Lidl Boiler

[koomber]

Kind of sad, but I looked at that and thought 'hmmm. That looks like a Vor'Cha Attack cruiser' before I got to the text

[befuggled]

It's #22 guage mesh, 10mm cu pipe, end feed fittings, soldered. The "dead" ends have a bit of flattened cu soldered on.
I am sure you could do something without soldering though.

The 10mm is a snug fit in the tap, as mentioned earlier by Youreds91. There is a bit of 10mm forced up the outlet of the tap after opening out slightly.

I have not tried it yet!! - It might fail when the plastic warms up to 100C!
It will probably be some time before I try it as I have to sort out a way of keeping my FVs cool first

[Zebra]

I know everyone has been talking about using the jam maker as a HLT but what's anyone's opinion as to using it as a mash tun for stepped temperature mashes?

[befuggled]

Been there etc...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=34063
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=34064

never got a bludi T-shirt though...

[Zebra]

Sorry, I should do more research before posting! You seem to like them anyway! Thanks for the reply though.

[befuggled]

Happens all the time to all of us - things seem irrelevant or you miss them completely!

You can see that I am not overly serious about this Phemto set-up, the Peeko is good for most of the year, but it's all good for a laugh
I actually think that they present a fantastic opportunity to try some "advanced" techniques for a comparatively small outlay.

Bludi wife was going to do a speshul edishun T-shirt but she's too bludi buzi making 1940 hats for some stupid party.....

[hebbstar]

Used the LIDL boiler four times now. Not so great 'rolling boil' but the outcome is very good. Why is a continous rolling boil needed anyway so long as the hot break is acheived ?

I'm doing my 2nd All Grain Brew this week-end (should be good weather !!).

Doing the SNPA recipe pack from themaltmiller.co.uk using LIDL boiler.
Looking forward to it already !!

[delboy]

Used the LIDL boiler four times now. Not so great 'rolling boil' but the outcome is very good. Why is a continous rolling boil needed anyway so long as the hot break is acheived ?

I'm doing my 2nd All Grain Brew this week-end (should be good weather !!).

Doing the SNPA recipe pack from themaltmiller.co.uk using LIDL boiler.
Looking forward to it already !!

It also effects the hop utilisation, but even if its lower you could easily account for that by simply adding a tad more.

[koomber]

Used the LIDL boiler four times now. Not so great 'rolling boil' but the outcome is very good. Why is a continous rolling boil needed anyway so long as the hot break is acheived ?

I'm doing my 2nd All Grain Brew this week-end (should be good weather !!).

Doing the SNPA recipe pack from themaltmiller.co.uk using LIDL boiler.
Looking forward to it already !!

Did you modify the temp controller to give it a bit more welly?

[hebbstar]

No, I've not made any alteration as I'm quite a hazard with eletrics, I know just enough to be dangerous !!!

Strangely the boiler seems to get better with use. Not just with every boil but during the boils also. Did my brew yesterday and measured the cut-off tempreature. First cut-off was at 96.5 next cut-off was at 99.8 with a rolling boil (although quite short) and it stayed at that cut-off temp during the 1 1/2 boil.

So I'm quite hapy with the thing at the moment. Problem I have is 5 gallons just doesn't seem enough for the effort, yesterday from start to finish 6.5 Hrs. Need to move house to get the quantity up !!!

Cheers

[Prince Of Darkness]

I bought one of these boilers a few weeks back, as it looked like an ideal replacement for my old Baby Burco. It's a bit bigger and more controllable. Then I read the posts here and thought I'd better test it. Well it works just fine, boiling away nicely without cutting out . Must be iffy quality control. I'll have to sort out some insulation to keep the heat in. As for the Burco, it'll be sitting in a corner of the loft, that sort of quality and reliability is just to good to get rid of!

[koomber]

I managed to bjork the enamel round the tap putting a larger 15mm one in. Be careful of any alterations you make The temp controllers on them seem to be all over the place. I had to crank mine up according to the instructions here, and it was an utter pig. We had to strip the bottom off (not fun) and then scrape out as much of the paint as possible. Not fun.

PS. To make matters worse, I was given a 30L Chutney barrel today that has only ever had cement in it! Now I just need to find the instructions to convert it into a boiler (and steep it in citric acid for a few days...)

[koomber]

How easily does it cope with a 5 gallon brew? If I understand correctly, you'll need an excess to acount for evaporation during the boil (6 gallon boil seems standard for a 5 gallon brew). Does the 6 gallons fit in okay whilst the beasty sustains a boil?

[Cain]

Done my first all grain brew yesterday afternoon. And evening. And night. And this morning. The Coopers kits I've been using before seem like heating up a tin of beans by comparison of effort!

Anyway, I started the boil with Lidl boiler with the lid on, and went to check the temperature after 5 mns.
The boil had gone past rolling and right on up to intimidating. Took the lid off and checked the temperature after 15 mins, 106oC, and it maintained that with the lid off.

Only modification I've used is turning the collar behind the dial.

I also used it to mash. I've marked the exact temperatures on the thermostat after the mod and although it does cut off at the right temperature, it drops a fair amount before it kicks back on, so I just manually added or removed heat as required.

Someone posted saying that the max temperature goes up after the first use, and I did get a few more degrees than my previous test run, but the test was just with water, and I don't know enough of the technicl side yet to say if the same was true for me, or if the difference in density of the wort played any factor.

Either way, it got me to jump right from the backed beans, skipped extracts and right into full grain.

[koomber]

I've just finished mine too. HEre is the video for proof:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiLQXS2pAO8

Loads of hops. Didn't think it took particularly long. Did a mash and double batch sparge and apart from my mash tun manifold falling apart (rubber hose from manifold to tap came off) it was a lovely experience. I did lag the boiler in insulation around the sides to improve heat retention. Took me 6 hours from start to finish including clean up.

Just out of curiosity though, when I did the brew, I decanted the mash water into another coolbox then once I collecte all the runnings I typhoned it into the boiler to start boiling. Seemed to work okay.

Anyone who got this boiler really got themselves a treat.

PS. I had 5 gallons at boil and it came out at about 18-20L once all considered. Nice.