AG advice

[Wez]

HH do those elements come ready to fit to a boiler (ie. do they come with the nut to screw then on to the bucket?)

[Horden Hillbilly]

HH do those elements come ready to fit to a boiler (ie. do they come with the nut to screw then on to the bucket?)

Yes they do Wez. The 2400w elements tighten up nice & tight, but I should point out that I had a problem tightening up one the two 2750w elements which I bought. I did find what was causing it & I managed to sort it out as shown in my post here.

[bigun]

I can't understand why people are still buying these replacement elements when you can strip a budget kettle for under a fiver, thats four elements for the price of one of these replacements. I've been using them on a boiler and HLT for several weeks now with not only no problems but very impressive results, you can even use them with the switch and light still intact so you know it's working.

[GTOrichie]

Im now the proud owner of my first piece of AG equipment, a 30L LHB mash tun that my mate found on ebay, all I need now is a cooler and 2 boilers

I am a very happy bunny indeed

[ECR]

Excellent!

[Martin the fish]

Well done
Your first encounter with the dark side...

[GTOrichie]

I've just been told that the elements are back in stock for the boilers as of tomorow, just 2 quick questions if anyones got a second,

Do you have to have 2 elements per boiler or is it just to help how fast it gets to the boil?

I will only haveing 1 element affect my brew in anyway?

The reasons I ask is I am a little short this month for 2 elements and I will need to fit another spur to the consumer unit to run 2.

[booldawg]

It'll just take longer to hit the temperatures. I use my boiler 3 times in an AG brew. First for the mash liquor,secondly for the sparge liquor and lastly for the main boil.

I find it takes about 45 mins with 2 x 2400w elements to heat 25L of water from cold to 80C and 30 mins to get the wort up to boiling point.

I use both elements to get the wort to boiling point but turn off one of the elements after the hot break as one element is enough to maintain the boil.

[CyberPaddy66]

Just a thought here but if I have my house boiler (as in kitchen hot water) plumbed into the cold water mains (like it is now ), would I be able to use the hot water straight from my tap in my HLT to reduce the time needed for mashing and sparging?

Please note I've not even got any equipment ready for AG yet but I'm thinking about it

[GTOrichie]

Just a thought here but if I have my house boiler (as in kitchen hot water) plumbed into the cold water mains (like it is now ), would I be able to use the hot water straight from my tap in my HLT to reduce the time needed for mashing and sparging?
thinking about it

I was wondering if that would work aswell as our combie boiler set to high comes out steaming and I have to turn it down or the cold water can't keep up in the showers.

A quick update I have got 2 boilers, hop strainer and cooler sorted out now:D

[Martin the fish]

A quick update I have got 2 boilers, hop strainer and cooler sorted out now:D

[GTOrichie]

Ok that's good to know thanks Daab

[CyberPaddy66]

I got another one that's running through my noggin...

My tap water is 8.5 (I keep fish and use the liquid testing kits), IF I get an AG setup working on my shoe-string budget, would I need to get any chemicals to alter my PH or will I be able to brew without changing the PH?

I read somewhere you can adjust your mash and sparge temps to compensate for PH but I'm flying blind here

[carpet]

If its a traditional boiler with a tank in the loft complete with dead pigeon where the water stagnates for days on end and is then heated to the perfect incubation temperature for bacteria to grow in a copper cylinder then stays there for more days on end if it isn't used, i'd avoid using it.

This happened when I was little, tiny bits of bones came through the tap and everything.

Ever since then I've refeused point blank to drink any water that comes from a hot tap, it send shivers down me when people use it when cooking...

[TC2642]

I got another one that's running through my noggin...

My tap water is 8.5 (I keep fish and use the liquid testing kits), IF I get an AG setup working on my shoe-string budget, would I need to get any chemicals to alter my PH or will I be able to brew without changing the PH?

I read somewhere you can adjust your mash and sparge temps to compensate for PH but I'm flying blind here

Get yourself some CRS from Brupack, this stuff is excellent for reducing Ph, it's cheap and lasts a fair while. I'm sure someone on this site would be able to advise you how much to add to get your intitial Ph down to the 5.2-5.3 mark.