Has anyone heard of a heat stick

[Deebee]

Hi, On homebrewtalk.com they are talking about a submergable heating element that is used to bring the boil to temperature faster. They use it in conjunction with either an electrical plate, a gas burner or the normal kitchen stove.

They are talking about a 3 kw device that is held into the wort just until it comes to boiling when the normal heater they have will maintain the rolling boil.

Anyone heard of these, made these, used these?

Dave

[OldSpeckledBadger]

It sounds like an immersion heater.

[Hawkinspm]

Is it a bucket heater? - something like this http://www.cheappetproducts.net/BUCKET_ ... 14499.html

I've not seen a 3KW one mind, so maybe there is something else?

Never used one but did look at them - then decided to just have 2 elements and turn one off when I got to a boil.

[Deebee]

OSB it does sound like an imersion heater but is not. There is one on a german ebay type place but they don't send to the land of the modnight sun and reindeer... here is the link.....

http://cgi.ebay.de/Tauchsieder-3000-W-P ... 286.c0.m14

i would naturally be interested in hering from anyone who can make such a contraption......

[Deebee]

Is it a bucket heater? - something like this http://www.cheappetproducts.net/BUCKET_ ... 14499.html

I've not seen a 3KW one mind, so maybe there is something else?

Never used one but did look at them - then decided to just have 2 elements and turn one off when I got to a boil.

The two elementsa is a challenge at the moment due to the power set up in the house. It might well mean i have to get an extra course put in or adapted in order to take 4.4 kw ( i have the elements.)

With one of these i could use the standard stove and one of these giving me over 5 KW. wouldn't take long for a 5 gallon batch to boil up then....

[jimw86]

Translated the page into english and it seems like a good product. My only concern would be the power lead. If it only had a 2 core cable I wouldn't fancy using it.

[tubthumper]

the 2 elements shouldnt really cause you a problem as each element will pull a max of 13 amps or blow the fuse in the plug your wiring should be able to stand 26 amps esspecially in the kitchen as they are normally rated as 32 amp circuits and most ring mains are 32 amp (in the UK at least) look at your fuse board and see what the mcb are rated at . But what ever you do dont plug both element in to the same socket ( double socket) use one a little bit further then you wont overload the socket. talk to a local electrician he/she would be able to give you more details about your local supply
also if you use one of those heat sticks it would be no different than having 2 elements in the boiler anyway

[Deebee]

the 2 elements shouldnt really cause you a problem as each element will pull a max of 13 amps or blow the fuse in the plug your wiring should be able to stand 26 amps esspecially in the kitchen as they are normally rated as 32 amp circuits and most ring mains are 32 amp (in the UK at least) look at your fuse board and see what the mcb are rated at . But what ever you do dont plug both element in to the same socket ( double socket) use one a little bit further then you wont overload the socket. talk to a local electrician he/she would be able to give you more details about your local supply
also if you use one of those heat sticks it would be no different than having 2 elements in the boiler anyway

hanks.

Over here kitchen courses are rated at 16 amp the cooker at 20.

rest of the house sockets locally are at 10 anp-

The plus are not fused either but it all goes against the main board, i guess i really have to try a brew and see,
The elements i have pull 4.4 KW total so in theory if i have the boiler on the kitchen stove ( own supply at 20 amp) then the 3 KW stick ( pulls under 16 amp) should be ok in the normal sockt outlet. 5 KW should boil up 30 l fast i guess.

Alternatively i can get a 5 kw gas burner for next to nothing from a mate. then i have to boil outside which is not so tempting. If i hade water in the garage it would be much easier in the long run as i could do it all there. However all plumbing wrok has to be done by tradesmen and i am no paying in excess of 400 quid for a plumber to put a tap in. Sometimes being here sucks!