Homemade Boiler Lots of Pics – Asda / Tesco Kettle

[dave.wilton]

I recently made a boiler and HLT with the help of this forum, particularly posts from Chris and Farmhousekeg. My boiler is not as cheap to make as this one (viewtopic.php?f=6&t=20718&start=15&st=0&sk=t&sd=a) but the parts are slightly easier to come by.

The Kettle

The most widely used kettles are the Tesco / Asda Smart Price kettles. However, I can’t get hold of these (a reoccurring theme in London) so I was forced to find an alternative. Basically any cheap kettle will do with an exposed element with long enough power pins. By this I mean that the pins are long enough to attach a kettle plug (see image 1). They are probably about 1cm, but i don't have it here to measure. The kettle I got came from argos:

Argos Value Range White Cordless Kettle. 421/9639 (£4.79)
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/p ... KETTLE.htm

Once you have the kettle unscrew everything. Later I snapped off the surplus to plastic and removed the auto shut off mechanism. (see image 5).

1. Pins on base of kettle. 2. The element, electrics and silicon 'doughnut'

CIMG0716.JPG (39.84 KiB) Viewed 23489 times

The Bin

I made both a HLT and a boiler using difference bins. The HLT is made using a standard youngs brewing bin and the boiler with a H&G 10 gallon bucket which is made of much thicker plastic. Hop and grape fitted a boiler tap to this bucket for free. I did once try using the youngs bin as a boiler and whilst it worked fine the bin did become quite flimsy, I doubt it would stand up to long term use.

10 GALLON BUCKET (£17.99)
http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/catalog/de ... =FER374247
BOILER TAP (£9.99)
http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/catalog/de ... OTH2156036
5 GALLON / 23 litre BUCKET (£11.99)
http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/catalog/de ... =FER374247

Assembly

The bit that I couldn’t get my head round before I did it was how to create the water tight seal. In retrospect it’s very easy; all you are doing is replacing the plastic of the kettle for the plastic of your bin. To do this there is a silicone ‘doughnut’ supplied with the kettle (see image 3). Measure this doughnut and use the appropriate sized drill. I measured mine to be 40mm, but I could only get a 38mm drill bit. This worked fine and provided a nice snug fit (see image below). The drill bit was actually quite expensive (£6.99) but I’m sure I will make many boilers out of it for others. I used a cheap cordless drill from sainsburys (£10)
Once you have screwed it all together you can add an optional cover. One quick and easy way is to use the base of a 1pt plastic milk carton, which you just cut and screw on. In my boiler I used plastic rice pudding pots which looked really neat, although I must admit these fell off so I need to find a better way to attach them rather than silicone which was not up to the job (was thinking no more nails?)

Clockwise: 3. Silicone Doughnut in hole. 4. Covers on boiler 5. Electrics with shutoff and surplus plasic removed

CIMG0710.JPG (63.57 KiB) Viewed 23486 times

Use

The boiler has two elements, both are used to bring the wort up to the boil and then one is switched off. This gives a good rolling boil without the need for a thermostat. Those I know who have the H&G boiler with thermostat and two elements don’t seem to think its any use anyway. As you can see I have yet to fit a hop strainer, I just let it flow through a sieve with a grain bag in it. I have not found that the tap gets blocked, although for ease of use I do plan to make one. As mentioned earlier the youngs brewing bin is fine as a HLT but I would not use as a boiler long term. I recalibrated the HLT to zero at tap level using Graham Wheelers method of weighing out litre measurements and then extrapolating with a tape measure (image 7).

6. 19l brew length in the boiler 7. Recalibrating HLT to zero at tap

IMG_0022.JPG (49.08 KiB) Viewed 23474 times

I hope the photos help someone and give you the confidence to go and do it. There is nothing more rewarding than home made brew from home made kit!

[farmhousekeg]

Great post Dave - glad it all worked out! I am certain that this post will give a lot of confidence to those toying with the thought of making their own kit using kettle elements. It a scary thought but as you found out, not really that difficult when you jump in and have a go! Well done!

