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Kettle Building

Started by Padraic, September 13, 2012, 12:38:43 AM

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Padraic

I've always wondered about the height placement of the elements in a boiler, is it just have them far enough from the bottom so that you can twist it around for tightening/cleaning or are there any other considerations when keeping the element off the bottom of the bucket? (other than melting of course)

Also for a hop strainer/tap is it fair enough to say the lower the better or is there such a thing as too low?

JimmyM

Id say probably lower the better for both.

Re the element heat risses and all that malarky so its probably more efficient the lower it is (that could be bollix) but from a practical point of view, you want to be able to clean it in place so id say, IMO,  this out-weighs the first thing i said.

Re the hopstrainer/tap.
Lower the better if you have it un necessarily high you will lose litres n litres of beer over a few brews.
Formerly JamesM.

DEMPSEY

I have one of the 2.5M 3kw elements that I got from Will. I Would like to maybe acquire a keg and do a demo of cutting and drilling and assembly of a Kettle. The problem is how to not be seen to BORROW a keg ;)   
Dei miscendarum discipulus
Forgive us our Hangovers as we forgive those who hangover against us

JimmyM

Use a pot instead.
Stitch has one that he is looking to turn into a brewpot.

Point out in the demo that the same principal applies to a keg.

Ok, you cant demonstrate cutting the top off with an angle grinder though.
Formerly JamesM.

DEMPSEY

Keg has a coned bottom and has a rimmed stand. I was thinking of bending the element to sit on the bottom and filling the base with fire clay to support it.
Dei miscendarum discipulus
Forgive us our Hangovers as we forgive those who hangover against us

Padraic

Just thinking about this again and was wondering about the distance the element needs to be from the strainer?

If using a plastic bucket and your strainer running pretty much at the bottom, how close is too close for an element to be to the strainer? (I'm thinking in terms of heat going through the strainer and melting the bucket)

Stitch

Padraic, I just bought a boiler at the weekend (family bought it for my birthday). I am at work so can't take a picture but what I can tell is this:

The strainer sits on the bottom of the kettle (obvious)
The tap sits at the 5 litre mark (thought this was bit high but when I looked into bottom after brewing on Saturday evening the amount of crap left was unbelievable!!)

The Element sits above this but off to the right. So when I drained down the boiler (I had switched element off at this stage) the crap was left in the bottom well clear of the element.

Looking into the boiler (it is a modified plastic bucket which I have to say does not get too soft) with the lights off and a torch I did notice that the wort circulated from the bottom to the top of the boiler.

I hope this information helps somewhat :)

Spud395

From what I've read, after building my 2nd kettle  ::)
If you are placing 2 elements in the boiler, it's best to position them side by side, this allows the heat to circulate better than if they're opposite each other (like in mine)

I believe lower is better as you will get a cold spot in under the elements if they're to high.

Don't worry about heat transfer from the strainer, you'll have more heat where the element meets the bucket. I wouldnt have them touching obviously but I cant see there being a problem any other way.
Non modo......sed etiam

Padraic

I'm thinking of putting together a little (10L) biab system so that I can do a brew in a very short amount of time in the evening after work as I seem to always have things on during the weekends at the moment. So with space at a premium at the bottom of the kettle I just want to see what I can do! I might end up just investing in a pot instead of building one in a bucket... I'm still toying with the idea, it would also be handy to have a small boiler for trying some single hop brews using the same wort from my 33l mash tun.

stitch - I think you have the same type of boiler as me? Is it from the home brewing company?

spud395 - I think they say not to have two elements more than 90 degrees apart so that your boil rolls. I don;t know if I made up that 90 degrees myself though, someone else might know better than me!