BOILER TIME (almost there) need a hand.

[Deebee]

Since i started All Grain brewing 6 months ago, i have been using loaned equipment to brew at home. Not having access ( or the economy to use ) gas i have been using either a 1.5 KW hot plate, or more often than not the glass topped stove at home. This is hard going especially as it means i have to lift the 38 liter stock pan boiler i have up onto the work top when it is full of pre boil sweet wort.

I have read lots on here and have looked around The local area in Norway for one of the mango type boiler bins.

I have looked through e bay and had some extortionate prices thrown at me.

for example " yes we can send you the bin for 12 pounds. postage is however going to cost 65 because the courier will not do it for less. Honestly.....


So in a last ditch try ( before daring to use an FV of unknown material quality) i sent a mail to a seller on E bay called Our megan. Derek was offering these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... TQ:GB:1123

I don't really want one this big, and definately not 2!! so i mailed him and asked him what deal he could do me.


I am now awaiting a 55 liter drum with screw top and nice hefty handles for 25 quid delivered! More than you in the UK pay for sure but non the less a start.

So i started looking around for other bits i'd need..... like ball valve, and tubing nipple etc. Again, over here totally extortionate prices, a search on e bay found me ordering a 1" ball valve with reducing nipple of the front for 12 quid delivered.

The same gy aso offers hop strainers that fit as well, so i'll be going back there when the time is right.

All i am missing is the heating elements.

I am looking for the same type as in the cheaop kettles, there are non here. The element man ( a net site refered to in an earlier post) has offered me 5 x 2.2 KW elements for 10 quid, with no fittings, no leads , no nothing..... and wants 40 quid in postage ( i think some people take the p somewhat and think that we won't check!!)


So I have a few questions that someone here may be able to help me with.

1 could anyone send me just the 2 elements from the kettles ( complete with seals) and the proper leads ( i can change the plugs here if needs be.)

2 how high from the bottom of the boiler should i mount the tap.

3 how high should i mount the elements, i make at most a 25 liter brew length right now ( but a bigger boiler and another FV might mean i can do bigger ones!!!!

4 When i have eventually gotten and mounted the elements, is the plugged connection enough to protect against the water in the atmosphere or do you insulate the back end of the element with anything.

Thanks as always for your help.

[MightyMouth]

Decent Kettle elements cost about £19 without leads so 2 would be £38 then you have £25 for the drum then you need a tap which can withstand boiling temps so its either a copper valve with copper fittings which your are talking about at least £5 then you need a manifold or hop strainer so another £5 to £10 plus kettle leads and if you are looking at 13 amp kettles you are looking at £12 each or you could go with 2 cheap value kettles at £5 each but they aren't great.

To get a decent safe set up I reckon you are are looking at about £90 or £95 for which you could have a proper 2 element boiler from Hop and Grape

[Deebee]

Yes i know. But in addition to the 95 quid for the proper set up, i would have 25% import tax and then postage to norway which would be around 150 quid du to the weight.

I don't brew more than once a month as a rule so the cheapo kettle elements would be fine for me i am sure.

The othr parts i have got from flea bay are all copper and stainless. he sells a lot of brewing kit as it happens.

[Deebee]

Well the 1.5" ball valve is on the way ( stainless) its a weldless valve for homebrewing purposes, with a reducer barb( nipple) which will allow me to put tubing on if i want.

A nice and kind member of these forums is sending me some elements and i am waiting for the money request from the ebay seller for my barrel.then i am ready to go.

Next up.... mash tun ( i am using loaned equipment at the moment) where do i find info about building one of these... the manifold bit scares me.....

[chris_reboot]

don't know if its any use, but here's one I wrote on another site

It uses a large coolbox, but the principle is the same.
I've since swapped to a ball valve tap design now instead of the black water butt tap.

[Deebee]

don't know if its any use, but here's one I wrote on another site

It uses a large coolbox, but the principle is the same.
I've since swapped to a ball valve tap design now instead of the black water butt tap.

