How to turn an urn into a kettle?

[jceg316]

Hello, I'm looking to get a ~33 litre brew kettle so I can have 3 tuns which will make my life easier. Looking at the various options, I was looking at getting a catering urn, like a Buffalo thing etc., but they don't do a rolling boil and on a lot of urns there is no way to control the temperature. Does anyone know how to change an urn so it has a rolling boil and is more suitable for homebrew?

Thanks.

[themadhippy]

one option is rip out all the electrics,fit a pid in the original stat hole and an ssr in the base,wire the element up to the ssr and away you go

[adman1966]

I use an unmodified 40 lt Buffalo and have never had an issue getting a rolling boil. I just turn the dial to "full on" and off it goes.

Maybe worth trying before you start any alterations?

[jceg316]

Thanks for your replies so far.

Adman1966 - I used a Buffalo when I first started brewing and it didn't seem to keep on a rolling boil. We read reviews and other home brewers seemed to really rate it as a kettle/tun, so maybe we just got a bad unit. Do you use it for the final boil only or for a mash tun as well?

Themadhippy - Thanks, I'll look into that method as well.

[adman1966]

Hi jceg

I BIAB so it is effectively both. I also insulate the Buffalo with a couple of adapted camping mats and brew in the doorway of my shed where it is nicely sheltered.

Maybe this would help achieve a better boil? As you say, maybe yours is slightly under powered. The insulation does make the boil a bit more vigourous.

[Dave-Leeds]

Get a decent sized s/s pot and punch holes in for a tap and 2 elements.

i use a 32ltr brupaks pan which i drilled holes in for elements and it works a treat for me

[jceg316]

Hi Dave, I did consider this however a concealed element would be best as cleaning one element is hard enough, let alone 2, plus the cost of running 2 would be quite a lot and I don't think the room I brew in could take 2 elements at once. If it's only 33 litres 1 x 2.4 kW element should be fine, that's my current kettle set up.

[lord groan]

Mine will do this, but I use it as an HLT, however I fitted one of these -
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/40-to-120-Min ... 2c6ebb3017
to a Burco F33L urn, the one with the butterfly element, I stuck in a bottom drain and used the old taphole to fit a small homemade thermowell for the temperature probe. I use it as an HLT but after building it I did set the temperature to 102c and it just ran very happily on a permanent rolling boil so I know I could use it as a boiler. The controller is essentially a 30A relay so it is either on at full power or off, there are no in between settings on this one!

if you're thinking about a concealed element I'd check spare parts availability first, there have been quite a few posts recently about Buffalo discontinuing the concealed elements, not sure how true this is though. Having searched for a replacement concealed element the best I could find came to between £40 and £50, the cheapest Burco butterfly type was around £18.
And finally - the concealed elements are easier to clean but may need more cleaning. They have to deliver 3000w through a smaller circular plate cooled by the water on one side only, the butterfly jobbies deliver the same amount through a much longer element, cooled on all sides by the water and to me seem less prone to scorching the wort, comes down to a larger better cooled surface area running cooler I guess?
I imagine others may well disagree!

[Dave-Leeds]

If u clean the elements straight away the crap comes off easy and i switch 1 element off when its gets to a boil but 1 wotks good enough

[jceg316]

Lord Groan - thanks for the photo and info, bottom drain would be ideal however I'm gonna go for a concealed element to save washing up time.

Dave-Leeds - I do wash up straight away but the stuck on wort, hops, muslin cloth etc it pretty stubborn and after a 7 hour brew day I get pretty tired and fed up with yet more washing up, especially having to scrub so hard.

Thanks for all your help!

[themadhippy]

, bottom drain would be ideal however I'm gonna go for a concealed element to save washing up time.

you can still put a bottom drain in a buffallo,an added advantage is the original tap hole is ideal for fitting the tempreture probe

the silver/grey thing by the earth (Green/yellow wire )is my bottom drain,the buffalos have a slightly lower bit in the base thats an ideal point for the drain

[jceg316]

TheMadHippy - thanks for the photo, are those two circles in the middle the element?

[themadhippy]

, are those two circles in the middle the element?

yep