[Guzluka]

HLT, what does this mean? Is a cracking post thinking of doing one, what equipement is actually needed inc drill,washer, etc?
Also, any advice on a cooling device?

[farmhousekeg]

HLT, what does this mean?

HLT = Hot Liquor Tun. Just brewing jargon for the thing you heat up your water in before using this "liquor" for mashing and sparging the grains You can also just use your boiler to heat up the liquor but having both a boiler and HLT just makes life simpler as you can run the wort (liquid coming from the mashed grains) directly into your boiler while using the HLT to heat up the sparging water.

[Long-Haired_brewer]

Good post! Funnily enough i used an Argos kettle as well they are good stuff specially the included seal, only down side is you need to but a 13amp rated cable....

[dave.wilton]

Yes sorry I hate acronyms but you just slip into them. You don't need a hot liquor tank its one of those nice to have pieces of equipment that eat up your money when you don't really need them (the worst offender being my kegerator)!

You don't need any tools other than a drill (with appropriate sized bit) and a screwdriver. The washer came with the kettle. I wrote the post to show how easy it is and how little equipment you need. I live in a flat and have nothing but a drill and one of those cheap ikea toolkits! Just use the plastic of a milk container along with the screws that came with the kettle to make a cover (although as i said I'm running without a cover at the moment, it fell off. Its not really a worry if you know its not going to boil over).

Sorry as long haired brewer said you will also need to get a plug. Edit removed

I've just about finished by chiller, the copper is coiled and I just need the attachments. I will post a similarly detailed post when I have done it. Must say it was very easy, took about 10 min.

Give it a go

[Northern Brewer]

If you work in an office these will be aplenty as they are the plugs which power PC's and they will have a 13amp fuse in.

Whilst these work, and I am currently using one, they are not really suitable for the job. They are made from 0.75mm flex, which is good for something like 6 amps (1440 watts) continuous usage. Moreover, the kettle plugs on these leads are not thermally suited and could break down over time. To be safe you need to use a proper kettle lead, made from 1mm flex with a plug suited to the hot conditions. Look back on earlier posts about this topic for more info.

[Guzluka]

thanks dave.wilton, let me know about the chiller? at the minute im doing extract using two stock pots which is a bit of a pain, also submerging them into the sink after so a chiller would come in handy.

[wetdog]

you can buy proper kettle leads from Comet for around £4, only place I could get hold of one.

[dave.wilton]

Thanks northern brewer, I did not know that. I've removed my comment just in case

[mickoh]

Kettle leads are also available at Homebase for 3.99

[mariner]

Great post Dave.
Did you know thet H & G do a cheaper tap which would suit a HLT but not a boiler,
at a cost of about £3.00 instead of £9.00.
You do seem very keen to save money.

Look forward to your post on the Chiller when all is complete

[Parva]

HLT, what does this mean?

HLT = Hot Liquor Tun.

Hot Liquor Tank, sorry, pedantic.

[BenB]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the thorough write-up.
The Argos kettles sure are easy to dismantle (and they're available in most Argos stores).

I thought I'd add a little detail re the thermal cut-off as, although it's pretty obvious when you think about it, you have to think about it!!!

The black bit of the kettle element as shown has a black lever arm near the top between two metal discs.
Using a screwdriver as a pry-bar prise out the black lever arm. Shortly after doing that a little white pin (just to the left of the "middle" element retaining screws) should fall out. That's the thermal cut-off gone.

As already said the two bulbs are in a circuit so if you don't fancy them cut the black wires and insulate the ends with some tape (preferably proper insulating tape)- or even better some heat shrink tubing.

And the really important bit- don't forget to get the silicon gasket bit from the kettle before you chuck it!!! Almost fell for that one

[JohnJeye]

Great post, I was worried at first when all I was seeing was cordless kettles nowadays but really it makes no difference with these cheapy ones as its all the same when you have dismantled it. Hardest part was finding a screw driver long enough to take a couple of the screws out