Time to find a cheap one ( if thats possible in Norway)
In the case of poor insulation is it ok to drill a few small holes and fill with builders foam ( the stuff you use around doors etc?

thanks

[Deebee]

Well who is a lucky boy then!!!

A new guy at work used to work at the local cosmetics factory, and managed to get me a 60 liter “ mango container” boiler with a pressure lock,( not screw lock) for 5 quid.

It smells a little of soap but I am guessing this will be quickly removed by throwing some bicarb in there with water and letting it stand for a few days, followed by a damn good airing out.

It means I have a 55 liter container on the way plus this one.

All being well the elements will be here in a couple more days and the ball valve I ordered should also be here in the course of the next week.

After today there will be no more brewing until after the Christmas period ( else I am so going to get killed!) so I have time to have a few trial runs in the kitchen when swmbo is out with just water.

This will allow me to do the following.

Check for leaks
Check the integrity of the plastic
Check for off tastes in the water
Check how much the kitchen fuses stand before they pop ( I will be using 2 x 2.4 Kw elements and hope that the fuses will hold long enough to get to boiling before I cut one out!)
Check how long it takes to get from around 60 degrees to boiling point with both elements on.

Looks like the winter might be fun… and even better I can plan a brew for the maiden voyage of Tordenfugl ( thunderbird in Norwegian):)

[vanish]

Dont know if youve sorted it yet but after reading what you wrote here

Next up.... mash tun ( i am using loaned equipment at the moment) where do i find info about building one of these... the manifold bit scares me.....

I thought that this link may be of use to you http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixD.html
there's a few pages of info there that you may find usefull.

[befuggled]

There are a lot of ideas here for manifolds, and it seems that most people go for slotted copper pipe.
However, I would suggest that the slots work better on the bottom, not the top.

[farmhousekeg]

A nice and kind member of these forums is sending me some elements and i am waiting for the money request from the ebay seller for my barrel.then i am ready to go......

Just be aware that if you use a UK kettle lead and change the plugs to Norwegian (European) 2 pin plugs, you will have earthing issues i.e. nowhere to attach th earth lead ! I am no "sparky" but I'd check that out if I were you. Maybe safer to use a UK to European adapter on the end of each kettle lead??

[Deebee]

A nice and kind member of these forums is sending me some elements and i am waiting for the money request from the ebay seller for my barrel.then i am ready to go......

Just be aware that if you use a UK kettle lead and change the plugs to Norwegian (European) 2 pin plugs, you will have earthing issues i.e. nowhere to attach th earth lead ! I am no "sparky" but I'd check that out if I were you. Maybe safer to use a UK to European adapter on the end of each kettle lead??

Hmmm..... We do also have earthed plugs here you know;)

But i was thinking of the adaptors die to the fuse! that they don't have here pother than on the main board.

[farmhousekeg]

Hmmm..... We do also have earthed plugs here you know;)

But i was thinking of the adaptors die to the fuse! that they don't have here pother than on the main board.

Sorry, just trying to stop you killing yourself before the beer is ready but it looks like I was thinking too deeply about the H&S issue

On second thought maybe adapters are not such a great idea as some of them also have an internal fuse and even if they are the type without their own fuse, I don't know if they are desiged to handle 2kW for an hour or more.

[Deebee]

Sorry, just trying to stop you killing yourself before the beer is ready but it looks like I was thinking too deeply about the H&S issue

On second thought maybe adapters are not such a great idea as some of them also have an internal fuse and even if they are the type without their own fuse, I don't know if they are desiged to handle 2kW for an hour or more.

I know that feeling. I am a safety engineer for 2 offshore instalations and sometimes you think more about safety than anything else. Matbe thats why its good to not think safety i mean lets face it we are doctoring an iherently safe bit of kit to make it only as safe as we can make it! he he

I have a mate who is a sparky too so he is already working on a local ELCB for these when i get that far.

Thanks for the thoughts though.