Do I bin it ?

[CarpHunter]

I have just made 46lts of Crouch Vale "Willie Warmer" from a recipe on JBK, everything went very well until the clean up when I noticed that the nice ss element in my hlt had split exposing white powder inside it.

After quite a while on Google I am still none the wiser as to what this powder is and if the beer will be safe to drink or not, all my instincts tell me to pour it away to be on the safe side.

Any ideas what this powder is and if its safe to drink or do I pour it down the drain ?

[pantsmachine]

Bin it mate, beers cheap, you're not.

[Carpking]

I would bin it too. Its lightly to be something nasty that you dont want to consume.
Thats bad news, but like pants says.......

[Gurgeh]

do nothing - proceed as normal but don't drink it until you get someone who definitely knows give you a nod. Sparky Paul, Aleman and GW will have definitive responses for you.

Maybe send us a photo of the element....

[pantsmachine]

Had a quick look and it will be magnesia or magnesuim oxide and its a insulating powder, your call.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium_oxide

[CarpHunter]

Thanks all for your reply's.

The magnesium products mentioned by Pantsmachine would appear to have a low solubility in water so therefore things would appear to be ok but as Gurgeh says I will wait a while to see if the others mentioned reply, and see if I can get a photo uploaded.

Thanks again to all.

[Gurgeh]

SO not likely to be too harmful, but have some spare bog roll in stock

How many grams do you think will have dissolved into your beer? split over 10 gallons it may be a negligible effect?

I trust you pitched your yeast already....?

[MartialAnt]

I'll be your guinea pig if you want. Fill up a cornie & send it me in the post. You can trust me i will post it back to you

[Northern Brewer]

When the humble electric kettle was designed, some consideration will have been given to the likelihood of elements rupturing and their contents being exposed to the water. Given that kettles don't come plastered with warnings about such possibilities I would guess that you must be safe, or at least from a poisoning aspect. There may however be a flavour impact.

[CarpHunter]

SO not likely to be too harmful, but have some spare bog roll in stock

I trust you pitched your yeast already....?

Always have a few in the freezer just in case I fancy a curry

Yeast working nicely

I'll be your guinea pig if you want. Fill up a cornie & send it me in the post. You can trust me i will post it back to you

Postage on a full cornie OUCH might be easier to post you the recipe and £15ish along with some movicol and Andrex lol.

[Subsonic]

Carphunter , I would say bin it. Its a tough call but its really not worth it. If you, (and you alone) are going to drink it all thats fine, but if you have a wife, kids, friends, etc. etc. bin it - bin it - bin it. The yahoo groups distillers may be able to answer your question as a lot of them run kettle elements and they burn out. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Distillers/ or post on 'new distillers' - but they will most likely say put it down to experience and chuck it. Lets face it, we are craft brewers so if we are at all uncertain about it - chuck it. Grain is cheap.

Put it down to experience. I used to use electric, your post higlights the downside of electric elements. There are other downsides like being electocuted LOL! But I have been there and done it, propane is for me. Trust me, I have boiled $hit loads of mash, grain and 'wash'. So in the grand scheme of things I think its not that bad, and grain is cheap. It obviously hasn't affected your 'member' so keep it that way!

Subsonic - hic - just got me another 2 Cornys delivered and gassed them up. Had to pull a few pints. Cloudy, oh well...

[CarpHunter]

An update on this for you all.

Whilst pondering what to do I left this to ferment as normal and upon checking it at stupid oclock this morning I found it to be as flat as the proverbial pancake no yeast activity to be seen at all I would of expected it to go for another few days yet, this made my mind up and down the drain it went.

Now all I have to do is make myself another HLT before the next brew but first I need to decide whether to go for gas as suggested by Subsonic or to carry on with the electricery type.

Thanks again all for the advice.

[pantsmachine]

Try turkey fryer on ebay US and see what they have. That's where i got my propane burner and stand from and a big ally pot.

[CarpHunter]

Try turkey fryer on ebay US and see what they have. That's where i got my propane burner and stand from and a big ally pot.

Nice one Pantsmachine a couple of these might do the job Ebay No 250319875751 but as I like my big beers they might prove a bit small but I like the convenience of the built in stand I am waiting for the seller to reply to my question about the postage costs and will take it from there.

[pantsmachine]

True enough, there is a company called Bayou fryers or similar and they do MASSIVE pots. Link attached to the one i bought. I will be brewing a styrian stunner tomorrow and trying an overnight mash tonight to see how it goes.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0255885846