Advice on upgrading boiler

[mrboxpiff]

Hi All

Firstly I want to say another big thank you to Jim and all those that contribute on this forum. Its a great source of information and I've learns loads from people sharing their wisdom.

I've been brewing 23litre batches (all grain) along with some friends for some time and been toying with various options to upgrade to larger batches. Finally decided to do the upgrading gradually starting with the boiler. As Brewbuilder are so widely recommended I've decided to buy some of their kit.
I've emailed BB twice with some questions. Once direct and once via contact form on website, but got no reply to either, so I thought I'd ask the questions here. I want to be able to brew up to double batch size, ie 46 litre, but will often be doing smaller batches. If i went for the 70 litre stock pot, which would allow plenty of boil space, should I go for one 3kw element or two 2.4kw elements? I know you need a vigorous boil, but can it be too fierce? Also, I have an inkbird temp controller. Would something like that be needed, or should I just let the element go full whack?

Any advice/suggestions appreciated

Cheers

Mrboxpiff

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[ciderhead]

Mr Lard can be slow to respond, bear with him, it's worth the wait.
In the double batch question, I bought 60l hlt, mash tun and 80l boiler all insulated
The slightly bigger pots give me a slight degree of elbow room, the boiler and hlt I have 2 2.7kw elements in each, if I was doing it again I'd probably go 3kw low density for the boil and a second smaller element for initial boil or bigger boils. The 80litres allows initial boils of 60-65l boiljng back to 52-57 leaving 2-5 in the pot with big hop loads, and headspace is particularly useful when brewing wheat based beers without the risk of boilover.

[mrboxpiff]

Thanks ciderhead. I thought probably BB were probably a victim of their own success. That's why I haven't gone off the idea of buying from them. However I'm keen to get on and order the kit asap. Do use a temp controller for the boiler?

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[vacant]

Temperature controller won't help on the boil. Wort has a boiling point. Once reached, applying more heat increases the ferocity not the temp. Wort boiling point will increase as it concentrates but then amount of power decreases with lowering volume. Atmospheric pressure and ambient temp will affect ferocity etc etc.

[ciderhead]

No if I'm doing a small boil I use voltage controller for the second element to ensure a have a nice rolling rather than volcanic boil

[Fil]

if interested i have a spare 100l kettle/hlt fitted with 1x 3kw lwd 1 x 2.4kw lwd 1x (ml deapspace ) 3 part full bore drain valve, 1 x recirc return valve, pt100 sensor (Or 5cmx 5.5mm thermowell) with a garth style ss #30 mesh 12" diameter hop filter spare. pm me with an offer if of interest.



prepping for a boil


a 50cm x 50cm 98l pot lets you use a SS ruler as a pretty accurate dipstick 1cm depth = 2l



WOT?? deadspace??


while i use a hop spider and i will include the copper spider frame as i now use a SS basket i also have a garth style mesh filter i will include




My reasons for selling is i built an identicle hlt and kettle, and now with buying a grainfather i need the space, and i can continue using the big volume brewkit as a 2 vessel system

All 100% SS, all seals made with PTFE and diy silicone baking sheet washers/grommets

the only 'design flaw' is the permenantly attached pt100 probe as its looped lead can catch when lumping the kettle about (something i need to do with limited space..) hence the offer to replace with a thermowell.. the leads been snagged perhaps often enough to bugger the probe??

[mrboxpiff]

PM sent. Sorry spell checker changed​ your name

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[Fil]

use the button or the find member feature of the pm page to address a particular member