now have pot large enough for a full wort boil in one vessel.  I now want to add element(s) and maybe a tap.  I know this has come up a few times but as supply and demand changes what is available to us I thought I bring it up again.  

 

Elements

For a boil volume of around 30L, what element configuration is the best?

- 1 x 3kw element?

- 1 x 2kw element for a rolling boil and an additional 1kw element to get her up to boil temp?

 

Kettle Tap

What are people experiences with compression fitted taps, are they fine or are they an ongoing headache?

Should I get someone to weld something for me?

 

Cheers 

[jt]

I get 26 litres boiling no problem with 2kw Mr Cherry

First running go in and the power goes on. By the time I get the second drain into the kettle it's usually boiling.

Takes another 20 minutes to bring the total volume upto the boil after that

I used a 1.5kw and it would just give a roll if the lid was 3/4 on

*edit* there's some formula out there that will give you kw required for the volume

 

But big question, what did you buy and where ?

[MrC]

But big question, what did you buy and where ?

45L (approx) SS pot from Pete's Emporium for $80

[jt]

Petes ?

You should have called into Banks Brewing while you were over the far side of Haywards

[Chris Banks]

Hey Mr C my 2 cents

With elements I would suggest (to be difficult) 2.4 kw as that is the max you should run from a 10 amp socket and should be plenty for30 litres

If it proves a bit much once you are boiling a simmerstat would be a good/cheap move.

With kettle taps I wont comment in case people think I am biased ;-)

 

And well to be honest I am!