Boiler mods

[barkar]

Hi i am modifying my boiler a little , i brew in a timber shed , with an extractor i got from free cycle to extract the steam during the boil . I  have found this to be a bit inefficient at times as often i see water dripping from all over the place.Some times the steam doesn't always go in the direction of the extractor hood which is slightly above it 

Also i find it hard sometimes to maintain a boil generally it goes to a rolloing boil and some times goes as low as 95 - i have 2 kettel elements rated 2.22 and usually brew 40 - 50l

In order to counter this issue i intend having a semi closed boiler with a chimney fairly good aperture / chimney connected up to alu ducting which in turn connects to the extractor hood which should deal with the steam issue. In turn it may also deal with the heat loss i am also contending with.

Anyone see a problem with this . Any copper i have seen , has a dome shaped lid with a flue coming out. Would there be an issue with DMS or some other cabbage flavours i might get ?

[Ciderhead]

Shouldn't be as you extracting off the steam from the boil, can you up the extract you are using or consider 2 ?

[barkar]

I think its the fact that there is an open area between the extractor and the, diminishes the "pull" of the fan. With a clsoed system all i would have to do is lift the chimney ( big stainless pet bowl €3.49!) and chuck in hops , working in a tight area with steam fogging up glasses etc.  and under pressure isnt too nice !
Check a local plumbers for some ducting , they have stainless steel stuff with 4" diameter at 4.40 per foot dont know if that is a good price or not 

[Will_D]

Also i find it hard sometimes to maintain a boil generally it goes to a rolloing boil and some times goes as low as 95 - i have 2 kettel elements rated 2.22 and usually brew 40 - 50l

How well insulated is it?

[barkar]

Also i find it hard sometimes to maintain a boil generally it goes to a rolloing boil and some times goes as low as 95 - i have 2 kettel elements rated 2.22 and usually brew 40 - 50l

How well insulated is it?

Ahem  not at all ! ss pot ! Never got a round to it. it looked too shiny to go putting thermo wrap on it ! : its also 100l so naturaly its quite wide 50 cm or more which probably doesnt help ,  i have foudn putting thermowrap over it when bringin to the boil helps a lot . Dont have a huge amount of that thermo wrap stuff at the moment , might put some on the bottom as i imagine that is where most of the heat is lost

[pob]

I use two layers of thermowrap & a camping mat which allows a great rolling boil with only one of the two 2.2Kw Argos elements in use once good hot break is reached.

I would also NOT recommend using High Temp Expanding Foam on the bottom of your pot/keggle.

In theory seemed good idea, keep heat in & act as a solid base for keggle. In reality (completely hopeless user error), foam squirted everywhere that wasnt fully masked off, didn't cure correctly as I used too much of it for the gap. Took masking tape off vent holes next day (allegedly cures in 2-4 hrs) and green gooey stuff drips out and sticks to everything until it sets. Does this everytime I remove tape over the next few hours.

Couple of days later, it must be cured now, looks nice and solid, so put brew on. By end of mash notice Ghostbusters sludge reappearing and dripping down to floor, aghhh!!! Kept heat in though.

Suggest just cut out circular insulation mat / thermofoil stuff next time.

[barkar]

Yeah the insulation stuff sounds good have 2 fermentors with it looses very little heat or gains very little either

[christhebrewer]

Insulate the shit out of it and use one of those 30A STCs Ciderhead was on about to control one of the elements.
Is it a 100l stock pot from catering portal?

[barkar]

Yeah its one of those from the french german crowd bergeland  bought it a while back

[johnrm]

Remember when insulating the shit out of your Keggle that this will slow down cooling.
A removable Jacket is more useful.

The Speidel Braumeister has a removable Jacket.
Those clever Germans.

[christhebrewer]

I have the same. I use two 3k elements with a power controller on one of them, I find for a good boil it needs one element on and the other on half duty. that's without any lid or extraction. which is something I plan to add soon.
If you a plate chiller you dont have to worry about taking the insulation off. I chill 60l in about 20 mins.

[Shanna]

I got my hands on some external wall insulation and pared it down to fit inside the domed bottom of the container. I then used high temperature silicone as a glue to stick it to the underside of the container. Covered it in thermo foil and used a staple gun and more silicone to attach the thermo foil to the insulation.  Was a bit fiddly to cut out the circular shapes and get everything on and may.  I also used sticky aluminium foil tape around the edges of the thermo wrap to tidy the bottom layer with the top layer that was wrapped around the walls of the container.

Shanna

I use two layers of thermowrap & a camping mat which allows a great rolling boil with only one of the two 2.2Kw Argos elements in use once good hot break is reached.

I would also NOT recommend using High Temp Expanding Foam on the bottom of your pot/keggle.

In theory seemed good idea, keep heat in & act as a solid base for keggle. In reality (completely hopeless user error), foam squirted everywhere that wasnt fully masked off, didn't cure correctly as I used too much of it for the gap. Took masking tape off vent holes next day (allegedly cures in 2-4 hrs) and green gooey stuff drips out and sticks to everything until it sets. Does this everytime I remove tape over the next few hours.

Couple of days later, it must be cured now, looks nice and solid, so put brew on. By end of mash notice Ghostbusters sludge reappearing and dripping down to floor, aghhh!!! Kept heat in though.

Suggest just cut out circular insulation mat / thermofoil stuff next time.

[barkar]

Yeah bought a plate chiller round the same time. Re the etc & 2 3kw to you have them on same heating 13 a is the max no matter what the relay

[barkar]

  :-[sorry misread post re the stc